Building an eCommerce website is a delight nowadays with more and more online solutions constantly emerging. You have some amazing SaaS platforms like Shopify, and BigCommerce, and some powerful WordPress solutions like WooCommerce. Surely, with the help of these platforms, you could plant the seed for your online store and watch it grow.
Several users who are planning to create a highly-functional online store often ask why they should use WordPress e-commerce plugins. Well, it’s essentially a combination of the platform’s low set-up costs, an incredibly powerful feature set (that can be easily expanded by using any of a number of plugins), and its overall ease of use (even for beginners).
It is crucial to realize that using the accurate set of WordPress e-commerce plugins can do wonders for your business and even help your brand to secure a strong online presence. However, finding the right WordPress e-commerce plugins may seem like a challenging task. This is because there is an abundant number of WordPress e-commerce plugins available in the market.
You could install any eCommerce plugin and turn your WordPress website into a fully functional online store. This very nature of quick transitioning and adaptability makes WordPress so desirable. And honestly, nothing beats it.
What you need to check in a WordPress eCommerce Plugin for Your Site?
Basically, you need to consider what you will be selling and what kind of features you would need to efficiently run your online store.
The Most important factors you need to look for when choosing an eCommerce platform.
- Payment solutions – Your eCommerce plugin should have support for your preferred payment gateways by default or through an extension.
- Design and customization – Your store’s design is your customer’s first interaction with your business. Make sure there are plenty of templates and easy customization options available
- Apps and integrations – Check out integrations available for third-party apps like email marketing services, CRM software, accounting software, etc. You’ll need those tools to manage and grow your ecommerce business more efficiently.
- Support options – Make sure that there are support options available. Good support can save you a lot of money in the long run.
Most users generally like to test the plugin out before they make their website live. We suggest the same. But those who are in a hurry, or looking for an alternative eCommerce plugin can check out the following checklist.
- WooCommerce
- Easy Digital Downloads
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
- MemberPress
- WP eCommerce
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is undoubtedly the most popular and widely used WordPress e-commerce plugin out there. This excellent plugin that was acquired by Automattic a few years ago currently has a passionate and loyal user and developer community. One of the best things about the WooCommerce plugin is that it has a fascinating selection of themes and extensions such as Yoast SEO, Contact Form 7, Product Import Export Plugin For WooCommerce, and Smart Coupons for WooCommerce.M
Why WooCommerce?
- There are hundreds of themes available that are specifically designed keeping WooCommerce in mind. Which means that you won’t be troubled with any type of integration issues.
- Most of the themes and plugins offered by WooCommerce are Free or at the least comes with a Free version. This shows that WooCommerce is an economical way to start an online shop.
- With WooCommerce installed you can sell digital goods, offer subscriptions, and provide appointments for bookings. There many in-built features like payment gateways and shipping options, that allow you to make your store online within minutes.
- Another great thing about WooCommerce is that anyone can use it. You may be a beginner or experienced user, WooCommerce will serve you well. The overall interface is made easy for newcomers, while the REST API and other open development features allow the pros to make any customization they desire.
Easy Digital Downloads
Easy Digital Downloads(EDD) is a fantastic WordPress e-commerce plugin that enables users to sell digital products in a simple and fast way. This plugin is pretty much easy to use and it is equipped with several innovative and powerful features. The presence of these excellent features will help you to easily create a stunning and highly-professional digital goods store.
This WordPress e-commerce plugin is exclusively designed for the sole purpose of selling digital goods. Another important thing to note is that more than hundreds of extensions are available for the Easy Digital Downloads plugin. Apart from that, you will even be able to find plenty of add-ons for services, platforms, and payment gateways.
The overall process is simple as well. As soon as someone makes a purchase, the system automatically sends an email containing the download link to the buyer. And just so you know, EDD comes with built-in Shopping Cart and Checkout Page, so your visitors don’t have to spend much time and can minimize the number of clicks needed.
Why EDD?
- Like we mentioned before, EDD works great with digital downloads and thus, should not be used to sell physical products. It also comes with features that support advanced solutions that’ll help you sell eBooks, music, documents, videos, and other similar items.
- The Extension Library is filled with dozens of add-ons. Therefore, you can create a more advanced digital store, like by allowing frontend submissions or including software licensing.
- You can also include some great payment gateways that will make the day easy for your buyers.
- EDD comes packed with built-in shopping cart, discount and coupon codes, customer management, data collection, and reporting. You’ll also get features like refund tracking, affiliation systems, mailing lists, and much more. All these features make this eCommerce plugin quite special.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is another cloud-hosted eCommerce platform to get your online store up and running quickly. BigCommerce is best suited for small to medium-sized online stores.
Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce comes with an absurd amount of features out of the box, without costly addons or transaction fees. BigCommerce is also shipped with a lot of responsive eCommerce templates to choose from. Having a ton of options to choose from is nice, of course, but may be overwhelming if you’re looking for something more streamlined.
Additionally, BigCommerce has bundled discounting and segmentation tools that let you seamlessly offer promotions for driving more sales.
You can even integrate BigCommerce into your WordPress website. That way you can manage your content with WordPress and eCommerce storefront with your Bigcommerce account. The benefit is that you can offload eCommerce requests on to BigCommerce and free up your WordPress site’s server resources. You’d also like to check out this comparison between BigCommerce vs WooCommerce.
Why BigCommerce?
- You will experience one of the best content management systems working along with one of the top standalone eCommerce platforms out there.
- As some of you may know, BigCommerce works sideways with many payment processing companies. Which means that you are going to get much better credit card processing rates, which is always a welcoming treat.
- Since the eCommerce side of your store is managed by BigCommerce, you don’t have to worry about the speed. And with WordPress coming in the front-end, you can manage your content better and effectively. All this means that your website is going to run pretty fast and you will save money on web hosting.
- One unique thing about BigCommerce is that you don’t have to worry about your website being PCI Compliant as it will be handled by BigCommerce itself. While in the case of WooCommerce, you need to contact your web hosting provider for the same.
- What might attract some users out there is its ability to run multiple sites without a hitch. So, if you’re one of them you can surely opt for it.
Shopify
The fast-growing and immensely popular e-commerce platform, Shopify is capable of handling all your online store requirements without any hassles. It is crucial to realize the fact that Shopify is not exactly a WordPress e-commerce plugin, instead, it can be defined as an all in one solution for your web store related needs. Users even the ones who are new to the world of WordPress e-commerce plugins will be able to easily use Shopify.
One of the most noticeable features of Shopify is that it possesses the ability to handle the selling of both physical and digital goods. Another interesting aspect of Shopify is that it comes with a bulk importer and an inventory editor. These creative additions will make managing inventory a pretty much simple task to users including amateurs.
Why Shopify?
- Whether you’re selling physical goods like shirts or digital downloads like music, Shopify can handle it all.
- Shopify makes it easy for you to accept credit card both online and in person. Their shipping system streamline your fulfillment process with direct integration with popular providers like USPS
- No need to worry about the technical aspects of an eCommerce store such as setting up SSL, integrating with different payment gateways, handling shipping, worrying about taxes, etc. Shopify handles it all.
MemberPress
MemberPress is another popular WordPress e-commerce plugin that is used by thousands of users to sell subscription-based digital services and products. What makes MemberPress WordPress e-commerce plugin unique from all other plugins is that it comes with multiple numbers of integrations options. In fact, this excellent plugin is even capable of integrating with WooCommerce. If you are looking to sell pay per view content, membership plans, or subscription-based products, then you will instantly fall in love with this plugin.
The powerful access control of the MemberPress plugin presents a unique opportunity for users to access content restrictions and levels. However, only the ones who have permission will be able to access these contents. In short, MemberPress is the ideal WordPress e-commerce plugin out there when it comes to building a membership website or selling subscription-based products.
Why MemberPress?
- Allows you to easily sell subscription based products, membership plans, pay per view content, and more.
- Powerful access control allows you to define user access levels and content restrictions. Only users with permissions will be able to access restricted content.
- You can integrate it to your WooCommerce store or LearnDash LMS. There are tons of extensions to connect MemberPress with third-party services.
WP eCommerce
WP eCommerce is the oldest WordPress eCommerce plugin, but it’s not as popular as WooCommerce.
WP eCommerce comes with a lot of features out of the box that let you create a beautiful online store from the ground up. It offers integration with tons of different payment gateways.
Why WP eCommerce?
- WP eCommerce is good replacement for WooCommerce. But if you’re someone who can’t imagine going through the setting process and then WP eCommerce is one for you. The premium customer support, although paid, can be much more helpful than what you would find with WooCommerce.
- You have the ability to expand your online store with the add-ons that WP eCommerce offers. Many WordPress users and business owners enjoy the flexibility these extensions have to offer. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on the add-ons as WP eCommerce comes packed with most features that are necessary for an eCommerce store.
- If you’re someone who is aware of the WooCommerce environment and how the plugin works, then using WP eCommerce should be difficult to start with.
- The main drawback is that it is often reported as buggy which makes people switch their platform to WooCommerce or other eCommerce solutions down the line. Another disadvantage is that you can’t find as many as extensions when compared to WooCommerce or Shopify.
Conclusion
Web designers and developers who are in search of a WordPress e-commerce plugin with greater flexibility, control, and features should consider settling for the WooCommerce plugin. On the other hand, individuals who are trying to sell digital goods should choose the Easy Digital Downloads plugin over other available options.
Finally, online shop owners who are looking for a plugin that will enable them to easily set up a store and sell products online without any hassles will surely be impressed with Shopify. If you are still unable to decide which WordPress e-commerce plugin is the accurate choice for your online store, get in touch with us, as we will be able to help you with that.