When setting up an eCommerce website using WordPress, the right WordPress eCommerce plugin will become a robust platform for you to be able to showcase and sell products. Moreover, it can also manage inventory, handle payments, and more. With its importance, online business owners must pay attention to choosing the right one among the various options available. That will be a strong foundation for your business’s success.
Consider the top criteria to consider when selecting a WordPress eCommerce plugin for your business, and then you might choose the right solution among the names we will suggest in this below post. So, let’s dive in and explore the world of WordPress eCommerce plugins!
Criteria for Choosing the Best WordPress eCommerce Plugin
Beside being easy to use, a considerable WordPress eCommerce plugin should have the following characteristics:
- Necessary features: What are the functionalities your business needs? They could be inventory management, payment gateways, shipping options, or marketing tools. The chosen plugins should offer the necessary features to cope with your own business operation requirements.
- Compatibility: Ensure that the eCommerce plugin is compatible with your WordPress version and other plugins. Otherwise, it might lead to conflicts while different plugins work together in the same platform. The compatible feature will ensure the smooth operation of your online store.
- Pricing: How much does the plugin charge for its premium features and support? It is important to know the total costs to ensure a balance between affordability and the value you get.
- Support: In cases of troubleshooting issues, you must have a reliable support system and a team that can quickly provide you with the necessary documentation, forums, or extensive support.
- Scalability: When your business grows, could the plugin’s capacities still be sufficient for your business? You should select the solution that can accommodate your future expansion plans, like larger product catalogs and increased traffic.
Each business might focus on some particular criteria. A small business might prioritize the affordability and ease of use of a plugin, while larger enterprises might pay more attention to its advanced features and scalability. The right plugin will align with their specific needs for smooth online store operations.
Top 5 Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins
Following are our suggestions for the best WordPress eCommerce plugins. Our analysis will be based on ease of use, pricing, features, and even limitations. Just keep in mind that too many plugins working in a single website can make its performance slow down. Therefore, make sure to only install the most suitable plugins for your business goals.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the most popular plugin for WordPress eCommerce. It is an open-source eCommerce platform that is the easiest to set up and customize.
The default settings of WooCommerce are free. With these settings, you can create a basic online store. This store can accept payments using bank transfers, cash on delivery, checks, or Stripe and Paypal. On its setup wizard, you can easily choose a storefront theme, add products, and enable shipping options. The plugin will help you add essential online store pages, like product pages or checkout.
Pricing: The paid themes and addons of WooCommerce can range from $1 to hundreds of dollars. Its Woo Express plan includes web hosting and direct customer support that you can get from $39 per month (costs $1 for the first 3 months).
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD)
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a WordPress eCommerce plugin specially designed for retailers selling digital products only. It is recommended by many users at WPForms, MonsterInsights, and SeedProd who have created their own digital goods store.
If you are just starting out and are selling license-free goods like eBooks, you can use the free version of EDD. This free plugin comes with the essential elements for you to start selling, including payment via Stripe and PayPal, a full shipping cart, and eCommerce reporting.
Pricing: A free plugin is available. The premium plans start from $89.55 per year. You can also check out SiteGround’s managed EDD hosting to start your Easy Digital Downloads store with just a few clicks.
BigCommerce for WordPress
BigCommerce is well known as a hosted eCommerce platform. However, it has a WordPress plugin for all business sizes, from small businesses, online retailers, to enterprises.
The BigCommerce for WordPress plugin syncs your product catalog from BigCommerce onto your WordPress site. So your online store lives on BigCommerce, while WordPress powers your website content and displays your synced product listings. Also, the software will sync your product catalog every five minutes. If you add a new item, your WordPress site will display it automatically. In addition, it automatically creates the sign-in, cart, account, and other important eCommerce pages, so you don’t have to set them up manually.
Shopify with WP Integration
Shopify does not provide an official plugin for integrating it directly with WordPress websites. To link your Shopify store to a WordPress site, you need to utilize third-party plugins developed by other companies, such as ShopWP. These plugins enable combining Shopify’s online store with WordPress’ website capabilities. Also, you can manually embed some code to add a Shopify Buy button to your WordPress site.
Shopify itself is a robust eCommerce platform with over a hundred of eCommerce themes and a drag-and-drop online builder for easy store setup. Additionally, users can take advantage of its AI tools for product descriptions and chat replies.
Pricing: Starts at $29 per month for unlimited products, with an additional card rate of 2.9% + $30¢ for every online transaction. A free 3-day trial is available, and you can use Shopify for $1 per month for the first 3 months before paying the actual subscription price.
MemberPress
MemberPress is among the great WordPress eCommerce plugins for selling online courses and offering exclusive content to subscribers. This WordPress membership plugin facilitates selling subscription-based digital products, membership plans, or pay-per-view content.
In addition, it integrates with popular payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net, allowing sellers to get paid right away.
MemberPress offers three pricing plans: Premium, Silver, and Gold. These different plans allow you to set up various levels of access to your content. With MemberPress, you don’t have to worry about unauthorized users. Instead, if an unauthorized user tries to view restricted content, MemberPress will automatically redirect them to your pricing page. There, they can choose and purchase a membership plan that gives them the proper access level to view that content.
Pricing: With the charge of $179.50 per year, you can get unlimited members, memberships, restricted content, courses, quizzes, and certificates.
Best WordPress Plugins for eCommerce Enhancement
Besides an eCommerce plugin, website owners can install several additional plugins to boost the functionality and performance of their WordPress eCommerce site.
- SEO plugins help optimize the site to rank higher in search engines and drive more visitors through search.
- Security plugins protect the website and customer data from hacking threats and vulnerabilities.
- Marketing plugins assist with things like email marketing campaigns, integrating social media profiles, and analyzing performance data to better reach and engage their target audience.
- Integration plugins connect popular payment gateways and shipping solutions to streamline the checkout and shipping processes.
To Wrap up
WordPress eCommerce plugins offer various features for users to run their online stores effectively. The mentioned criteria can give you a clear idea of how to get the right plugin.
Here is a summary of the top recommendations for the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress:
- WooCommerce: The most popular eCommerce plugin, which is suitable for online stores with various types of products.
- Easy Digital Downloads: An ideal plugin for selling digital goods such as eBooks, online courses, and media files.
- Shopify: One of the top WordPress eCommerce plugins for businesses operating both physical and online stores.
- BigCommerce for WordPress: Offers comprehensive analytics tools and a robust infrastructure, making it suitable for medium- to large businesses.
- MemberPress: The best eCommerce plugin for WordPress stores selling exclusive content through membership subscriptions.
Among these top picks, you might find the WordPress eCommerce plugin that enables you to effectively manage and grow your online store.
If you want to learn more about eCommerce or relevant concerns to develop your online businesses, feel free to reach out to Tech-One with our experienced and supporting members!