WordPress is currently the world’s leading CMS used to create a website’s content and is currently being used by more than 45% of the web portals that may be accessed on the internet today. It is highly regarded for its simplicity, versatility, and good support base. WordPress plugins are very useful in this regard. With their help, WordPress can easily be prepared to create any kind of website, including a professional eCommerce store kind of website.
As with any website, creating an online store can involve many aspects, all of which must be well integrated. It is important to consider orders, catalogs, payments, customer protection, goods delivery, notifications, and more.
Fortunately, if you’re using a WordPress website to host your eCommerce features, this is easily doable with the help of a WordPress eCommerce plugin.
In this article, let’s examine some of the most powerful plugins for WordPress eCommerce sites. We will analyze the various features of each website builder, as well as their strengths and weaknesses so that you can decide which one is best for your business.
What are WordPress eCommerce Plugins?
A WordPress eCommerce plugin can be a great advantage if you set up an eCommerce business, which will be an additional component of your WordPress platform.
This plugin can be utilized to ease the process of selling products on the website for those who do not have technical knowledge in coding or programming. It offers everything required in order management, customer management, payment gateway and spaces, inventory or cart, notifications, and other features related to an eCommerce store.
Moreover, some of the available eCommerce plugins come with extra options such as integration with external platforms, automation, taxes, and shipping, as well as more than one payment gateway – this makes the plugins even more helpful for evolving and polishing your eCommerce site.
Features of an eCommerce Plugin
We truly understand that tons of WordPress eCommerce plugins are available, which is the primary reason why deciding on a specific one may cause quite a dilemma. When choosing an eCommerce plugin, ensuring that the particular plugin you acquire can provide the specific features you want is important.
For instance, while some plugins are suitable for selling products in the digital space, others are appropriate for selling tangible goods. Thus, to arrive at the proper decision, it may be necessary to define the product type and the characteristics necessary to sell it.
Here are some elements to consider when selecting the best eCommerce plugin for your business. These features include:
- Multiple Payment Methods
- Third-party apps and integrations
- Full shopping cart
- Rate, tutorials, and support of such additions.
- Design and customization
These are the basic things you will need for creating an eCommerce business. Therefore, check for these features when selecting suitable plugins for your WordPress site.
05 Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins
Based on the purpose of eCommerce plugins and the most important issues to consider, it is now time to take a closer look at our Picks of the 05 best WordPress eCommerce plugins. These criteria included the usability or ease of use to perform the set tasks, the functionalities provided, the constraints, and the costs.
1. WooCommerce
When we choose an eCommerce plugin for a WordPress site, WooCommerce is the best option for selling physical products.
Looking at digital products specifically, ProfilePress may be preferable as this platform has very good support for such sales.
WooCommerce is one of the most versatile tools enabling your website to turn into an online store and manage all your products. Also, unlike some other processors, it does not cost a dime. It has many benefits, like multiple languages and currencies, shipping rules, and customization possibilities. It is user-friendly and supportive enough to start selling on a WordPress site.
Key Features of Woocommerce:
- Inventory management
- Acceptance of other popular payment platforms
- Shipping and tax calculations
- These books are physical and digital products that support.
- Extensive addons library
Pros of using Woocommerce:
- Flexibility and customization options
- Free core plugin
- Link some features and many extension
- It could be said that SourceForge serves an active community of developers.
The main flaw of WP Woocommerce is that it has several potential issues as it grows. Your hosting or server will also have to expand as you get more trafficked and stocked up the store you are operating.
Woocommerce Pricing: Free of cost with more features available to premium theme, extension, and add-on users.
2. ProfilePress
ProfilePress is an eCommerce WordPress membership plugin that helps you establish strong eCommerce sites. With this plugin, you can sell digital products and downloads, tangible products and services, membership rates, and almost any other type of goods on a site based on WordPress.
ProfilePress lets you integrate one-time or recurring payment acceptance through PayPal, Stripe, Paystack, etc. It offers mail subscription, social sign-in, email subscribers, users, and notifications and is compatible with other plugins such as Woocommerce.
ProfilePress is a fantastic apparatus for creating a very special eCommerce website. It enables the owner of a WordPress site to control every aspect of its look and functions, including customer registration and login, emails, and even users’ profiles, payments, and taxes.
It facilitates the sale of physical and digital goods and provides basic eCommerce functionalities, which can be extended by integrating with WooCommerce, one of the most popular eCommerce plugins.
Critical features of ProfilePress:
- Inventory management
- Multiple payment gateways
- Reporting and analytics
- Support of firms engaged in physical and digital product production
- Coupons and discounts functionality
Pros of using ProfilePress:
- Customer support from developers.
- Easy setup
- Extensive documentation and tutorials
- Free core plugin
- Flexibility and customization
The one significant disadvantage I found about ProfilePress is the extra functionalities you may not require on an eCommerce site, especially if you want to create a basic site.
ProfilePress pricing: There is a free version with various features requiring payments starting from $129 per year.
3. Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart
Do you know how to integrate your online store more easily with WordPress and other social media sites? If you want a multichannel shopping cart for your online store, then you do not have to go far, as the Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart, in particular, will suffice.
It is also an online solution or SaaS eCommerce platform where your store information is stored on their servers. You need not bother about updates or software maintenance. Also, the Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart feature is not confined to one WordPress store as it can be synchronized in many platforms and online stores.
Key Features of Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart:
- Full integration of Ecwid panel with WordPress
- Incorporates support for Google Ads
- No transaction fees
- Social eCommerce integration
Pros of Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart:
- Sell on multiple marketplaces
- This is a mobile app for store management through an eCommerce mobile app.
The major disappointments when using the Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart are that the free version has only 10 products, the configuration panel is not for beginners, and the features you can use are limited depending on the subscription.
Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart Pricing: Free of cost with paid options starting from $19 per month.
4. Easy Digital Downloads
One of the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugins is Easy Digital Downloads, which is especially suited for selling digital products such as ebooks, software, and training.
In terms of functionality, it provides all the essential widgets you need to organize your customers, create subscription plans, generate purchase receipts, and much more. Although other plugins can also handle electronic product sales, they normally come with several extra options and functions you may not require. Easy Digital Downloads was solely developed for this purpose.
Key features of Easy Digital Downloads:
- Unlimited digital products
- Ease of use
- Excellent support system
- Third-party integrations
- Multiple payment gateways
- Analytics and Reporting
Pros of using Easy Digital Downloads:
- Compatible with all its themes and other plugins
- Easy to setup
- A vibrant and dynamic community of one
- Extensive documentation and tutorial
However, Easy Digital Downloads may have a major weakness because the plugin is tailored for selling digital products. By now, if you intend to sell both physical and downloadable products, this plugin cannot be an ideal solution for your site.
Easy Digital Downloads Pricing: The basic version is free; however, paid plans start at $99—$50/year.
5. WP EasyCart Shopping Cart & eCommerce Store
To small businesses, WP EasyCart is the best open-source plugin for online selling. It is formidable, simple to employ, and comprehensively provides the backend of the entire business transaction to enable quick and easy selling.
WP EasyCart allows you to start selling your products from your Facebook page and Instagram and accept payment from different gateways. Moreover, it has unlimited product listing options and order and management tools that can be easily integrated into any WordPress theme.
Key features of WP EasyCart:
- Support for multiple product types
- Social media integration
- Store management with a PC application and an application for mobile devices.
- Subscription and recurring billing.
Pros of using WP EasyCart:
- Easy to setup
- Low learning curve
- Can nest into other plugins and themes
The key disadvantage of WP EasyCart is the lack of functions in the free version and an application fee of 2% of the transaction amount. This plugin seems helpful, but one must acquire a premium plan to utilize it fully.
WP EasyCart Pricing: Comes with a free trial and paid starting at $69 monthly based on their chosen subscription plan.