People love to shop online. It is simple, convenient, and allows for quick price comparisons so the buyer gets the best deal every time. Near or far, products can be delivered to a buyer’s front doorstep with the click of a mouse.
Setting up an e-commerce website is the key to boosting sales and reaching a wider audience. Creating an e-store allows anyone with Internet access to step into your online store and buy your products with ease.
If you already have a WordPress website, or are even considering building one, using this popular blogging platform for your e-commerce business is the smart way to go. With thousands of plugins available, many of which are free to use, selling your products online will be straightforward and effortless.
Here is a list of the top 10 WordPress plugins that will help make your online business a success:
WooCommerce
With over 1 million active installs and a striking 4.4/5 stars, WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce plugin available.
This plugin offers the following features:
- Fully compatible with all WordPress themes, including default themes (or customize your own with a WooTheme tailored for this plugin)
- Payment ease using major gateways such as PayPal, BACS, and Cash on Delivery
- Dashboard to watch sales reports, reviews, stock levels and other statistrics
- Coupon codes and discounts
- Complete shipping control
- Tax conversion capability
- And much more
WooCommerce is offered as a free plugin with hundreds of free extensions or, if you need a little extra, there are premium extensions for purchase.
If you want to know exactly how to start selling products online with WooCommerce, be sure to check out our guide to building an online shop for free with WordPress.
WP e-Commerce
As the original WordPress e-commerce plugin, WP e-Commerce has withstood the test of time. Although this plugin is not the most popular around, it has been touted as “…one of the most relied upon open-source solutions for business owners across the globe.”
Some key features include:
- A sell anything plugin (physical products, digital downloads, memberships, and subscriptions)
- Customizable with CSS and HTML
- Shipping control with access to external shipping methods such as UPS or USPS
- Multiple payment options
- Automated marketing – integration to systems like Google Base, Google Analytics, Share This, and more
- Multi-functioning coupon management system
- Quick response support staff for all your technical needs
Even though WP e-Commerce is not rated the highest compared to its ever popular competitor WooCommerce, it definitely has a lot of bang and can get you e-commerce store up and running in no time.
Jigoshop
Developed by those with years of experience, Jigoshop is another old-timer, but is an ever popular e-commerce plugin. With a 4.5/5 star rating, and close to ½ million downloads, Jigoshop offers a quick store setup with lots of fun settings.
This plugin’s impressive elements include:
- Currency and country settings
- Catalog options
- Tax Settings
- Multiple product types such as: physical products, virtual/downloadable products, affiliate products, and grouped products
- Real-time shop performance insight
- Stock and inventory management with alerts
Jigoshop also offers free and commercial plugins that add to the “…broad functionality, easy migration options and professional support packages.” If you are looking for a quick and simple set up for your e-commerce store, this is the way to go.
Cart66 Lite :: WordPress E-commerce
Cart66 is a straightforward, hassle-free plugin making your e-commerce store simple and powerful. There are no fancy settings or designs, simply a plugin to allow you to “…put a product on a page and sell it.”
Do not let its simplicity fool you though. Cart66 offers a variety of unique features to get your store up and running:
- Secure payment using the Mijireh checkout system
- Ability to sell digitally using Amazon S3 integration
- Manage orders easily and set currencies
- Create customized email receipts
- Integrate an affiliate platform
- PCI compliant (no need for SSL certificate)
- Sell from any page or post within website
While Cart66 is offered as a free plugin, if you feel you need a little more as far as features go, you can always upgrade to Cart66 Pro. Integrating with the popular Gravity Forms plugin, Cart66 Pro opens up a host of possibilities for your online business.
Download Cart66 Lite :: WordPress E-commerce
Shopp
Introduced in 2008, Shopp was developed by Ingenesis Limited and is run by volunteers today. This plugin offers a wide variety of features. It is highly professional and designed with developers in mind; however it is also simple enough for the average shop owner to handle. “Not too much, and not too little.”
Here are the most important features included in the Shopp plugin:
- Export to external accounting systems such as Quickbooks ®, Intuit ®, or other spreadsheet programs
- Cart management for shoppers to control their purchases
- Related products smart collection
- Passing PCI vulnerability scans so you know your site is protected
- Promotion system for coupons and discounts
- And a whole lot more
This plugin offers business owners a simple and flexible way to manage their e-commerce shop. You can download this plugin for free or even take it one step further and purchase the Merchant Support package for additional features. Whichever way you choose to go, this plugin is sure to make your business a success.
iThemes Exchange : Simple E-commerce
If you are looking for a super simple plugin that allows you to simply add your products to your site and start selling, iThemes Exchange is the one for you. The idea behind this plugin is to create the user features as Add-ons that you activate in your dashboard. In fact, the developers of this plugin want you to imagine Add-ons “…as features you can turn on and off.” That way you only have what you need for your store and nothing more.
Here is a list of the Add-ons included in the free version of iThemes Exchange:
- Ability to add digital downloads to your store
- Easy to add shipping options
- PayPal and Stripe payment options (as well as options for paying offline via check or cash)
- Coupon generation
- Simple tax conversions
- Dashboard widget to view basic sales statistics
- Multi-item Cart
- Product Categories and Tags for easy grouping of products
Download iThemes Exchange : Simple E-commerce
Ecwid
Used as a shopping cart plugin, Ecwid comes packed with some unique features and boasts a 4.7/5 star rating.
Some of these cool features are:
- Automatic embedding into your existing WordPress site with ease, adjusting to your page size and layout
- Unlimited storage
- Regular backups
- Seamless upgrades and security updates
- Secure checkout
- Sell anywhere: websites, mobile phones, social media, Google Shopping/Yahoo/Shopping.com
- And so much more
Ecwid is praised as being the “…#1 e-commerce app on Facebook with over 40,000 stores.” Reaching 175 countries, supporting over 45 languages, and incorporating over 40 international payment options, this plugin is truly your e-commerce site’s global solution.
eShop
One of the most accessible and feature-packed e-commerce plugins around is definitely eShop. Loaded with options to get your online business going, this free plugin will really do the job.
Here are just a few reasons why this plugin is so great:
- Customer Signups
- Product listing variations
- Digital download capability
- Automatic email system
- Stock control
- Multisite compatible
- Tax conversions
- Several payment gateways
- Plenty of shipping options
- Discount options
- And that is just the start
Easy Digital Downloads
No physical products to sell? Use Easy Digital Downloads as your complete e-commerce plugin for selling digital products only. Rather than include many of the same features the other e-commerce plugins have, Easy Digital Downloads contains only what you need to sell in the digital world, as well as the basics needed to run your store successfully.
Take a look:
- Earning and sales charts
- Bundled products
- Popular payment options including PayPal and Stripe
- Cart system to purchase numerous downloads at once
- Ability to re-download files
- Data export options for CSV and PDF
- Multiple files per downloadable product
- Complete promotional code system
Rated as a 4.9/5 stars, this highly favored plugin can be used to solve all your digital selling needs.
Download Easy Digital Downloads
MarketPress – WordPress e-Commerce
Bringing the power of multiple plugins into one product, MarketPress makes setting up your online store easier than ever before.
This is what the plugin has to offer:
- All major payment gateways accessible accepting all major currencies
- Sell anything from physical products to digital downloads
- Coupons and discounts available
- AJAX cart ready
- Multisite and BuddyPress compatible
- Ability to set up an eBay or Etsy-style store
- Google Universal Analytics for tracking
- Works with any WordPress theme
- Categories and Tags for easy grouping
- Extensive inventory management system
- And the list goes on and on
This all inclusive e-commerce plugin “…includes all the functionality out-of-the-box and requires no paid add-ons.” If you are ready to have it all at your fingertips right now, MarketPress is the way to go.
Download MarketPress – WordPress e-Commerce
CONCLUSION
There are so many choices to make when deciding which plugins to add to your up-and-coming e-commerce website. Each individual store will have different requirements to make it successful in the online world. Use this list of some of the best plugins available and start building your business now. With the right theme, the right plugins, and the right kind of products, your e-commerce store will be booming in no time!
Have you ever used any of the above plugins? Which ones would you add to the list? Let us know in the comment section below!
