With the fact that the market is huge that we had to figure out what free WordPress eCommerce plugins are the best. Our conclusion is that our opinion that that WooCommerce is the top free WordPress Ecommerce plugin. Through our study over the last two weeks, we have narrowed the list down to eight plugins, using EDD (EDD) and Ecwid being ranked second behind WooCommerce. We love WooCommerce because of its excellent integration tools as well as its stunning potential layouts. EDD offers better tools for digital goods, whereas Ecwid seems to be the easiest for those who are new to the field.
The digital world has made launching your own online business simpler than ever. But, there are things you must follow to prepare yourself to be successful. For example having the best ecommerce solution ensures that you’re set to revamp your site with everything from shipping support to the ability to create a checkout. The problem is, what is the best free WordPress eCommerce plugins work ideal in the WordPress website? An easy search in Google provides a wide range of options, to HubSpot up to SendinBlue to email marketing and landing pages.
Then, what solution should you consider?
The best part about WordPress eCommerce plugins is the fact that they work into an existing WordPress website. If you have your own blog and decide to offer books or other products it is possible to do it. We mostly looked at free options, as in our opinion, free options are superior to any paid one.
Alongside existing sites they integrate with the latest WordPress installations, and certain trustworthy WordPress hosting providers provide one-click ecommerce installation which include WooCommerce integrated. After installing an ecommerce plugin and a WordPress site, your WordPress blog or website instantly gains the ability to sell physical and digital items.
Editorial Note: This article was first published on the 24th of October in 2013 and has since been completely redesigned and updated to ensure precision and completeness.
For instance an online blog, business or non-profit could be selling:
- Physical goods such as jewellery, clothing toys or electronics.
- Digital products like music software, templates eBooks, music, and much many more.
- Subscriptions and memberships that require monthly payments.
- Services like web design.
- You may even accept donations in the case of an organization like a church or other non-profit.
The final decision we made was based on several factors, but all in all, WooCommerce (read our WooCommerce review) is totally free for creating a significant online store. Furthermore, the market is dominated by WooCommerce. Developers are creating many themes and extensions that work to the plug-in. The reason behind this is because WooCommere is open-source and gives users the benefits of a vibrant and open development and support communities.
Subscription, digital, and real products are all sold using WooCommerce and it’s among the very few plugins to allows you to expand quickly as your business expands. Alongside several Marketing extensions (email marketing as well as social media) hundreds of most popular payment gateways, as well as vast product pages with variations affiliates, groups, and variants The feature set is superior to the other options offered by free ecommerce plug-ins.
In terms of the other options Some individuals and firms will likely choose them for certain situations. For instance, certain solutions are best suited to situations where an organization is only offering digital downloads. Some are extremely easy to install and manage on a standard blog, which makes them suitable for newbies. In addition some of the plugins work to different CMSs (content management platforms,) offering a little flexibility for bloggers that don’t use WordPress.
A good example is the comparison of WooCommerce against Ecwid. Although the general features of WooCommerce is superior to Ecwid but you’re more likely to go with Ecwid when you’re looking to connect using Weebly, Wix or Joomla. However, WooCommerce only combines with WordPress.
WooCommerce supports digital products, however it’s better to go with EDD for all the products you’re selling. We love WooCommerce for companies which sell physical and digital items because you get the benefit of combining tools.
Given that all the options included can be used for free, then we don’t be discussing pricing. A better tool for comparison would be to look at the cost (and accessibility) of extensions and themes.
EDD has a good collection of extensions, one that supports physical products. However, that’s not the only major reasons why it is at second place: It’s because you have to pay for the extension. For the reason, EDD surpasses several other solutions available: EDD has everything from discounts to coupons to reliable data reporting. The most significant benefit is likely been the extensions library it is the case that there are many options below do not offer any additional capabilities. Also, the EDD checkout is extremely simple and easy to use.
Table of Contents Free WordPress Ecommerce Plugins
- What You Need to Know Before You Be Trusting Us
- Who is this for?
- How I Choosed and tested the best free WordPress Ecommerce plugins
- Our Choice for the Top Free WordPress Ecommerce plugin WooCommerce
- the runner-up Easier Digital Downloads
- How do Competitors Compare
- A Few Final Thoughts and Things to Note
We are the reason you should trust us.
Straight out of college, I began my career in web design. After working on websites or email campaigns for marketing over three years, I shifted to the world of e-commerce. My clients are WordPress themes and plugin developers, in addition to Ecommerce and web design magazines covering everything from coding to the most expert WordPress themes roundups.
A lot of my articles contain reviews, which makes it easier for me to comprehend the things to look at for a digital item like a plug-in. I test the plugins over a period of time, usually using them in my own companies. For instance, I run some WooCommerce websites for a couple of my clients. Easy Digital Downloads has always been my first choice in the world of digital e-commerce.
However, all of my work in e-commerce began with other tools like WP Ecommerce. I was awed by both but over time, I came across my top choices.
In addition after a few years of being part of as a member of the Ecommerce Platforms team, and hundreds of articles about ecommerce I can say with confidence that my experience in the world of e-commerce is a great resource in the field of training both businesses and individuals alike. One example of the first requirements I had as permanent researcher was the need to write an extensive comparison and review of the most effective WordPress member-based plugins. A different tutorial explained the steps needed to build a fully functional marketplace using WordPress along with Marketify. Marketify theme.
In the end, I’ve got the knowledge to evaluate the features of these WordPress eCommerce plugins, breaking down the elements that make them distinctive. Additionally, I am aware of everything you need to know in regards to the implementation of the plugins in order to create an e-commerce website regardless of the product that are sold. Given that the average consumer does not have the time to study the in-depth details of these plugins and platforms, I’ve assumed the position of an expert.
Who are these for?
Many businesses and people earn profits without selling on the internet store. There are physical and retail shops, and bloggers that earn money from affiliate hyperlinks. There are also companies focused on service such as law firms, cleaning services.
On the surface, companies that provide services do not appear as if they’re selling anything on the internet. However, technically speaking, every kind of business offers something regarding online commerce.
Let’s begin at the beginning with the simple. A few companies begin with a brilliant idea for a product. Some would prefer to buy products from a manufacturer or drop shippers. Both require an e-commerce platform. The decision to choose to use WordPress is entirely dependent on the needs of the company you work for. The reason we’re going to discuss WordPress plugins (and the reason they are so popular) is that 19% websites operate on WordPress. There’s a great possibility that a novice or an experienced professional in e-commerce should know these aspects.
The reason we’re trying to discuss WordPress plugins (and the reason why these plugins are so well-known,) is the fact that 19% websites are built on WordPress. So, there’s a high possibility that a novice or an experienced ecommerce professional needs to be aware of these issues.
I would suggest WordPress for those who are looking for an extremely basic system but have concerns about the possibility of scaling. With WordPress it is not necessary to be a pro at coding to use all the themes and plugins that are that are available. If you’d want to learn something about the more sophisticated adjustments, or to employ a freelancer make your site more user-friendly The options are endless.
On the other hand, we also have an even much more “cookie-cutter” platform, such as Shopify. I prefer it due to the simplicity and the features however some users find that the customization is on the floor.
In general, companies that are solely focused on e-commerce ought to seriously consider WordPress as a platform, because you don’t know when you’d want to make changes to your code or speed up the server space. Additionally, plugins like they allow you to always improve the functionality of your website.
We also love these WordPress eCommerce plugins that bloggers can use. The CMS that bloggers use for their blogs was WordPress for a long time since installation can take around two minutes . You are able to get themes as well as plugins, and a broad variety types of formats for your posts. Thus, the most effective WordPress eCommerce plugins are compatible with your blog’s current one for the event that you intend to sell the eBook or webinar.
The third group includes traditional brick and mortar businesses and services. WordPress Ecommerce plugins might not be relevant to your situation at the moment, but if you think of offering services, or improving your business in the online space the plugins will give you the tools you need. For instance the local hardware store may decide in the future that they’d prefer to sell Weber grills through their site because of the high consumer demand. A WordPress website and plugin could accomplish the task.
In the end, we suggest these plugins for those who do not want to blow their budget. It’s not necessary to pay an amount to download these plugins, which is cool considering you have the ability to test their functionality before committing. Furthermore, services such as WooCommerce offer a variety of free themes and plug-ins that are available to the entire open free community. The possibilities are endless for any business that has the funds.
How I chose and tested the best free WordPress Ecommerce plugins
Now that we know who should be considering an e-commerce plugin for WordPress as well as some of my initial ideas on options now is the time to examine the top 8 tools I tested to conduct this test:
From the beginning I placed all the plugins on a level playing field. Yes, I’ve used a few in the past, and others I’ve had no experiences with. But, I started the process by imagining I was an absolute novice. That way, I would not be biased and was able to move around and find and test the features as one who wants for as much information as they can.
For the beginning I chose three essential features to determine whether any of the options have been eliminated. Also, I wanted to test the general user-friendliness of these plugins since this is a major factor for the majority of companies searching for an e-commerce plugin.
Three essential characteristics to consider are:
- Some kind of offer that allows you to sell both physical and digital items If you are selling physical items The features are less complicated as you’re searching for pages for the product, taxes shipping, variants, and tax information. The majority of plugins provide these features. I don’t care about whether the physical functionality of a product can be achieved by an extension as long as it is able to do what it is supposed to do. In the case of digital products that’s where a lot of the solutions do not work. I’m sure that many businesses are seeking a second-rate digital selling system and sometimes, you’ll want more. The tools required include automated email messages with download links, profiles of customers to allow later downloads, and limitations on downloads.
- A stunning shopping cart The problem when you call a shopping cart gorgeous is that it’s pretty in my opinion and not yours. But, we can see some key elements in the store cart, which makes it attractive and easy to use. The first place to consider is the location you’re directed to for checkout. It’s important that the checkout take place on your website so that the user doesn’t get redirected to a third party. It’s also great to have the shopping cart have just one or two steps, and simple and simple forms. The branding should be customizable. I’d like to not get any branding from actual plugin providers. It’s your online store and not theirs. The simplicity is enormously with shopping carts. Does the checkout have lots of white, clean space? Does it remove any unnecessary distractions, such as popups and advertisements?
- A library for extensions to enhance the features of the base theme One of the reasons why I recommend WordPress to many users is due to its community of open source. This means that you have all kinds of themes from third-party developers to plugins that increase the functionality of your website. The beauty of WordPress plugins is the fact that they are able to be expanded. Since all eCommerce websites are different from one another This alleviates the hassle which is usually associated from a cookie-cutter approach. For instance, you may be able to incorporate the membership plugin to allow regular payments, or perhaps you’re looking for an option to accept payments using an alternative payment method. Most of the time there is an extension available using the appropriate plugins. In my assessment I did not consider WordPress’s WordPress plugin library to be the extension libraries.
With these three essential attributes, the list is reduced a bit. What are the ones that are still in use?
Then, I was kicked out of the house:
- Cart66 Cloud from taking donations, to making digital magazine publications available for download, Cart66 has several options that make it appealing. But, I’m not able to ignore the possibility that the extension library isn’t offered.
- SendinBlue The HTML0 version of SendinBlue might not appear to be an ordinary WordPress eCommerce plugin but it’s a powerful tool that can create a significant difference in your shop. This innovative tool helps you communicate with your customers. It doesn’t matter if you’re offering support to customers or encouraging business growth online, SendinBlue can help. This tool lets you manage all of your marketing campaigns via the WooCommerce store.
- Web eCommerce Shopping cart is far from basic, resembling a basic, HTML website checkout from many years ago. Yes, you are able to personalize the shopping cart, as long as you know how to code however I’m in search of more appealing designs right from the box.
There are now four Ecommerce plugins to pick from. We’ll look at some of the most detailed features that make these platforms shine. While I’d personally suggest all of them for ecommerce business owners or professionals but we’ll take a examine the features that differentiate males from the girls.
The following sections focus on the flexibility of selling and overall potential. We’ll be interested in knowing if you are able to effectively sell complex memberships. What about payments gateways? Are they reliable and have a lot for consumers to select from?
We’ll examine each benefit to determine how WordPress eCommerce platforms comes the best.
Without more ado…the additional features that I looked into included:
- integrations that work with trusted payment gateways Payment gateways need two things: quantity and quality. Thus, I went through the variety of payment gateways offered by every plugin and examined to determine whether the services were decent. A lot of times, we find online stores that select one or two payment gateways as default. I’m not a big fan of this as each retailer must be able to conduct their own research to determine which payment rates are the most affordable for their specific sales figures.
- Themes specifically designed to work with the plug-in An excellent illustration for this would be WooCommerce. If you choose the wrong WordPress theme that isn’t designed specifically for WooCommerce then you could end up with issues, or your shopping cart or product display won’t be able to satisfy customers. So, we need to make sure that there is a place online where we can find third-party developers of themes who thought of a plugin when creating the theme.
- Advanced capabilities for users (wish lists and saving carts or creating profiles) – When a user visits your website, they may only wish to make a purchase using an account that is only for guests. But, the most loyal customers, those which generate revenue need profiles to save their previous searches and carts. A few of them are associated with profiles of users, like wish lists or a space in which they can download and redownload their digital goods. It’s also beneficial for users to have profiles that allow them to look for shipping rates and estimated time of arrival.
- Integrations with other CMSs It’s interesting to note that, surprisingly that’s where WooCommerce is the worst offenders. It’s not a major issue (especially given that this article is focused on WordPress plugins) however, certain of the plugins listed on this list are better suited for alternative CMSs.
- Advertising tools (like affiliate marketing and email marketing) – The good thing about advertising tools for marketing is, if the feature you want to use isn’t available within the plug-in, you’ll be able to go to the extensions library to find the features you require. That’s the reason we place so much importance on the extensions library. Marketing tools include everything across Facebook stores to buttons for sharing social media. Also, you should ensure that your store offers an email sign-up form that includes an integration with MailChimp and AWeber.
- Tools for selling subscriptions and Memberships If you’re thinking to launch an online membership or subscription site then you must consider a diverse range of options. These features should become your top first priority when you’re establishing your website. However certain companies are handing subscriptions or memberships as a secondary product. This means that you must concentrate on the primary settings for your product including payment gateways, payment options, as well as marketing and sales tools. One thing to look out for in memberships is content drip. It’s a method to reveal information as the user moves through the website (like in the online courses).
- A powerful customer management system including viewing customer past transactions to finding out the types of customers who purchase what kinds of items The customer management section helps you the customers you market to and assist them with service. It’s true that you’re more likely to improve the number of customers you convert if you’ve got an entire spreadsheet and graph of the reasons why customers tend to purchase one item over another. You can then mail direct messages to the customer , with pertinent details. I also like the feature of customer management to assist your customers. If someone contacts you regarding the latest purchase, it is best that your system is quick to relay the information.
- Discount promo codes and coupons Discount promo codes and coupons are often somewhat different between digital and physical products. This is also true for subscriptions and memberships as well as selling online services. It all starts with a straightforward area that allows users to enter their promotional codes and a place to create the codes and make sure they’re not misused. My preferred discounting system offers more options than you’ll ever need. For instance, I would like to be able to make a coupon valid on a specific quantity of product or amount that is being spent.
- Advanced reports Advanced reporting WordPress offers a sleek and easy dashboard. This means you can view the stats of your website without having to go to a separate tab. Regarding WordPress eCommerce plugins, I would like to keep a record of my basic online selling statistics, and more sophisticated pages for viewing charts and graphs, as well as exportable files. For instance gross and net sales figures should be displayed in the dashboard, and the breakdown of refunds could be found elsewhere. I’ve also noticed that a few plugins for e-commerce provide reports using mobile applications, which moves the reporting up a couple of pegs according to my books.
- Tax and shipping calculators One of the most effective methods to reduce the rate of abandoning your cart is by being upfront and transparent about the price. This includes displaying taxes and shipping charges prior to the last page of your checkout. Sometimes this is done in a way that is automatic, but more frequently, calculators are used to allow customers to input their zip code.
- Variable options for products Product variants can be used for both digital and physical products. This means that you can offer different options such as sizes, colours and even shirt sizes for your clients. Other variables of your product could tie into the grouping of items and, in most cases, customers will receive the chance to save money.
Our Choice for the Top Free WordPress Ecommerce plugins WooCommerce
After examining the above features, WooCommerce reigns over all other competitors in my review. Like I said previously, you shouldn’t instantly consider that it’s the best option for you. Are you able to make a safe option if you’re going blind? Yes. But do you consider the kind of sales you’ll be conducting prior to making a choice? Absolutely.
I’m sure we’ve jumped on the price earlier (since the majority available plugins and themes are absolutely free,) but WooCommerce has the largest collection of extensions and themes that are no cost or at a very low cost. A lot of themes and plugins are created through WooCommerce. Some are made by the WooCommerce business (such such as Boutique themes or Woo Sidebars,) while others are from all over the internet, allowing possibilities for you to build an online store that is fully functional without having to break your budget.
WooCommerce even recently released an Facebook to WooCommerce extension that lets you quickly create targeted Facebook advertisements based on products you sell on your store. Then, it lets you connect with new customers through Facebook analyze the results and then create a fully-fledged Facebook store without the need to input any additional information that isn’t already present on your WooCommerce website.
As we’ve mentioned, some of the other e-commerce plugins include themes and extensions also, however none of them match the amount and quality of WooCommerce.
In light of how I dissected a vast range of features that could be of the greatest importance to store owners who own online stores Let’s review of how WooCommerce did in each category:
- Integrates with most trusted payment gateways WooCommerce has five pre-installed payment gateways. For instance, you can accept direct bank transfers or cash on delivery, as well as checks. Additionally, it permits credit card transactions via Simplify Commerce and PayPal. Smaller businesses will be well with these options, however I believe that large-sized and medium-sized stores need more options. That’s why WooCommerce had some free and paid extensions for options like Amazon Payments, Stripe, Authorize.Net, PayPal Pro/Advanced/Express, FirstData, and Braintree. Additionally, you can increase the amount of payment options accepted as Apple Pay is now accepted via WooCommerce.
- Themes designed specifically to work with the plugin If you’re opting for a theme created with WooCommerce as well as a high-end product from a third party developer, the options are getting increasingly numerous every day. For instance, websites such as Tesla Themes, Elegant Themes and ThemeForest all offer WooCommerce themes. Additionally, you can find many WooCommerce extension extensions available on the WooCommerce website or on other sites.
- Advanced capabilities for users (wish lists or saving carts or creating an account) – Users can log in to your website with WooCommerce and WordPress however most of the other features for users can be achieved through extension and other add-ons. For example wishes lists and reward programs can be handled by extensions, while complete profiles for users can be set up easily without the assistance of an extension. Additionally the upgraded gallery of products allows customers to navigate through thumbnails more quickly and move around images to get better views.
- Integrations with different CMSs The only limitation is that WooCommerce is only compatible with WordPress. Like we’ve said before it is better to go using a different e-commerce plugin in case you don’t have a stake in WordPress or already have a website running an alternative CMS.
- Advertising tools (like affiliate marketing and email marketing) – This is another area that extensions can be used. Loyalty marketing can be found as an add-on. Email marketing social media buttons, email marketing and much more are accessible through WooCommerce themes and extensions. The built-in marketing tools are SEO coupon codes and discounts review of products, as well as the verification of owners.
- Tools for Selling memberships and subscriptions Bookings, subscriptions and memberships are all available as extensions. They’re not the most expensive extensions that you’ll discover, but you can purchase them all with one-time payments, which means that getting your money back is much easier with only a handful of sales.
- Effective customer management The most common method to look up the details of your customers using WooCommerce is by looking through the history of customers. Through WooCommerce, users get access to all the personal data they enter into your website, including the address, telephone number email address and many more. The information about payment is secure however exporting customer lists and determining which customers are important to your business’s success is simple.
- Discount promo codes and coupons This was mostly addressed in the Marketing Tools tab above. Overall the discount and promotion support is quite excellent. It is possible to connect to MailChimp through extensions. In addition it’s not necessary to examine any other options since they were mentioned above.
- Advanced reports – It’s all about what you’d like the WordPress dashboard to appear like. I’d imagine that the majority of stores have a basic stats section on the dashboard. This is completely possible with WooCommerce. Additionally every one of the report on sales (from net sales to gross) could be exported directly from the dashboard and shared with other people within your business. One of the most important reports focuses on the price of the goods sold. Additionally, you can also receive an email notification whenever a new report on sales is created.
- Tax and shipping calculators – The choice of an option for shipping takes place during checkout. A shipping calculator is also integrated within WooCommerce. It is possible to choose a variety of shipping destinations that are possible to activate and it is possible to display various shipping options right inside the cart. The great thing is that all the options are displayed prior to the final page. You can also hide the shipping calculator as well. WooCommerce offers tax calculations that are custom for both the client. Not only that, the geo-location tax calculator draws data from GPS on mobile devices to determine exactly where the individual is (for monitoring taxes they are paying).
- Variable options for products options for products WooCommerce provides the best variables for products and they’re controlled on the pages for creating products. It is important to be sure to set a product variable when creating a product. Variables can be used to create physical and digital products.
The Winner: Easy Digital Downloads
The fact that we have put the Easy Digital Downloads at the second spot raises the question: was there something that took it from the top position? It’s not because Easy Digital Downloads serves as the most effective solution to sell digital products. It’s able to be physical goods systems however, we prefer it as the primary recommendation for sellers selling digital goods.
Look over the below bullet points to find out the places where Easy Digital Downloads lost in comparison to WooCommerce (along with the places it did well):
- Integrates with one of the reliable payment gateways Processing payments securely is simple using EDD. You get options like Stripe. Braintree, Authorize.net, PayPal, Bitpay and more. Both the quantity and quality seem good, but you’ll need to pay for some of them extensions. This isn’t the case with the most popular WooCommerce payments gateways.
- Themes designed specifically exclusively for this plugin and the EDD extension library offers a variety of high-quality extensions. Some of them are EDD message, ConvertKit, MailChimp, and Software Licensing. The add-ons generally cost just a few dollars, and you won’t be able to locate several third-party plugins. The library is the main source for the extensions. It doesn’t require any special theme to enable EDD to function.
- Advanced capabilities for users (wishlists and saving carts or creating profiles) – Each user is assigned a profile, which they create when they check out or whenever they wish to. The customer’s records are linked to profiles, so that users can are aware of which downloads they might wish to download later on. Additionally, it helps in improving your customer service in the sense that it displays what customers purchased recently.
- Integrations with several CMSs Like WooCommerce, EDD does not work with any CMS apart from WordPress. For some it’s okay, but if you already have a site built that is based on something similar to Weebly, EDD can’t help you here.
- Advertising tools (like affiliate marketing and email marketing) – Various newsletter extensions can be used using options like MailChimp as well as AWeber. Additionally, you can find extensions that will help you maintain a robust collection of tools for marketing (such as social media buttons, SEO , and websites for landing).
- Tools for Selling subscriptions and memberships – EDD provides quite a number of subscription and membership accessories. One example is that one add-on gives you the option to accept regular payments. The Bookings add-on also works as well.
- Effective customer management Customer management in HTML0 – EDD offers an impressive set of customer administration systems in the industry. A separate file is created for each customer and you are able to view and edit any customer you’d like. The reason EDD is so effective for managing your customers is that it comes with a section that provides a lifetime value for each customer for each one of your customers. In addition, it links the customer’s records to their profiles, it is impossible to do wrong with EDD for this purpose.
- Discount promos and codes Discount coupons and promotions are very similar with WooCommerce as EDD provides you with the opportunity to select flat rates or percentage-based coupons. Select the items that you wish to offer discounts on and then set automatic time frames for the start and end of your coupon. There are also limitations on who is able to use coupons, and set the minimum amount of carts.
- Advanced report – EDD is a monitor of sales and downloads and allows you to view earnings by date range or categories. It also has a brief statistics view in the Dashboard, however the true magic is in the main report area. Other reports provide data on the amount of taxes collected per year as well as exportable information.
- Tax and shipping calculators Calculators are not included in the EDD download that comes with default. However the simple Shipping extension helps you in understanding the process of shipping and also letting people know the amount they’ll have to be paying for shipping. I’m yet to locate tax calculators that work with EDD however I’ll keep you informed if one does appear in the course of my investigation.
- Variable options for products There’s not going to find anything that is built into EDD which can assist with products that are variable. However, the Variable Pricing Switcher extension comes with you with an additional extension. It allows customers to quickly move between various pricing options when they visit your site. If, for instance, you’d like to provide three payment plans for a selection of WordPress themes, users can choose the plans they prefer. The variable extension to a product works well with pricing tables as it allows you to discuss the differences between the plans and also guide the users through the actual payment process.
What is the way the Competitors Compare
Let’s revisit the list below of WordPress Ecommerce plugins:
The Best Pick to use Free WordPress Ecommerce Plugins
WooCommerce is our favorite as it’s suitable for novice as well as advanced users. It’s not going to take long on the installation and the free theme and extension options are difficult to resist. We’d want to look into different categories such as simplicity digital downloads, reports, and also for those who want to solicit donations. It’s all about the product you’re trying sell, therefore some platforms may be better than others in various areas.
Our Choice for Simple: Ecwid
We’ve already discussed Ecwid however, you can choose any of the other plugins to have a simple checkout. Jigoshop may be one of my least-favorite carts, however the simplicity of the backend might be more than enough to make up for it. In the end, I’d suggest starting with Ecwid and then go to Jigoshop if you’re a newbie.
As you can see, the checkout on Ecwid has ample white space as the user goes through the checkout process. I’m a huge fan of restricting the checkout process to the smallest number of pages feasible, but in some cases that’s not feasible. So, Ecwid has a progress bar that appears at the end of the checkout informing customers of the distance they’re from complete. For instance, you could view the steps needed to complete the purchase, the shipping information along with payment information, and finally making an purchase.
Our Top Pick of Scalability BigCommerce
BigCommerce can be without doubt one of the most popular eCommerce platforms available for scaling. The statistics will speak for themselves: the average BigCommerce customer has the growth rate of 28% over the course of a year.
It is not just possible to set your online store, but you can also avail many built-in features as well as data tools that can will go a long way to helping to grow your business. BigCommerce is best suited for entrepreneurs who have an established company or a rapidly growing online store.
One of the amazing advantages in BigCommerce is the capability for business owners to sell products from anyplace. The multichannel integrations they offer are amazing. You can sell through every channel:
- Facebook,
- Instagram,
- Pinterest,
- eBay,
- Amazon,
Just to mention just a few!
By using the BigCommerce dashboard, you will be able to manage all your orders through the comfort of one locationWhat’s not to love? !
Read our complete BigCommerce review here. WordPress analysis right here!
Our Choice for the Most most efficient and cleanest dashboard, as well as the strongest reports: SendinBlue
We’ve mentioned SendinBlue earlier among our best options for eCommerce. While this plugin may not include the identical inventory management tools and other features that are found in the traditional WordPress eCommerce plugins but it still has plenty to provide.
Contrary to other solutions like ECWid eCommerce, SendinBlue is all about building relationships with your targeted customers. If you’re seeking to get frequent sales and repeat customers email marketing is important.
With SendinBlue it is possible to transform the experience of customers using your online store, obtain instant reports and many more. You can also create personalized subscription forms that increase the chances of attracting more people to sign up for your newsletter. Drag-and-drop is similar to a variety of top-quality tools available currently. It lets you create your email easily, with no prior knowledge of Javascript.
SendinBlue can also make it simple to create and manage newsletters to allow you to send out more distinctive messages to your intended audience. Like Yoast assists you in improving your visibility on results pages of search engines, SendinBlue improves your appearance as a respected and trustworthy brand.
SendinBlue’s WordPress plugin WordPress is offered as part of a plan that is free and you don’t need to think about additional costs until you’ve sent over 300 emails every day. Plans for premium plans begin at a fair cost of 25 dollars for a month.
Our Top Choice to Market Your Product: HubSpot
HubSpot All-in-One marketing is a powerful tool that brings the capabilities that comes from the HubSpot Growth Platform to WordPress. More than 100,000 companies make use of HubSpot to engage, attract and impress their potential customers and customers. It is designed to help you manage and improve your marketing, sales and other services.
It lets you create and add stunning forms and popups on your website within minutes using the simple drag-and-drop builder.
If you already have your own forms and you’re happy with them, too! Your forms will integrate with the HubSpot CRM (read our HubSpot CRM review) to allow you to quickly segment the contacts you have into groups, and track every interaction they’ve made with your site.
You can also integrate live chat and setup chatbots that will automatically respond to visitors’ queries even while you’re offline.
It is possible to send automated emails whenever someone fills in an application form or will send you an instant chat that allows you to be always in conversation with prospective customers. All emails are recorded into your CRM. The CRM will notify you whenever you receive an email from someone who opens it and clicks on the link , so you can keep track of the level of engagement. The built-in analytics can help to improve your marketing strategies overall.
HubSpot’s plug-in integrates with more than 200 tools which include Shopify, Stripe, Zapier and other forms, as well as tools for marketing via email.
Our Top Pick of Digital Products: Simple Digital Downloads
EDD is the top choice of digital merchandise. This solution was designed specifically for the sale of physical goods. All you need to install is add items onto your website’s dashboard. Both the Buy Now as well as add to Cart buttons come along with EDD and customers can save their carts as well as their old files to return to download them in the future. Another major reason EDD is the most effective solution for digital products is the feature of access control for files. In essence, this means you can control the number of users can get the files, and stop the download for a specified amount of time.
It is the iThemes Exchange plugin is yet another plugin that comes with several features to help you sell your digital products. Physical and digital downloads as well as items as well as memberships are all sold using the exchange system. Additionally the product pages on the internet contain settings for product tags and categories, purchase notifications and emails sent out after the purchase is made.
Our Top Pick to Collect Donations and Create a Digital Magazine: Cart66
Cart66 was acquired recently in the past by WP Easy Cart, and changed the name of its business in the name to Cart66 Cloud. The company developed Cart66 Cloud, a WordPress eCommerce-related plugin, which is aimed at providing smart experiences to people of all backgrounds. This service can cut down on the number of plugins or extensions required to make your website more effective.
While it’s not easy to compete with something like WooCommerce in the field of WordPress eCommerce plugins Cart66 is a bit distinctive to provide. It’s perfect for those who want to keep their website light and easy to use. Another great benefit to Cart 66 is that the company has access to its own market place of suppliers.
In terms of pricing, Cart66’s main software is available for free However, you’ll have to purchase the premium version, which costs $49 per month if seeking access to the best features. It’s worth noting that Cart66 offers the most excellent customer service available in the present. If you’re concerned about receiving assistance to start your website, Cart66 might be the best option.
Cart66 is different from the rest because every feature you require to sell are integrated into Cart66’s plugin. It’s not necessary to look for and set up additional plugins such as Automattic or other e-commerce business tools. Cart66 offers a no-cost version to begin and the possibility of upgrading to something that is more robust once you’re at ease. In addition the email marketing offered by Cart66 is quite effective by itself.
Another major benefit to Cart66 is that the program has more than 100 built-in payment gateways and is compatible with physical and digital goods, meaning you don’t have a limit to the products you can offer.
A Final Thought and Things to Consider About the WordPress Ecommerce Plugins for Free. WordPress Ecommerce plugins
In comparison with other plugins, my eCommerce WordPress study gave me the answers I needed much faster than the usual. In the end, exploring WooCommerce for a short time will show you how effective it can be. Furthermore, Easy Digital Downloads is absolutely sleek in the sense that it allows you to put digital goods on your site!
If you’re still unsure about this, here’s what I’d suggest: Look at the CMS you’d like to make use of. If you’re currently running websites on other platforms than WordPress think about Ecwid before attempting any other. If you’re planning to use WordPress then download WooCommerce. Download the WooCommerce plugin and begin playing around with it to determine whether you like it.
Create a page on your product for one of your products You can try connecting to a gateway for payments and then look into different extensions to determine which ones can aid you.
Easy Digital Downloads is the best choice for products that are not physical however I suggest that installing this plugin onto your website to see how it is working. I’m not able to say for certain whether one will work better for your business than another, yet I will provide the details and features you may be interested in.
Create a list of the features that are most important to you. Take the time to review the features available on certain platforms. After that, you can download the ones that meet your requirements and then uninstall them when you feel it’s not going to be a good fit.
There is no way that any of the WordPress Ecommerce plugins are likely be a burden on your site So, go ahead and create a separate and secure storefront for testing. Should you happen to have concerns you’d like to be answered regarding the e-commerce plugins that work with WordPress Please write a note in the comments below.