If you decide against going with an ecommerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce there’s always WordPress to check out. WordPress is of course a blogging and content management platform that due to a lot of open-source development has the ability to turn into just about anything. This is why many WordPress plugins and themes (templates) have emerged in recent years from major developers in the WordPress community. While I don’t think these solutions trump any complete ecommerce solutions such as those previously mentioned it can still work for a website that’s looking to just sell a few things within their store and don’t need fancy tools. Check out some of the best ecommerce plugins for WordPress below updated regularly.
WP e-Commerce
One of the original and most popular plugins for Ecommerce this plugin covers all of the basics while still allowing customization. WP e-Commerce includes payment gateways, marketing, SEO, shipping options, and more. It may not be best for a beginner due to not having themes included but you can completely customize the CSS and HTML which is key for store owners who like to do everything from scratch.
MarketPress
MarketPress is a free plugin in the WordPress plugin directory that helps turn your WordPress into a simple but powerful online store. It has all of the regular features you would expect but also includes the compatability with BuddyPress and WPMU to have Etsy style stores on your site if you’re wanting to go down that path. So whether you need a complete shopping cart solution with taxes and shipping built-in or more unique features like Amazon comparisons for out of stock products they’ve got you covered.
WooCommerce
The plugin from the popular Woo Themes company that can turn any WordPress platform into an enterprise-level online store. The plugin offers payment gateway integration, marketing tools, reporting tools, and just about everything else you could think of. The plugin is free but Woo Themes offers numerous premium templates to give your store the professional look.
Market Theme
Market Theme is actually a WordPress theme with a few plugins built-in that can turn your WordPress CMS into a full ecommerce solution. It has payment gateways, promotion options such as sale pricing and coupons, multiple image upload, easy product management, and point-and-click customization. The plugin and theme is currently priced at around $55.
Other Plugins You May Need:
WordPress SEO by Yoast
A few of the plugins are a complete solution to build an online store including SEO but if not then you need to check out WordPress SEO by Yoast. This plugin covers every aspect you need to get your website ranking well in the search engines by making your your title shows up, descriptions, 301 redirects, index/no index options, and much more. Essentially all of your SEO basics are covered in this one plugin.
W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache essentially makes each one of your pages static and helps minimize your javascript and CSS to help your pages load faster. Depending on your setup this can decrease load times by over 50% which is essential to keeping customers on your site and converting them into paying customers. The plugin also has built-in features that can help you set up a CDN (content delivery network) such as Amazon S3 to speed up your website for most viewing it.
While many of these plugins are great for a small store that doesn’t sell very many products or doesn’t do high volume but I would stay away from trying to use WordPress for larger stores. If you’re an online store that does decent volume or simply has higher levels or traffic and greater needs then I would opt for a solution that’s built just for sales. In the future you’re going to want more advanced tools and the limitations of WordPress as an ecommerce solution will probably start appearing. So check out these plugins and test them out to see if they’re a fit for what you’re wanting to do. If you know of any other great plugins for WordPress then leave them below. If we get enough response about a plugin we will add it to the list above.
I’m starting to like market press, since it is a free plugin. Thanks for the review.
MarketPress isn’t a bad option for those who just need a few items up. If you’re looking for something more advanced then I would go with Shopify or BigCommerce. You can always set up the ecommerce software on a subdomain and keep a blog on the main domain or vice-versa.
WordPress can be used if you have a few products to sell but I would go with the software you have on this site if I had more than just a few products. WordPress is still the top blogging platform and many major websites use it.
I agree, you can use WordPress if you’re a blog and want to sell some custom items. I wouldn’t recommend WordPress if you’re trying to start a complete store. You can beat WordPress for blogging as that’s what we use here for MyEcommerceSoftware.
I see a lot of WordPress blogs are starting to sell a few items like t-shirts and other swag to get some revenue for their blogs. Is this the easiest way to do it?
Like I mentioned before, if you’re selling two t-shirts and a custom mug with your logo then it’s probably fine. If you’re planning a store with multiple items and need some help keeping track of shipping, payments, and products then I would go with one of the solutions you can find on this website. Using WordPress to create a blog for your store is a great way to build traffic and get more sales but it’s tough to build a quality store using WordPress itself.