5 of the Best E-Commerce Plugins for Photographers

Many people find photography a satisfying hobby. You might wonder how to turn your passion for pixels into a business.

Fortunately, the open-source foundation of WordPress means many plugin developers have created solutions geared explicitly toward online image sales. For example, NextGEN Pro from Imagely is an excellent example of the power of plugins for online photography businesses.

In this article, we’ll examine photographers’ unique e-commerce needs and review five of the best e-commerce plugins for photography. Let’s jump right in!

Understanding the Unique Needs of Photographers

There’s much more to running a photography business than lenses, lights, and smiles. Photographers must consider many elements and tasks, such as appointment scheduling and password-protected digital galleries.

Just some of the elements you might need to consider when building a photography website or online Shopify store meant for e-commerce include:

• Even if you operate your business outside of Europe, we also recommend becoming familiar with the European Union’s enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how it might impact you. For photographers, it’s essential to know that GDPR does view photography as ‘processing personal data’. It means for you as a business person; it’s a grey area that depends on the level of and type of photography you undertake. However, it’s best to consult the experts and study before you make a costly mistake.

5 of the Best E-Commerce Plugins for Photographers

Now that we’ve covered some of the unique aspects of online photography businesses let’s examine some WordPress plugins that can help add those specific functional elements to your website.

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a giant among e-commerce plugins packed with user-friendly functionality for a base price of $0. While there are beneficial add-ons you might want to explore for various premiums, what you get out of the box for free is plenty to get you started.

As an open-source plugin, WooCommerce is highly customizable. Additionally, the number of products or users you can design your e-commerce site for is unlimited. Lastly, it’s equipped to help you sell just about anything.

2. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads is a plugin designed to make your life easier if your niche market is digital photo products. While this plugin can handle any digital file download, it’s a great solution if you need a plugin for managing digital download sales.

Easy Digital Downloads is compatible with a wide variety of payment gateways. The free version of the plugin comes standard with PayPal and Stripe, as do many others. You can offer gateway options like BitPay, CoinBase, and Authorize.net through additional free and premium extensions. For even more features, you can check out the four pricing levels provided by the developer.

3. NextGEN Pro

When learning about NextGEN Pro, the question is: How much time do you have? We could talk about the features offered in this plugin all day! Most recently, the plugin has added an automatic print fulfillment extension to its pro plugin. After viewing proofs online, customers can purchase prints and have them delivered to their door without you ever having to intervene.

NextGEN Pro is a premium plugin with several price options. Starting at $99 annually for one site and ranging in features up to $499 for a lifetime license on unlimited sites, there is a plan for nearly everyone. This plugin comes with 30 extensions to help you protect, display, sell, and promote your photography.

4. Envira Gallery

The Envira Gallery plugin stands out among other gallery plugins primarily because it offers a drag-and-drop gallery builder. It means you can be up and running with a beautiful gallery of images designed to your liking in roughly five minutes.

It’s the ‘lite’ version of Envira Gallery Pro, which has fewer features but is still an excellent choice for fledgling photography sites. It is a highly extendable plugin, and if you like what you see, you can upgrade to the pro version at just $29 a year.

5. Modula

Modula is the perfect match for everyone, whether you’re a beginner or a professional photographer. It provides all the whistles and bells you’d expect from a gallery plugin. And the best part? Gallery creation takes less than 2 minutes. You can enjoy powerful gallery features, add social icons to your images, choose between 4 grid types (creative, custom, slider, and masonry), and much more.

As with any other WordPress plugin, Modula has two versions: Modula Lite (freemium) and Modula PRO (premium). If you upgrade to Modula PRO, you can take advantage of more features and robust extensions intended to make your galleries look professional—pricing starts at $39. 

Conclusion

There’s much to consider before uploading your best shots to your website and hanging out the virtual ‘For Sale’ sign. As such, it’s understandable that photographers have unique needs when creating an e-commerce presence.

Now we’ve gone over some options; you’ll be able to get started with your photography sales by remembering these plugins, including:

1. WooCommerce: An all-around e-commerce workhorse with a reliable reputation.
2. Easy Digital Downloads: This solid, niche plugin is designed to manage digital download sales.
3. NextGen Pro: Feature-packed – and our overall recommendation for a photography e-commerce plugin – this is a premium, high-performance solution designed by photographers for photographers.
4. Envira Gallery: Build gorgeous galleries online in minutes with a drag-and-drop gallery builder.
5. Modula: The best gallery solution on the market – Fast, customizable, hassle-free gallery creation without touching a single line of code.

Here at WP Tech Support, we can help you keep your WordPress site up and running. Plugin security is one of our specialties. We have WordPress maintenance plans for any budget, so you can rest easy and focus on taking breathtaking photos.