If you’re running a business – or seeking to begin one – chances exist that you’re interested in creating an e-commerce site. Most businesses now go further offering information on their company site, and allow visitors to purchase services and products directly online. Owners and customers alike love the ease and accessibility of an online marketplace.

Numerous ways are available to set up an e-commerce store, but WordPress is easy among the best solutions. It may be best recognized as a blogging platform, but it includes applications much beyond the blogosphere. WordPress is a dynamic, versatile, and powerful piece of software. It can be adjusted with plugins and themes to build the ideal e-commerce website. Its extensive community and omnipresence throughout the market also imply that it isn’t difficult to find inspiration and support during the design procedure.

This article goes over the leading features that render WordPress a superb e-commerce solution. It discusses the tools you can employ to customize your storefront, together with the resources present to aid you along the way. Let’s start!

WordPress Contains An Abundance Of Plugin Solutions

A WooCommerce plugin is a splendid option for e-commerce websites. By itself, WordPress is an intricate piece of software that comes equipped with most of what you‘ll require to develop an excellent website. Nevertheless, many people discover they wish to include specific features that aren’t present in the core product. That’s where plugins display their utility – smaller bits of software that can be uploaded to WordPress to extend its functionality.

Plugins are priceless to an e-commerce site, and you’ll require a minimum of one. Some plugins will allow you to create and run an online store, while others will assist with handling inventory, interacting with customers, offering support, and ensuring security. Thankfully, many common e-commerce plugins do several or all of these functions, so you are not required to install individual tools for every element of functionality you wish to add to your store.

You can choose from tons of e-commerce plugins, however, this selection is among the best:

WooCommerce

This is the most common and extensively utilized e-commerce plugin around. It permits you to set up and customize a store quickly, has plenty of security options, and provides multiple user-friendly features like responsiveness to mobile devices. It also carries the required financial functions, like payment and shipping options.

WP eCommerce

Another common option, this plugin contains a range of features to aid you to manage an online catalog, control sales, and maintain track of financial information. It isn’t the most well-backed plugin, but it is regularly updated.

Ecwid Ecommerce Shopping Cart

This plugin has nearly everything you could desire from an e-commerce solution, from simple store-building functionality to backing for responsive design. It also enables you to include your store to Facebook and contains mobile apps you can utilize to administer your site on the go.

Easy Digital Downloads

While this plugin doesn’t present so many features as the others, it has the advantage of being built specifically for sites that simply sell digital products. If that’s the type of store you’ll be operating, Easy Digital Downloads is a plain choice that has just the options you’ll require.

The plugin of choice is WooCommerce – it is compliant with multiple WordPress themes, is stable and well-backed, and presents plenty of options. Finest of all, beginning with WooCommerce is simple, and on account of its wide adaptability, you can select from nearly any WordPress theme available to accompany it.

A Platform That Brings Tons Of Benefits

WordPress has emerged as the finest website builder at present and has raced ahead of its rivals like Drupal and Joomla. It has become the frontrunner in the market having 67% of the market share of the total CMS using sites.

You can apply WordPress to create eCommerce website and manage it effectively. Besides, creating an online shop, you can also use the site to do something else too. WordPress allows you to obtain an overall command over your website. In addition to combining your online store with other functionalities such as portfolios, blogs, and corporate pages, it offers hordes of tools, themes, plugins, and integrations with lots of modern online facilities. Being compatible with almost everything on the internet, WordPress offers you free, premium, and economical premium services anywhere.

WordPress is indeed simple and friendly, so as to be easily handled and operating it appears effortless as it is stacked with an intuitive interface. WordPress is stacked with everything: open-source CMS, numerous paid and free services, complete command over your website, intuitive interface for starters and likelihood of growth for the advanced, the scope to build a multipurpose website which includes the online shop and eCommerce store, and prices that suit every budget.

Multiple WordPress Themes Offer E-Commerce Options

Next to selecting your plugins, picking a theme will be the greatest decision you take regarding your site.

A theme comprises a software package that decides your site’s styling – what it appears like, how it’s arranged, and how features such as sidebars and menus work. Your theme is vital as it governs how your site looks to users. It also impacts how conveniently they get to locate information and conduct purchases.

It’s essential to select a theme that is either designed especially for e-commerce or at least possesses the whole of design features you’ll require for your store. You’ll wish to search for a theme that offers plenty of customization options, a wholly responsive design, and a user-friendly interface. It is also suggested to select a theme that arrives bundled with useful e-commerce plugins.

Similar to plugins, there are numerous options present. You are recommended to try Uncode – a multipurpose theme that contains everything you require to create eCommerce website. The main features of Uncode that will be useful to your site include:

• A completely responsive layout and adaptive images that render the customer experience a pleasure.
• Layout options that are ideally designed for online stores, and available in different styles. Check out Shop Landing, Shop Classic, Shop Creative, Shop Metro, and Shop Parallax.
• Support for multiple e-commerce plugins, including WooCommerce.
• Plenty of customization options for the site’s appearance, layout, settings, and more. You’ll get to create something rare that stands apart from the crowd.

If you’re seeking a more basic, free theme that’s still nicely built for e-commerce, you could also check out Make, Shop Isle, or EightStore Lite. Whatever you select, initially frame a list of features you know is essential for your store and plugins it needs to back. Then examine each potential theme against that list before arriving at a decision.

Security Options For WordPress Are Simple To Find

Keeping your site safe and up-to-date is essential.

After you’ve selected your plugins and theme, you should begin setting up your site. While you perform that, you’ll wish to retain one necessity in mind: security. Any portal can gain from some elementary security measures, but you’ll desire a more substantial solution for an e-commerce site. An online store includes personal user data and the records of financial exchanges – that information must be securely protected.

While the core of WordPress is highly secure, there is definitely more you should do to enhance security. Thankfully, the WordPress community has designed nearly everything you could want for ensuring your site’s safety and personal information of your customer:

Official Updates

The development team of WordPress releases major and minor updates regularly, of which many highlight security. Maintaining your site up-to-date assures it will be as secure as possible.

Backups

There are numerous ways to backup your site if something goes wrong. The easiest way is to utilize a backup plugin, like UpdraftPlus or Duplicator.

Security Plugins

Free tools like Wordfence Security and Sucuri Security make sure that defenses of your site are ideally robust.

Site Activity Trackers

A few plugins enable you to track user activity and modifications to your site, so you can view precisely who has done what. As a good instance, check out Activity Log.

Conclusion

Developing an e-commerce website for your business is a critical initial step into the extensive online marketplace. You’ll like a storefront that is appealing and professional, offers customers what they desire, and runs itself as much as probable. That’s where WordPress enters the scene. You’d be stressed to find a more versatile, customizable, and well-backed platform.

Author Bio:

Rohini Oberoi is a passionate blogger at brndle.com . She is an experienced blogger and has written many articles and blog posts on topics related to WordPress, web design, web development, and online marketing.