For over a decade now WordPress has been one of the best and most popular content management systems and blogging tools, thanks to its simplicity and the abundance of free themes and plugins available to every user. In the recent years more and more people are using WordPress as a perfect e-commerce tool, since it allows them to build their online business fast, easy and with very little investments. With so many plugins it’s sometimes hard to find the perfect ones that will make your site stand out. Here are some of the best e-commerce plugins for WordPress that will be a huge asset in starting an online business.
WP e-Commerce
With more than 650.000 downloads WP e-Commerce is known as one of the most popular e-commerce plugins for WordPress. It uses GetShopped.org as a home for its shopping cart and it’s highly SEO optimized which most users will find very useful. It’s very easy to install and you will find the administration options very easy to use and intuitively divided, so you can easily make any changes. The plugin supports multiple currencies, Google Checkout and PayPal and, and also has great features like option to offer coupons and discounts, products RSS feeds and more. The main plugin is free but you can buy a lot of add-ons and plugins.
WooCommerce
This is a relatively new e-Commerce plugin (released by WooThemes in late 2011) but it’s growing in popularity very fast, mostly thanks to its great free and paid themes that can make your site look unique. There are also a lot of themes made by third party developers, so every user can find the perfect look for his store. With this plugins you have various types of reports for your sale, settings for products and inventory, customers and orders, shipping and taxes and even marketing and promotions settings. Payment methods include Bank Transfer, Cheque, PayPal and Mijireh – a payment processor that supports Stripe, eWay, Authorize.net, SagePay and more.
Jigoshop
Jigoshop is another free e-Commerce plugin known for years now, which will help you get a professional looking site without paying a lot of money for the development. It’s easy to use, you can set it up in minutes and, in addition to free options, you can buy a lot of features and themes to make your site really stand out. This plugin is great for small and medium businesses, allowing you to add detailed attributes to your products so customers can refine your catalog much easier. When it comes to payment methods, Jigoshop accepts Bank Transfer, PayPal, Skrill, Google Checkout and more.
Shopp
Shopp is probably one of the most popular premium e-Commerce plugins for WordPress. The price is 55$ for a single page license, or you can pay 299$ for a full developer access for unlimited sites. The plugin is professionally built, with great extension and modification options. This is a great choice for users that need to build a large online store, with a lot of marketing and promotion as well as shipping and taxes capabilities. The Shopp will let you use Google Checkout, PayPal Standard, PayPal Express, 2Checkout, and offline payments. You can also buy additional payment gateways like CyberSource, eWay, Authorize.Net and more. They cost 25$ each.
Cart66
Cart66 is a great plugin that integrates existing and popular affiliate software with their cart. It comes in two versions –free with all the basic features you should expect from an e-Commerce plugin, and a professional (paid) version with some additional options like recurring payments and membership access. The basic features include order management, multiple currencies, tax and shipping management, promotions and a unique feature that allow you to sell products from any post or page, including Facebook or Twitter. Payment options include PayPal standard for the free version and PayPal Pro, Stripe, Authorize.net and more for the professional version.
Amanda Martin researches how businesses can benefit from mobile monitoring tools, she participates in the development of cell phone spy app mSpy. Amanda writes mostly about blogging practices, mobile apps for smartphones and WordPress plugins.