Plugins, as you would know by now are small programs or codes that you can install or just plugin to your website. As E-commerce business owners you rely heavily on the internet for your businesses, don’t you? And the internet communicates in the language of “Codes”. I absolutely understand the 100s of things that need attention in a business like yours. It becomes difficult to speak or understand codes. That’s where the plugins come into picture with their codes.
Plugins are designed to save time and effort. They improve websites increasing its functionality for the users and the business owners.
You might be thinking that you could learn the coding and do it for yourself. Yes, you absolutely can. But why put the effort when it’s available for free and does all these things too for you.
1. They decrease your workload and increase productivity.
2. It is time efficient, once you have installed a plugin it does it’s coding by itself.
3. You can use them to reduce cost on building your website from scratch.
Plugins enable you to start and function your own website without having to write any programs. What makes it possible is the 40,000 effortless plugins available in the WordPress Plugin Directory. With the vast array to select from, it might be enticing for the user to add more plugins for seamless functionality. But here is the trade-off, the more the plugins the slower your website functions.
To help you in this dilemma I have listed down the 5 most important WordPress plugins for E-Commerce Business which you shouldn’t be missing: –
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1. WOOCOMMERCE
This is one very sought after e-commerce plugin all over the world. The latest statistics suggest more than 30% of all online stores worldwide use Woocommerce. It is free and can be easily downloaded from the WordPress repository. What’s special about this plugin is its simplicity. It lets the user create and execute all the aspects of an e-commerce business from just a dashboard. Hence making it easier for the business owner to make the right changes as and when required.
ADVANTAGES –
• Apart from coming with 100s of extensions and themes it also supports both physical goods as well as digital goods.
• It includes support for payment and shipping options hence owners can add the payment gateway as per convenience.
DISADVANTAGE –
• It doesn’t support a couple of themes making it inconvenient for the owner.
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2. MARKETPRESS
This is another robust from the WordPress directory. It covers both the digital and physical goods of your marketplace. What’s unique about this plugin is its convenience for both the business owner and his users. It comes with all the things that one might need in an e-commerce business, even a shopping cart. This works best for owners who want to include a catalogue of their present products. Making your products available for your customer to see, is a great way of marketing them. It is capable of saving these images separately in a gallery for your users to check.
ADVANTAGE-
It allows great customization. One can also disallow a particular group of people from making purchases from your website.
DISADVANTAGE –
It has a very limited number of payment getaways and also has the advanced features only in the Premium Version. (Paid Version).
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3. EASY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS-
This plugin caters well to business owners dealing with digital goods. It is easy to manage and helps you make a functional shop for your digital products.
ADVANTAGES-
It is best equipped to sell digital downloads. It includes 100s of the right extensions along with a large choice of payment getaways.
DISADVANTAGES-
It can get complicated if you are trying to sell physical products or affiliate/external products. You will have to take help from a third party.
4. ITHEMES EXCHANGE
It is one of the strongest contenders in the WordPress directory. It is because of its ability to sell both tangible and digital products.
ADVANTAGES-
It includes a unique add-on that allows you to sell subscriptions and memberships on your own website for your users. It is effortless to set up with the wizard that guides you through the whole process till payments.
DISADVANTAGES-
It is still in a nascent stage of growth and the user community is scarce.
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5. SHOPP
It is one of the most efficient and well-programmed plugins in the industry today. It was created with the intention to enhance the traffic on your website and its performance. It can be downloaded for free for making your online store easy for you and your customers. What’s special about SHOPP is that it includes a variety of templates that make the web store more appealing.
ADVANTAGES-
It comes with inbuilt layouts and templates, making it unique in the plethora of plugins today.
DISADVANTAGES-
It has limited functionality and has limited free support. The business owner has to pay for support and access to their community groups.
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Conclusion
Now that you know the best Plugins to have for your e-commerce business, my job here is done. Which Plugin you select will largely depend on what you are selling and what features you want on the website. I would love to hear about other Plugins that help E-commerce businesses today. Please tell about them in the comment section.
