Wordpress has taken much share of the open source software landscape. It’s built in a really flexible way that it’s users are not only using it for blogging, rather it’s been used for fairly different purposes. Using WordPress as an e-commerce software is not really difficult. There are several hundred thousands ecommerce stores built using WordPress and some plugins. I am giving a brief snapshot of popular ecommerce plugins for WordPress which can turn your WordPress blog into a shopping cart.
WooCommerce is a highly functional plugin for WordPress. Equipped with top-notch features and versatility, this highly innovative plugin empowers you to make your online stores worth millions. With it adeptly integrated PayPal payment system, multiple shipping options, reviews report and easy inventory management, WooCommerce offers you a robust, intuitive and highly specialized plugin that will keep you marveled no matter what.
WP e-Commerce
The WP e-Commerce plugin enables you to give your store that personal, intricate feel. With over 2 million downloads, this plugin possesses a checkout that dramatically increases your store conversion rates. You may even choose to customize your WordPress site with HTML and CSS to add that personal style you’ve always wanted.
If you want to set up your online store in minute without much stress, Jigoshop is the answer. It’s easy to use intuitive features make WordPress plugin usage highly simplified. You may choose from tens of full fledge themes that are suitable for building any kind of online store. Jigoshop also have various reporting features like the sales graph and and stock report that’s keeps you in light with the ongoings on your store. And with its user friendly inventory system, you can manage your inventory without headache.
This is another optimally designed, easily customized plugin with alluring, simple and user friendly shopping cart experience void of distracting add-ons and extensions. It it like a confluence with the efficacy of all other plugins. It is also BuddyPress and Multisite compatible so you can build your own network of online sale. Another sweet thing is, you don’t need to write a single line of code when using MarketPress!
If what you intend to offer basically on your online store is digital services, this plugin is just right for you. Easy Digital is easy to use and comes with great functionality to create a working digital online store. There are hundreds of available extensions that you can download from, the plugin is also well documented, with free online support.
How to Install Woo-Commerce from the Dashboard
The WooCommerce is a free plugin that you can install just like every other plugin. Follow these steps to install WooCommerce on your WordPress.
- Download WooCommerce from the WooTheme website
Note: ensure the file you’re downloading is a zip file. You can tell this by the .zip extension that ends the name of the file you’re downloading. - To install, go to ‘add plugin’ and do a search on the search bar for ‘WooCommerce’.
- When the plugin shows up, click on ‘Install’. When the installation is complete, proceed to activate the plugin.
You should have your WooCommerce plugin fully installed on your pc now. You may proceed to install WooCommerce pages and widget if you’re ready for the full setup of the plugin.
WooCommerce Basic Setup
As stated earlier, setting up WooCommerce is as easy as setting up any other plugin for WordPress. There are basically two methods of setting up the plugin. You may use the WordPress Dashboard or use the FTP/SFTP upload method.
For the Dashboard method, consult the steps above.
Here is how to setup WooCommerce using FTP/SFTP upload.
- On the WordPress plugin repository, visit the WooCommerce page and click on ‘Download’.
- Extract the .zip file using any suitable application on your PC
- Connect to your WordPress site using FTP or SFTP
- Navigate to wp-content/plugins/.
- Upload the extracted WooCommerce folder to wp-content/plugins/
- Your plugin is installed. Click on ‘activate’ to activate the plugin.
Manage Shop Categories and Products
Online stores got thousands of ways to display shops and products. In WooCommerce, a product archive page is needed to display all the products and their categories. By default, WordPress calls this section the ‘Shop Page’.
- You can edit it to give it a name that suits you.
- You do so by going to pages, and selecting ‘All Pages’.
- Create new pages and name it to your suit.
After confirming your shop page, you should click the link below to view your page permalink. The page that appears enables you to set up your WordPress permalink. You should have done something similar to this in setting up your WordPress. The permalinks are structure so they don’t conflict, but you may also choose to customize them to your taste. Feel free to navigate to the new product link in the main WordPress Dashboard to create sample products or category to see what the URLs look like.
Conclusion
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin which allows users of WordPress to install and create their online shopping carts in minutes. There are bunch of free and premium themes available online to let you tune the front-end and look and feel of your ecommerce shop. Woocommerce is largely been used by small online shop owner as well as people who have online stores with several hundred products inside their store.
