WordPress is a widely used Content Management System (CMS), usually used as a blog publishing platform. However, since WordPress is so powerful yet versatile, you can also customize a WordPress blog into almost any type of websites including advanced e-commerce sites. Although its primary purpose is not e-commerce, there are a lot of plugins and themes available that will let you to use WordPress for your online store.
To help you to setup a WordPress powered e-commerce site, let us check out the top 5 e-commerce plugins for WordPress. Yes, free e-commerce plugins.
WP e-Commerce
The WP e-Commerce is my favorite e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It is by far the most complete and powerful e-commerce plugin you will find for WordPress. This plugin is a Web 2.0 application designed with usability, aesthetics, and presentation in mind. It integrates with PayPal, Google Checkout, Authorize.net and many other popular payment processors. Designers can also customize the appearance and look and feel of the store.
Details: http://www.instinct.co.nz/e-commerce/
eShop
eShop is a free shopping cart plugin for WordPress, packed with tonnes of great features.
The admin area of the plugin is very user friendly and easy to use. Adding products, reviewing products and checking stats is so easy and straight forward. The plugin allows customization so that you can customize the look and feel the way you want it to be.
Details: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/eshop/
Quick Shop
Quick Shop is a free WordPress plugin that uses sidebar widgets to create a simple shopping cart. It adds a sidebar widget that shows the user what they currently have in the cart and allows them to remove the items, and checkout easily. The plugin uses a TinyMCE button to easily allow you to add products to your posts/pages.
Quick Shop features list:
- Inventory listing tied in to TinyMCE
- Integrates automatically with CFormsII (and uses CFormsII API so that you can edit it easily yourself)
- Features-rich formatting for widget layout in Admin -> Options -> Quick Shop
- Shopping cart Widget
- Checkout page
- Ability to create different product options in a drop-down
- Compatible with WordPress MU
Details: http://zackdesign.biz/blog/category/wp-plugins/quick-shop/
YAK For WordPress
YAK is a simple shopping cart plugin for WordPress. YAK associates products with weblog entries, so the post ID becomes the product code. It supports adding products through both pages and posts. YAK handles different product types through categories, and provides customisable purchase options (cheque or deposit, basic credit card form, basic Google Checkout integration, standard PayPal integration, PayPal Payments Pro, and Authorize.net).
You can easily configure various settings for the shopping cart through an Options section.
There are dedicated pages for product management, orders management and also basic sales reports.
Note: YAK requires PHP5 to work properly.
Details: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/yak-for-wordpress/
ArtPal
ArtPal is a free WordPress plugin under the GPL license. It was originally written for Artists to help them sell their work by easily creating an online store. But, of course it can be used to sell anything and not just art work! It seamlessly integrates PayPal with the WordPress blog.
ArtPal’s features include:
- Easy Setup – The General Options page has a few textboxes and options. Setting up is as easy as filling up these options.
- Easy PayPal integration — Simply enter your PayPal email address and you are done.
- Real-time sales updates — As soon as you made a sale, ArtPal will disable it from being sold. You’ll never worry about your item selling twice!
Details: http://rob.by/opensource/artpal/
So, there you are. Top 5 Free WordPress E-Commerce Plugins, which you can use to easily setup a WordPress powered e-commerce store. These plugins will be extremely suitable for you if you are already using WordPress or is fairly comfortable with WordPress.
Jasmine is an experienced web developer and web consultant. She is also the chief editor at Best Web Host – a web hosting review and resources website.