Building an online store with WordPress comes with numerous benefits. Shop owners have hundreds of add-ons at their disposal to install new functionalities and boost the performance of their websites. Whether you’re selling digital or physical products, you can make your shop stand out from the crowd with the help of these tools.
But given the vast amount of options, it can be difficult to opt for one or two best solutions. That’s why we’ve come up with a list of the 11 best plugins for any e-Commerce, regardless of the niche.
1. WooCommerce
If you already have an e-Commerce site up and running, you probably already have this plugin. If not, now’s the time to install it. No e-Commerce in the present day and age is complete without this powerful plugin that has it all:
- Themes for customizing the look of your e-shop
- Support for selling physical and digital products
- Ability to link to external or affiliate products
- Robust inventory management system
- Dozens of payment and shipping integrations
- SEO support for the website
- Growth tools for funnel optimization, free shipping, and other
Above all these features, WooCommerce also has large support and documentation online. The giant knowledge base and community forums are at your service whenever you run into a challenge.
However, despite the obvious benefits, note that WooCommerce comes with a steeper learning curve. If you’ve never worked with a system like this one, give yourself time to go over different functionalities one step at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed.
2. MemberPress
Are you selling memberships or subscription-based deals on your website? MemberPress is the leading plug-in that can turn this part of your website more professional. There are tons of integrations (including WooCommerce) and plenty of great features:
- Sell membership plans, subscription-based services and products, pay-per-view content, etc.
- Set access rules to define who can and can’t access the content on the website (members-only, etc.)
- Course builder for creating and selling online courses
- Affiliate management integrations
MemberPress may be a robust plugin in terms of subscription-related features, but it lacks an important one. It only supports Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net as payment methods.
Unlike WooCommerce, it’s a highly beginner-friendly plugin you can master in a matter of days.
3. WP EasyCart Shopping Cart and eCommerce Store
This is one of the most underrated plugins for WordPress, destined for small business owners. If you’re running a small business and don’t need all the complexity of WooCommerce, you can start simple with WP EasyCart.
Notable features include:
- Tools for selling retail, subscriptions, downloads, pay-per-click content, auction, and more
- Fully customizable shopping cart
- Multi-currency and multi-language features
- SEO and marketing support, including gift cards, promotions, meta descriptions and keywords, custom URLs, and other
- Reporting tools for shipping, taxes, discounts, refunds, net revenue, and order count
- Widgets for selling from the sidebar
- Numerous payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, Square, Braintree, etc.
This plugin comes with free and paid versions, and it’s great, straightforward software for those who don’t own large online shops.
4. Easy Digital Downloads
Easy Digital Downloads is the ideal plugin for shops that sell digital products. If your focus is on making a simple store with straightforward navigation and functionalities, then this is the one tool that can help.
The plugin has all the necessary features to make digital product selling easier and better:
- Made for selling digital goods exclusively
- Extensions for marketing platforms, payment gateways, and other
- Works with most WordPress themes
- Easy to use with almost no virtual curve
- Affiliate management tools
- Growth tools for e-Commerce tracking, SEO, and more
If you’re selling physical products, this plug-in isn’t for you. Also, there’s no direct integration for selling external or affiliate products. You’d have to use a third-party extension for that.
Still, no plug-in beats Easy Digital Downloads when it comes to digital product selling features.
5. eCommerce Product Catalog Plugin
Here’s one of WordPress’s most popular plugins for business owners who want to transform their stores into product catalogs. This plug-in allows store owners to transform their shop into:
- Web store with a shopping cart feature for direct purchases on the website
- Inquiry catalog for quote cart features so visitors can ask for prices
- Affiliate catalog to let visitors click and visit affiliate products
- Simple catalog for previewing products without transaction features
Store owners can choose between different display options for the catalog, like a classic grid, classic list, or modern grid. It’s also possible to further customize these elements.
Unless you’re on the Professional plan, you’ll have to use a premium extension to install a payment gateway for this plug-in to have that functionality.
6. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is a robust software for lead generation and conversion optimization. If your main goal is for the visitors to follow the actions you want them to, you can do so with this plug-in.
- Create high-conversion, customizable campaigns like floating bars, welcome mats, and more
- More than 50 templates to choose from
- Convert an abandoning visitor into a lead
- Create follow-up campaigns
- Use custom browser cookies
- Drag and drop builder that doesn’t require any coding skills
- Targeting tools for e-Commerce
OptinMonster is an excellent tool for small and mid-sized businesses that want to boost their conversion rates and optimize lead generation.
7. All-in-One SEO
All-in-One SEO is the plug-in to use if you want to optimize your e-Commerce for search engines. The tedious task of optimizing the site for good SEO performance is now much simpler. The plug-in contains:
- Tools for content and on-page SEO analysis
- Snippet previews to check how the page or post will show in search engines
- Social media integrations
- Site audit and optimization recommendations
- Technical features like robots.txt, sitemaps, and others
As far as the premium offering of the platform is concerned, some would argue that they aren’t worth the price. Still, the new, free version of the app has numerous features that will meet the needs of most e-Commerce owners looking for a robust SEO package.
8. SeedProd
Are you looking for a robust page builder for your WordPress e-Commerce site? If so, SeedProd may just be what you need. This plug-in has a built-in drag-and-drop builder that lets you create stunning landing pages in minutes. With it, you can:
- Add email social media sharing buttons, opt-ins, and countdown timers.
- Browse from dozens of page templates.
- Add custom blocks like checkout, add to cart, shopping cart, and others.
- Insert “coming soon” pages, under-construction pages, and similar content.
- Lead capturing features before the website goes live.
If you’re starting a new course or launching a new product, you can have a “Coming Soon” page with a form where visitors can leave their e-mail addresses so you can contact them at any point before, during, or after the product launch.
The business growth components of SeedProd only come with the paid version, which may come as a downside for users who don’t have the budget for it. SeedProd is also only compatible with WordPress, but this shouldn’t come as a downside unless you manage multiple websites on different content management systems.
9. WP Cerber Security
Security is a crucial element when it comes to running an e-Commerce business. WP Cerber Security has numerous features to protect your website from common threats.
- Malware scanning
- Anti-spam protection
- Login protection like Google reCAPTCHA, bad user tracking, brute force attack protection, and other
- Two-factor authentication
- Integration with Cloudfare for exporting security data
The plugin may have a steep learning curve for users who have never worked with similar software. However, there’s a supportive community and knowledge base where you can refer for answers.
10. Cart Recovery
Cart Recovery is a free plugin that integrates with most tools like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and others. This is an excellent tool for tracking abandoned carts, viewing reports in the WordPress dashboard, setup automatic recovery emails, and more including:
- Capturing the visitor’s name and email address when they enter the checkout.
- Capturing and engaging new customers with “Save to Cart” options.
- Triggering abandoned cart email campaign.
- In-progress carts, recovered carts and abandoned carts tracking in the WordPress dashboard.
If your goal is to reduce shopping cart abandonment, Cart Recovery is a great tool for help.
11. WP Forms
WP Forms is a great plugin that lets you offer a better user experience by asking the customers about their expectations from the brand or website. The plug-in is a go-to solution for getting valuable feedback from website visitors and using it to make better-informed business decisions.
- Easy form creation without the need for code
- Intelligent survey fields like multiple-choice, Likert scale, ratings, and more
- Insights and reports for better visualization
- Poll creation and result display on the website
- Authorize.net, Stripe, and PayPal integrations
- E-mail integrations, conditional logic, multi-page forms, and more
The premium version of this plug-in is rather expensive for the value, so it may not be suitable for those on a smaller budget. Also, there’s no option that allows users to upload multiple files in one form at once.
Ready to Freshen Up Your Plug-In List?
No WordPress-run e-Commerce is complete without a proper set of plug-ins. These useful tools help make online shops more functional, accessible, and attractive to customers. We made sure to include some of the most popular solutions for online stores across industries.
Whether you’re selling a physical or digital product, you can benefit from the plug-in ideas above. Hopefully, we helped you find your new favorite tool for running an e-Commerce site.
