One of the biggest deterrents to selling online is know-how. A person who wishes to sell products or services online might have tons of ambition and they might have a slew of valuable offerings to provide to their soon-to-be clientele, but they just don’t know how to get an ecommerce operation off the ground. The good news is that WordPress has done all of the hard work for you. With a WordPress website, some engaging photos and videos, some customer-enticing website copy and a solid shopping cart, your customers will be lining up online to hand you their hard-earned money in droves. If that last part made your blood run cold, the part about a Shopping cart needing to be solid, don’t worry. You do not need to know how to create a shopping cart and you definitely don’t need to know how to code one in order to be successful at the eCommerce of physical products. Once you install WordPress on your server and establish the CMS as your site’s backbone, finding a solid shopping cart is as easy as installing a WordPress plugin.
The Importance of an Easy-to-Use Shopping Cart
When you are looking for a WordPress plugin that will act as your ecommerce website’s shopping cart, be very discerning about the one you finally settle on. One of the rules of the ecommerce of physical products is that your online shopping experience must be very easy and stress-free for the consumer. If your shopping cart is difficult to figure out or, worse, buggy, you are going to have a very hard time selling anything.
On the other hand, if you happen to find a WordPress shopping cart that is easy to figure out and that comes with tons of support options in case you ever do run into problems, you will have a much simpler time unloading your inventory to your more-than-satisfied customers.
To help you find the best WordPress shopping cart plugin possible, let’s look at a few of the best ones on the market and analyze their best aspects. This can help you make the best decision for your ecommerce operation.
PayPal Shopping Cart Plugin
If you like to get paid via PayPal (and who doesn’t, with how easy it is to get paid?), you now have an easier time thanks to the WordPress shopping cart plugin from everyone’s favorite online payment processor. It comes with a simple layout, it interfaces seamlessly with your PayPal account and you can place an “Add to Cart” button on any page or post you publish. As an added bonus, this ecommerce plugin is super-lightweight, so it won’t bog or slow your site down. What you get is an easy plugin that is perfect for the ecommerce of physical products. Cha-ching!
WP e-Commerce WordPress Plugin
This WordPress shopping cart plugin not only boasts the name of the CMS right in its title, but it also has the honor of being downloaded 2.7 million times. With so many ecommerce professionals using the plugin, it might be a good option for your site. You don’t have to do any setting up and you can modify the plugin’s appearance using your own HTML or CSS preferences. There are support options, an entire community of ecommerce gurus to help you out if you run into problems and it works with any WordPress theme. If you want a fast, easy and completely customizable WordPress shopping cart plugin, the WP e-Commerce is definitely the way to go.
Ecwid Shopping Cart
The previous two ecommerce shopping cart plugins have been lightweight and feature-rich, but they don’t hold a candle to Ecwid. Considered a full-feature WordPress plugin (which you must pay to use the fuller-features) this plugin allows you to integrate your social networks, mirror different sites simultaneously and you’re absolutely going to love the drag-and-drop feature. Some say it’s the fastest plugin around, but you’ll have to make up your mind on that. Try the free version at first and see what you think. Then you can opt for the paid version, if you find that you do in fact like it, to help your ecommerce operation truly take off.
The ecommerce of physical products is a business that offers freedom and lots of incoming revenue, as long as you can grease the wheels on the conversion train. If you want higher conversions, you need a solid and fast WordPress shopping cart plugin. You now have at least three to choose from, but you will see that there are many more out there with a simple WordPress plugin search. Do your own research, consider the needs and satisfaction of your valued customers, and make the smartest decision possible to make the world of ecommerce your virtual oyster.
Image Source: Thomas Hawk on Flickr
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