WordPress Online Store Plugin

Almost everyone in the world who owns a laptop or a personal computer has tried online shopping, especially at Christmas, rather than braving the cold you can sit at home all cozy and relaxed on your sofa at home. The major problem with online shopping is that so many websites use different types of shopping carts and e-commerce functions.

I’ve recently been reviewing different WordPress online store plug-ins. They appear to come in all different shapes and sizes with varying costs ranging from $50 – $2000 (custom built systems). When people begin the search for a WordPress online store plugin, they become lost because every plugin claims to do the same job as the next, so how do you know your getting what you want?

So what are the common features you should look for when purchasing a WordPress online store plugin?

Common features:

Search function built in: A great shopping system has a built in search function. This will allow customers to type in keywords connected with your products and should make it easy for them to find the right product. On a larger scale imagine having to navigate through thousands of products, you just would not do it, which is why a search function becomes invaluable.

Payments: As you know a shopping cart should be able to process payments, but what type of payments? You should expect a standard shopping cart plugin to cover PayPal and Google Checkout some have other built in gateways functions.

Product images and superior descriptions: The next big question is does your shopping cart support high quality pictures of the products? Does it display them in a way suitable for your websites theme? Does it allow you to have a short/long description of what the product does and how it is applied.

Reviews: A very good shopping cart should allow your customers to review your products and leave honest opinions of the quality.

Affiliate platform: Many online stores nowadays are turning to affiliate platforms to enable people to promote their products and also earn a commission on sale. The more professionally designed shopping cart plug-ins allow affiliate commissions which is necessary to have a popular online shop, take a look at Amazon as an example, a huge online store which allows affiliates – It knows this is the best way to flood niches.

Email marketing integration: It should lastly have the ability to process emails and email marketing databases. It should save information about the customer and also email them when their product is ready or being dispatched/processed.

The key to remember is a shopping cart isn’t enough to drive sales. You need to get affiliates and optimise your website efficiently. You also need a shopping cart that supports all of this.