E Commerce through Wordpress

[davidgilham]

Hi,

I'm about to start my first E-commerce store, I am thinking of doing this through Wordpress. Any recommendations for plugins etc? Or would you stay away from Wordpress for E-commerce?

Kind Regards

 

[tbow50]

Have a look at the Woocommerce plugin

 

[Faevilangel]

If you really want to use WP for ecommerce then do use Woocommerce as it's the best supported and updated plugin with hundreds of addons, and is so easy to use (got 3 clients from this site using it on their sites).

I don't recommend WP for ecommerce off the cuff though, as I do believe there are better options out there but it really does depend on your current needs and your future growth.

 

[iboxsecurity]

As we have built a number of wordpress based ecommerce sites for clients I would recommend looking at Woocommerce if your mostly going to be tackling the project yourself or alternatively look at WP-Commerce which is what we tend to use more often than Woocommerce as its better for when we want to make modifications and work with.

 

[lowrider]

If you really want to use WP for ecommerce then do use Woocommerce as it's the best supported and updated plugin with hundreds of addons, and is so easy to use (got 3 clients from this site using it on their sites).

I don't recommend WP for ecommerce off the cuff though, as I do believe there are better options out there but it really does depend on your current needs and your future growth.

I totally agree.
WP won´t be able to suit all your needs.

 

[antropy]

If you want an ecommerce site it's usually best to start with an ecommerce platform, if you want a blog site start with a blog platform:
http://www.antropy.co.uk/blog/integrating-opencart-with-other-software/

 

[maneetpuri]

I believe OS Commerce would be a good option if it's not a big project or you can go for Magento too.

 

[Holopainen]

WP + WooCommerce = yes, but only if you have a rather small business. Moreover, they have recently released (check review) a new version so it's definitely worth to try.
If you are thinking about several hundreds or thousands of products OpenCart would be a much better idea since it provides some top-end functionality combined with user-friendly admin panel.
And stay away from oscommerce it was outdated several years ago, now it's rather useless. Unless they release a new version with some serious improvements.

 

[Shelly Watson]

If you are running a small business, then wp would be OK. For plugins, I recommend Woocommerce and Comm100 Live Chat. Live chat enables you to track and monitor your visitors in real time.

If not for small business, I recommend you use professional ecommerce platforms, such as Magento.

 

[fisicx]

Why does everyone like woocommerce?

The UI is awful and takes a lot of work to get it working properly. Yes is does work out of the box but it's a really clunky thing to use.

 

[allbag]

There are so many other opensource systems available - i.e. PrestaShop or OperCart. They are typically easy to use and are built as e-commerce systems and not blogging cms with some extra functionality. I guess horses for courses though.

At AllBag, we're used OpenCart for the online shop.

 

[DavidHorn]

I've used Woocommerce on client projects a few times ... and whilst it can be good enough, I'll say this about it:

- it's not very friendly. Training clients on using it is an uphill struggle.

- if you're using an off the shelf theme - particularly one from Woothemes - then you'll have more luck. The way the theme directories / woocommerce code is set up, it is not in the 'normal' way of wordpress themeing. It's a bit messy.

- the plugins available for woocommerce make it an easily extendable plugin

- I'd only recommend it if you're working well with your web designer / developer ... if you've no coding experience, it's probably not the all in one solution you're going to want.

For first steps into e-commerce you might be better off with an integrated platform like Shopify.com or BigCartel.com - where you pay a monthly fee, but they handle all the technical aspects of it.

Good luck!

David