Is a WordPress Website Good For Ecommerce?
If you haven’t heard about it – WordPress is huge! It’s a hugely popular software for making websites, blogs and commerce sites. At this point, it powers more than a quarter of the web, and tens of thousands sites are created with WordPress every single day. As everything else in life, this most popular Content Management System (CMS) has its supporters and opponents.
However, there is one single question that pops up more than every other one. Is WordPress good for E-commerce sites? Well, it varies because it really depends of your needs. I can quickly give you 4 reasons why WordPress is a good choice for E-commerce.
WordPress is free
WordPress is free and open source! If its creators are reliable to their word, it will always stay like this. Why does the cost of the CMS matter? Well, if you want a system created from scratch and suited to your specific needs, you will end up paying tens of thousands just for the CMS development itself. A custom-tailored system would be a better idea long-term, but you’d really need deep pockets. And you’ll need to empty them to the last penny!
Being free of cost, WordPress can give you a better value for your money. Instead of developing a brand-new web solution, you’ll be able to spend more on a better design, user experience and marketing. Not bad, huh?
WooCommerce is free
Woo-what??
As I said above, WordPress is all about creating and publishing blogs. For all other functions, it relies on the so-called “plugins”. A plugin is a tool that is created to be used within the WordPress format. WooCommerce is the most commonly-used plugin that can turn your WP blog into a full-fledged e-commerce system.
WooCommerce started as a separate company, but since May 2015 it’s under the hat of Automattic (the team behind WordPress). The official site of the plugin is Woocommerce.com and right there, the team proudly states that the plugin has been downloaded more than 21 million times and “powers over 28% of all online stores”. WooCommerce is polished, well-maintained, regularly updated and free.
Backed up by a huge (and very helpful) community
Both WordPress and WooCommerce have huge communities of developers and enthusiasts. You have something on your mind? If you name it, somebody else has probably already made it! That’s a great benefit, because these tools save a lot of resources including time, money, sweat and tears! And in the very rare cases where you can’t find an already-made solution for your pain, there’s a plethora of developers who would be happy to help you (for a fair amount of $$, of course).
It is scalable
WordPress is very scalable – it can power anything from a small personal blog to a great website like TimeInc or huge communities like WordPress.com. It just needs some proper attention and a great developer. Then you just sit back and watch your website handling everything you throw at it!
Bonus Tip
With WordPress and WooCommerce, you can be selling anything you want – physical products, digital products, membership accounts, and more. Heck, you can even receive donations and make crowdfunding campaigns! Best of all, these solutions are already created as plugins, and can easily be incorporated into your site. Sometimes you’ll even have more than a single choice from which to choose.
In the end, I’ll say that WordPress and WooCommerce are robust and close to perfect, and they certainly deserve a test drive! You can even do it yourself. You can be sure they won’t bite either you or your pocketbook.
Of course if you prefer that, we can take this off your shoulders. You can reach us for help, using the form on the right. We usually reply in less than 24 hours on weekdays.