WordPress comes across more as a CMS (Content Management System), and you might be at loss seeing it as a viable option for E-commerce. We won’t blame you. It is really difficult to justify a free and open-source software as a serious contender for a large-scale and hugely profitable (this is what you must be aiming at) website.
Launched as a blogging platform (WordPress.com), it has come a long way. Now, this publishing platform is powering websites of some of the well-known companies such as Walt Disney, Sony Music, Best Buy etc. But, how viable a platform like WordPress is for a full-blown E-commerce website? If I need to answer this question in one line, I will say, “It is not only a viable but a perfect and fully functional alternative. Period.”
Powerful E-Commerce Plugins
WordPress as a stand-alone website is suited only for blogging and some simple product pages. It is plugins that make this publishing platform more than a publishing platform.
There are many popular E-commerce plugins, such as WooCommerce, that manages all functionalities, ranging from product catalogues to payment gateway, of an E-commerce website. Just one plugin and a few extensions to ensure end-to-end implementation, this is WordPress for you.
Customize as You Like
Developers hate plain vanilla drag and drop kind of websites (however, there is nothing wrong with them).
The reason why WordPress development is listed as one of the services that software companies provide to their clients is WordPress is an open-source platform, which means anyone can have the access to source code, and anyone can customize it as per the needs. So the possibilities are infinite. Your store, your design.
No Coding Experience Required
Customizations are optional. There are hundreds of themes with compatible E-commerce plugins. You are free to choose images, write captions or text as you like, integrate videos and blog, and do many other stuffs to personalize your website. It is easy to install and activate plugins in WordPress, plus there are several “how-to” guides to assist you in the progress.
Cost-Effective
WordPress.org offers free CMS software. You can download the software from its official website, subscribe to a web-hosting and install any popular E-commerce plugin. Creating an E-commerce website from scratch using WordPress is not only quick and easy but also cost-effective as you get a lot of things for free, including themes, plugins, extensions; and you probably not mind buying a hosting service, would you?
That said, if you are aiming at creating a professional and personalized website, you can play around with the code if you’re a developer or otherwise you can easily hire WordPress developers from a professional outsourcing agency.
Extensions
There are plugins and then there are extensions to further enhance the scope. Many popular plugins support a range of extensions, both free and paid. Such extensions can come in-handy if you want to extend some other features to your visitors.
Security and Scalability
Security is a big concern for the visitors and website owners alike. There are many security plugins that the user/developer can take help of to build a secure online shopping platform. Plus, the web administrator can obtain SSL certificates or HTTP to ensure that the data that users enter is encrypted and secure.
Technically, no user data is stored on your WordPress powered E-commerce website as third-party payment gateways, such as PayPal, process the payments.
And if you’re concerned about what would happen if you suddenly want to expand from 25 products to 2500 products, just make sure that the plugin you are choosing does support the scalability you want.
Conclusion
WordPress is fully capable of supporting your E-Commerce business. A simple e-commerce website can be built without any coding and within a few hours. You can personalize your website by changing the code or add powerful features by using free or paid extensions. However, WordPress is not the end of the world. There are powerful alternatives, such as Magento, available and everything boils down to the resources you have and your needs.
Planning to build your E-commerce website? Ask us and we will help you take the right steps.
