Launching an eCommerce site: Plugins You Simply Must Have

E-commerce, also known as e-Business, involves electronically transferring data and funds between two or more parties. An eCommerce site is a website that allows you to buy and sell goods and services online.

The only difference between making trades now and a thousand years ago is the place. Everything is being done online now, and it’s amazing because it makes the whole process so much easier. You can have anything you want either right now or in a matter of a few days. While, just two decades ago, it was almost impossible. 

People used to be very skeptical about online shopping, and the Internet, in general. Nobody believed something that good and easy could exist (and have free shipping). But in 2021, everyone is shopping online. Right now, entrepreneurs have the opportunity of a lifetime to start their own eCommerce sites due to their rising popularity. 

However, starting an online business can be scary sometimes. It’s all relevantly new, so it’s nothing unusual. But, if you’re an aspiring online business owner, don’t be scared because there are many plugins you can use to make starting up and running your business smooth.

WooCommerce Order Export – PRO

WooCommerce is a customizable, open-source eCommerce platform. It makes creating and managing an online store simple and easy. It offers vital features such as tax and inventory management, shipping integration, and secure payments. 

With over 27 million downloads to date, WooCommerce powers 99% of all WordPress stores. It’s no wonder because it only takes a few minutes to set up a new store with this platform. Everything is very customizable and easy to use, so it’s perfect for new business owners.

Keeping up with your business can be very stressful if you’re business reports aren’t in order. As a business owner, a person should keep track of everything. WooCommerce has a way to make that easier, too – the WooCommerce Order Export PRO plugin.

It comes packed with features like multiple automatic exports, automated exports delivered to your inbox or using FTP, copying exports between WooCommerce stores, reordering columns the way you want to, exporting data in a convenient CSV format, etc.

Pricing:

• 1-site license: $49 per year, or $6,99 per month
• 3-site license: $89 per year, no monthly payments
• 100-site license one-time payment of $169, and you’re set for life.

WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping – PRO

WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping is a plugin that extends WooCommerce’s default shipping options giving you highly customizable shipping options. It helps you calculate the shipping rates for a series of conditions. If the user’s cart matches the conditions, the defined shipping cost is applied. 

This plugin comes packed with a lot of features, like: 

• Create advanced shipping rules based on weight, item count, and more
• Create unique shipping method names
• Hide shipping methods
• Import/Export your shipping methods – edit them in a spreadsheet

Advanced Shipping Options: 

• Add multiple table rates per shipping zone
• Several types of table rate calculation: per order, per item, per line, per class
• Add rules based on weight and number of items
• Bulk import/export shipping rules
• Set per product shipping rate
• Set a bundled shipping rate
• Get WPML Support
• Add shipping costs per row, per item cost, and per weight unit
• and many more

Pricing:

• 1-site license: $79 per year, or $8.99 a month
• 5-site license: $149 per year, no monthly payment
• Lifetime 100-site license: one-time payment of $249

Direct Checkout for WooCommerce

If you’re looking to optimize your WooCommerce store, skip the cart and send your customers directly to the checkout.

Direct Checkout for WooCommerce provides many helpful features. Their powerful “Buy Buttons” are one of them. You can create buttons for individual products and put these anywhere on your site, and when a customer clicks on them, the product is added to the cart, and they’re automatically sent straight to the checkout. The cart is skipped completely. 

You can send all your customers with all of your products straight to the checkout. With that, you can increase your sales and optimize the checkout process. 

Key features: 

• Enable direct checkout for all products, quickly and easily
• Create buttons for individual products that send customers straight to checkout

Buy buttons are compatible with:

• Simple, variable, and external/affiliate products
• Simple and variable subscriptions

Very important: Make sure you DO NOT have Ajax enabled for the cart buttons. Go to WooCommerce->Settings->Products and UNCHECK “Enable AJAX to add to cart buttons on archives.”

Pricing: free to download

Shopify

Shopify is a software that allows its users to set up their own online store and sell their products. Established store owners with already existing physical locations can also use Shopify to expand their business and sell products online as well. 

Shopify merchants with both online and physical stores can have their stock and inventory synced, so they can manage their whole business from one account.

Shopify also offers features that can help users to manage their inventory, payments, and shipping. With the help of this software, they can build and customize their online store and sell in a lot of places, like the web, social media, pop-up shops, or physical locations. 

Shopify is a must-have, whether you want to develop a simple store up-and-running today or take more time and build yourself a unique online shop. 

Shopify is cloud-based and hosted. That means users can access their online store anywhere, from any device, from anywhere with an internet connection. 

Pricing: 

• Free trial: 14 days
• Basic Shopify: best for new eCommerce businesses with the occasional in-person sale – $29 a month
• Shopify: best for growing businesses selling online or in-store – $79 a month
• Advanced Shopify: best for scaling businesses that require advanced reporting – $299 a month

Final Words

In conclusion, if you’re the owner of a business that sells any sort of goods or services, you NEED an online store. In this day and age, having an eCommerce site is crucial. It doesn’t matter if you already have an established store in person; without an online store, you’re leaving behind thousands of potential buyers and maybe even business partners and investors. 

With the help of some innovative plugins, running a store can be much faster and easier. Take advantage of the brilliant services the Internet is providing us on a daily basis and start up your own eCommerce site.