TechCrunch<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>, Bloomberg Professional.
Star Wars, The Walt Disney Company, Chicago Bulls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I bet you guessed. That\u2019s WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n Some WordPress Statistics <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
28% of all the websites, that is\u00a0over 60 million<\/strong>, are free blogs powered by WordPress. And so is our own site\u00a0x-cart.com<\/a>. According to Graig Smith\u2019s\u00a0report\u00a0(last updated on the 20th of April 2017),\u00a087.6 million<\/strong>\u00a0is the number of new posts and\u00a044.6 million<\/strong>\u00a0is the number of comments, appearing on WordPress blogs monthly. Furthermore, the same report says that the number of the monthly pageviews on WordPress blogs exceeds\u00a024.6 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most noteworthy, these incredible figures convert into a 6 or even 7 figure annual income of the most successful bloggers. Below are some links to back my words up with examples. They point to the income reports, so may study the details. Do I need to mention that each of them has chosen WordPress for their blog?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seems like you\u2019re already feeling an itch to start your blog immediately \u2014 and monetize, monetize, monetize! ( or do you still need more reasons why you should start blogging?)<\/p>\n\n\n \u2026and it would be a sin not to, given there are so many ways to raise some $$ without leaving your comfy and cozy blog:<\/p>\n\n\n\n With X-Cart being an expert in online shopping and ecommerce platforms, we would like to take a closer look at wp shopping cart plugins. They will convert your blog into either a feature-rich online storefront or, vice versa, a very simple shopping cart. Since there are dozens of them, choosing the best shopping cart for WordPress is not an easy task. Yet, I have already done some homework for you, so your task will become a little easier.<\/p>\n\n\n WooCommerce<\/strong> goes first in our list best of best eCommerce plugins for WordPress. Being a free solution, it\u2019s the most popular among dozens of WordPress shopping cart plugins that powers about 30% of all eCommerce websites worldwide. Numerous plugins for WooCommerce dropshipping stores<\/a> is another advantage you may like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But given most of Woo\u2019s wonderful features are available as paid subscription-based extensions, it\u2019s not so free as it seems at the first sight. Say, PayPal and Simplify Commerce are the only payment gateway integrations available out of the box. Do you want 2Checkout or Authorize.Net? Open your purse!<\/p>\n\n\n Ecwid<\/strong> goes second, being a leading choice for small ecommerce business owners who look for a way to easily start an online store<\/a>. When it broke into the market, it conducted a little revolution. The ECommerce WIDget aka Ecwid can be added to virtually any existing website of yours, be it powered by WordPress, Joomla, Wix, Weebly or some custom-built site. Ecwid makes it smooth, easy and quick. Notably, a free plan is available, but if you do not want a \u201cbare\u201d shop you\u2019ll most likely have to choose Venture or Business ($15 and $35\/mo, accordingly).<\/p>\n\n\n Easy Digital Downloads<\/strong> for sure deserves a spot in the top-3. This is a well-thought-out niche product, installed by 60K+ users to create an online store<\/a> for offering their digital products. Software, documents, photos, ebooks, songs, graphics, you name it. This is a free full-featured eCommerce plugin, but the marketplace of extensions (starting from $19.00) is the place where you\u2019re very likely to spend at least a couple of hundred dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recurring payments, wishlist, sales recovery, cross-sells and upsells, advanced reports, integrations with payment gateways and accounting software \u2013 there are so many cool features available as paid addons. This plugin is one of the best choices for creative people selling online.<\/p>\n\n\n WP EasyCart<\/strong> that costs from $50 to $150 (one-time fee) is the plugin with 4K+ installs. What is interesting, the reviewers give either 5 starts or just 1 (the average score equals to 4.2). And you know what, while the word \u201cmoderate\u201d perfectly describes their pricing scheme, this definition is not about the users of WP EasyCart \u2013 it\u2019s hard to find 2-3-4 stars ratings, the users are either in the 7th heaven or pretty upset \u2013 mainly by the fact that it\u2019s not free, though, so it looks like the extension is very very decent.<\/p>\n\n\n WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart<\/strong> is a free eCommerce plugin with the title that speaks for itself. It enables you to add an \u2018Add to Cart\u2019 button for your product on any WordPress post or page, turning your WordPress website into an eCommerce website, just like any shopping cart software does. Additionally, it allows you to display the shopping cart on any post, or page, or sidebar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors whine and warn the potential users that there appeared a few exact duplicate copies of their plugin made by other developers. So, \u201cIf you want the original one, check the number of installs and reviews, this one boasts 40,000+ installs\u201d, they say. The success of this plugin proves that simplicity is a virtue.<\/p>\n\n\n Seems like PayPal Shopping Cart Button<\/strong> is one of such \u201cduplicate copies of the original plugin\u201d above. From the functionality point of view, the free version of the plugin is an exact copy indeed. However the authors went on to create a \u201cpro\u201d version. While \u201cpro\u201d is miles away from a truly professional eCommerce solution, compared to a \u201cbare\u201d Paypal button feature it does have something up the sleeve: ability to charge taxes, set up shipping rates per item, apply a fixed discount per item and slightly change the button look and feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It costs $39\/yr for two sites with support included. \u201dCheap as chips for what it does\u201d, to quote a happy user, who eagerly gives them 5 stars for the plugin itself as well as for the after sales service.<\/p>\n\n\n Cart 66<\/strong> is the cloud solution that places its stake in security. Even if the hackers gain access to your WordPress site, all your eCommerce data (customers data, payment gateways, your bank account info, digital files for your electronically distributed goods, product descriptions \u2014 everything!) is safe. Cart66 protects all of your critical eCommerce data in a secure cloud account. There\u2019s a free 14 days trial and two plans to choose from: Ember and Fire ($19\/mo and $49\/mo).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems strange to me that they decided to make Google Analytics available for the users of the top plan only. The other features you get with Fire (but not with Ember) are recurring payments, real-time shipping rates, customer\u2019s access to the order history, membership-based access. Given most of them are a must have for an ecommerce store, it looks like the \u201cEmber\u201d plan exists only to give an illusion of choice \u2013 you\u2019re expected to pay $49\/mo, point. Am I biased?<\/p>\n\n\n eCommerce WD \u2013 eCommerce shopping cart plugin<\/strong> is a free plugin with 2K+ active installs and the team behind it headquartered in Armenia. The weak spot is their support: they\u2019re not available on weekends and you can hardly jump on a call with them due to a time difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also note that by default it integrates with PayPal only: you may choose from PayPal Express Checkout and PayPal Standard. Integration with Stripe exists, but costs extra ($15\/for 6 months or $25\/yr), the same pricing scheme applies to the other add-ons that enable some nice perks and features: Filters add-on, Bestsellers add-on, Minicart and Top Rated products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of reviewers mentions that there\u2019s no ability to export orders, which is the main pain for him. But other than that it seems pretty good, at least for some particular business cases. Provides awesome shopping experience, with responsive store design<\/a>, supporting discounts for individual products and groups, as well as shipping methods and tax rates, with customizable product, category and manufacturer template, with guest checkout feature. Numerous 5-star reviews prove that this set of options may be sufficient for a WordPress shopping cart.<\/p>\n\n\n Selz eCommerce Shopping Cart<\/strong> stands out in our list due to its pricing scheme. Unfortunately, not in the best sense of the term.You are to pay both the transaction fee (up to 2%) and processing fee (2.9%+ 30c per sale) for your orders. Additionally, If you wish to add more features to your free basic package, you\u2019re to choose a plan that costs from $11.50 to $23,50 per month. And given the free plan allows 5 products only and has little to no features in it, you will have to pay \u2013 or choose another plugin from our list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That being said, all the reviews of this WordPress shopping cart plugin are 5-star. All 6 reviews, to be exact.<\/p>\n\n\n X-Cart 5 Buy button<\/strong> is the solution this list would be incomplete without. It implies having a standalone eCommerce site powered by X-Cart 5 and having an independent blog running on WordPress \u2013 maybe even on another domain. The addon brings them together so that you can promote and sell your X-Cart 5 products right inside the WordPress posts by means of a widget. You can easily insert products in your posts as well as your friends and partners posts. There are no limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us show you how to start selling online on your WordPress blog<\/p> Contact Our Expert<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u2026but wait! Being a number one choice for bloggers, even with all these plugins, WordPress is not the best\u00a0eCommerce website builder<\/a>. Why? What to do with that? Keep reading.<\/p>\n\n\n \u2026can be grouped into 3 major groups:<\/p>\n\n\n WordPress is popular. Or, better to say, WordPress is extremely popular. Millions of users can not be wrong \u2013 it rocks! But this coin has a reverse side: WP is a known honeypot for hackers. The security holes are well-known<\/a>. Once the hackers find a way to get into one insecure website, they will for sure scan thousands of other easy-to-find WordPress sites running the same or older version, and hack many of them too. Being hacked is painful for a blogger, but the scales of disaster are dramatically higher if together with the blog an online store was compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So vulnerability is a huge downfall of WordPress. Security of payments, customers data and other sensitive information is a fundamental requirement, so you must, and I mean it, you must keep your website up to date. At least \u2013 have all the security patches applied as soon as the security gaps are found and announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or, ideally, have a broader look of a problem and follow the best practices described in a recent article Ecommerce Security: 10 Simple Tips to Lock Down Your Site<\/a>. Note that WordPress security vulnerabilities appear not only within the core but also (and mainly!) in plugins and even WordPress themes you install.<\/p>\n\n\n WordPress has been designed to power the websites that imply unhurried browsing with occasional clicks to go to another post or to comment. An eCommerce website is something different \u2013 numerous concurrent scripts execution is its daily routine. When you use WordPress for eCommerce, your site may start lagging if you attract too many shoppers \u2013 and you will always want more traffic. So you will start thinking about speeding up your website<\/a>\u2026 only to find out that scaling is not the strongest feature of WP.<\/p>\n\n\n There\u2019s a plugin for everything. At this very second the marketplace lists 50 726 WordPress plugins<\/strong> of all shapes and sizes. The developers from around the world are creating them day and night so the figure keeps growing. Is there any single chance they\u2019re mutually compatible? No, for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The things are getting even worse when you decide to upgrade your WordPress site: there\u2019s a high risk that the support of some of the plugins you installed earlier is discontinued. Or they\u2019re still supported, but the new version is still coming, or the new version has already been released, but is still not stable enough\u2026So to upgrade the customized website with all its bells and whistles you need to wait till the stars are aligned.<\/p>\n\n\n By no means. You just should be especially selective choosing the right wp shopping plugin, paying special attention to how they withstand this or that threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I would probably choose the solution that lets you display the goods and shopping cart buttons in your blog, pretending to be an integral part of it, but the store\u2019s\u00a0ecommerce hosting<\/a>\u00a0is placed somewhere else, in a cloud or on another server of yours. Like Ecwid, Cart 66 Cloud, or X-Cart 5. In this case, it will be a safe and cozy home for your goods and customers, not subject to the risks above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, a simple Paypal payment processing button may become the best WordPress store plugin for you, meeting all your online business needs \u2013 in this case, why to pay extra?<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one knows your business model better than you, so you will have to scratch your head and take decision. I hope my overview will help you to take an informed decision<\/strong>, at least \u2013 to save your time by narrowing the list of plugins to explore by 3 or 4. Now take your time to take a closer look at the ones that seem to be a good fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or, if you\u2019re getting tired of studying all these WordPress eCommerce solutions, have some rest. Take a look at the top eCommerce website<\/a> design tips, a comprehensive guide with many expert opinion and examples inside. Let the inspiration come!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n Content Marketers Are Looking To Monetize <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 10 Top Ecommerce WordPress Plugins <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n 1. WooCommerce <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"WooCommerce\"](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9856\/woo-commerce-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n WooCommerce summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 2. Ecwid <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Ecwid\"](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9847\/Ecwid-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n Ecwid Summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 3. Easy Digital Downloads <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Easy](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9848\/Easy-Digital-Downloads-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n Easy Digital Downloads Summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 4. WP EasyCart <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"WP](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9850\/WP-EasyCart-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n WP EasyCart Summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 5. WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9851\/WordPress-Simple-Paypal-Shopping-Cart-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n WordPress Simple Paypal Shopping Cart Summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 6. PayPal Shopping Cart Button Pro <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"PayPal](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9852\/PayPal-Shopping-Cart-Button-Pro-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n PayPal Shopping Cart Button Pro Summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 7. Cart 66 <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Cart](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9853\/Cart-66-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n Cart 66 Summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 8. eCommerce WD \u2013 eCommerce shopping cart plugin <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"eCommerce](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9854\/eCommerce-WD-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n eCommerce WD \u2013 eCommerce shopping cart plugin Summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 9. Selz eCommerce Shopping Cart <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Selz](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9844\/Selz-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n Selz eCommerce Shopping Cart Summary <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n 10. X-Cart 5 <\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"X-Cart\"](\"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/img\/9825\/x-cart-p500.webp)
<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\nReady to Dive in WordPress eCommerce Marketing Right Away?<\/h2>
\n
To top it all off, there are no transaction fees, no product limitations, and your store will be up-to-date at all times with automatic upgrades.
X-Cart 5 Summary<\/strong>\n\n
\n Limitations Of WordPress Ecommerce <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n Vulnerability <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n and Scalability <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n Plugins Compatibility and Upgrading <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n So\u2026should you drop an idea of WP shopping cart like a hot potato? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n