Over the years, WordPress has grown from a simple publishing platform to the world’s most powerful CMS. Today, over 24% of all websites are powered by WordPress, including some of the most reputable brands like CNN, Bata, TechCrunch, BBC and Mashable. Even eBay, the company that owns Magento eCommerce platform, uses WordPress for their blogging purposes. There was a time when most of the people used to avoid using WordPress for creating an eCommerce store, but now things have changed completely. WordPress today is not limited to just blogging and is being used on a large scale to build profitable eCommerce sites. Here are some rock-solid reasons why WordPress has become the go-to choice for many shop owners.
1. Open-source with a Massive Community
WordPress is open-source software, which means you can use and modify the source code in any way to fit your eCommerce requirements. With WordPress, not only you have full control over your online shop but also are free from various commercial restrictions and limitations imposed by a typical eCommerce company. On the other hand, the vibrant and supportive community behind WordPress is always there to help you - in case you get stuck somewhere. Honestly speaking, setting up an online store with WordPress costs virtually nothing. All you need is a relevant domain name, a reliable hosting and you’re good to go.
2. Incredibly Easy to Install, Configure, Use and Manage
If you have ever set up a blog with WordPress, you probably already know how easy it is to use and learn. You don’t need to be a coding expert to get start with WordPress. With just a few hours of training, you can get your eCommerce site up and running in minutes. Be it product addition or order management or sales monitoring, WordPress makes everything a breeze. In most of the cases, you also don’t need to call a WordPress expert because with plenty of documentation provided, you can do almost everything yourself.
3. Offers a Wide Range of eCommerce Themes and Plug-ins
WordPress works on the basis of its theme system and plug-in architecture. Theme controls the look while plug-in defines the functionality of your site. To help you easily turn your ordinary WordPress blog into a multi-million dollar shopping site, WordPress offers a variety of eCommerce themes and plug-ins. With a single click of mouse, not only you can give your WordPress site a complete makeover but also can add desired eCommerce functionality to it, absolutely without hiring any professional web developer. That’s the beauty of WordPress!
4. No Ongoing Fees
Unlike other eCommerce platforms, which charge a flat monthly fee along with a transaction fee, WordPress requires you to only pay for what you really need. If you’re a small business owner, paying a monthly subscription fee may prove to be a big barrier in your success. WordPress understands it well and therefore offers a relatively cheaper way to start an online store. You just need to pay for your domain name and hosting company while WordPress eCommerce plug-ins and themes are sold with a one-time purchase price.
5. Content First Platform
Since WordPress was initially started as a basic blogging tool, it has almost all features you need to get your eCommerce site ranked higher in search engine result pages. The SEO friendly nature of WordPress makes it easy for shop owners to generate massive amounts of organic traffic, which a newly created eCommerce site usually struggles to get. Unlike other eCommerce platforms, WordPress automatically solves a number of SEO-related issues. Just deliver high quality product information and leave the rest on WordPress.
6. Seamless eCommerce Integration
Another reason to use WordPress for eCommerce is its easy integration with your existing blog or website. You’re not required to re-design the entire website, in case you suddenly decide to set up an online store without any prior planning. Instead, all you need to just install an eCommerce plug-in like WooCommerce and you’re good to go. WordPress seamlessly integrates all of your eCommerce elements with one another. That means your store has the same look and feel as other parts of your website.
7. Scalable, Flexible and Secure
I have heard many people saying that WordPress isn’t secure enough to handle eCommerce vulnerabilities but actually, it isn’t so. In my opinion, the security of your shopping store depends on how you set up and use WordPress. There are a number of powerful security solutions – like Securi and Wordfence – which you can use to protect your WordPress eStore against today’s ultra-advanced cyber attacks. Apart from this, hosting platforms like WP Engine, Pagely, Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure make it possible for WordPress to handle huge spikes in traffic.
8. Infinite Product Customization
Products are one of the most crucial parts of an eCommerce site, which needed to be added and removed on a regular basis. To be successful, you’re required to update your online shop frequently. And if your store contains complex and variable products (like clothing), it becomes quite cumbersome and challenging to customize them. This is not the case with WordPress, which offers you a user-friendly dashboard to enable you take your online shop to a level of uniqueness. In WordPress, customizing a complex product is as easy as publishing a simple blog post.
9. Supports Multiple Payment Gateways
A good eCommerce store is the one that offers customers multiple payment methods. Supporting a wide range of trusted payment gateways including Google Checkout, PayPal, CCAvenue, Worldpay, ChronoPay, 2Checkout and more, WordPress not only facilitates the entire payment process but also increases your chances of sales. Even, users can take advantage of Manual Payment option for Cash on Delivery (COD) type transactions which they usually love to use. For example, WooCommerce plug-in comes with five pre-installed gateways including Cheque Payment, Cash on Delivery, Direct Bank Transfer, PayPal and Simplify Commerce.
Conclusion
Since its release, there have been a number of updates and improvements made to WordPress. With the acquisition of WooCommerce, it has been proved that WordPress today focusing more on selling than publishing. The dedicated community of developers behind WordPress is continuously working hard to make it the world’s most powerful, multi-purpose CMS. That’s the reason; you today can create almost all kinds of websites – including eCommerce – with WordPress. Needless to say, WordPress will be ruling eCommerce arena in near future.
Author Bio
Ajeet is a senior web developer at WordpressIntegration - Developing WordPress Themes from PSD, where he is responsible for writing custom JavaScript code during the conversion process. In his spare time, he writes on different topics related to WordPress, JavaScript and Web Design to share his work experience with others. You can follow our facebook page WordpressIntegration.