WordPress is a powerhouse. It’s nearly the perfect website platform, capable of running all kinds of websites.
But there’s a catch. Or, a couple of catches, rather.
WordPress is a piece of software = you can get it for free, but then you have to install it on a web host yourself, configure it, and ultimately launch a website with it.
Out of the box, WordPress is mainly a blogging platform. It provides no e-commerce features at all. Those you can obtain via plugins. Such as the popular WooCommerce.
Apart from the e-commerce plugin, you need a bunch of other plugins to handle some standard options like SEO and social media. You also need a good-looking and brandable theme (design) – to make your e-commerce store look unique and original.
What it all means is that WordPress is perhaps a solution for a bit more savvy user. You need to feel comfortable editing PHP files by hand, connecting to your server via FTP, and spending the afternoon in some settings panel.
That being said, the aforementioned WooCommerce is a great e-commerce plugin. It gives you all the features you might ask for, e.g shopping carts, product catalogs, online payments, coupons, and so on. Most importantly, the plugin is free!
You can find alternative WordPress shopping carts here. woocommerce
Option a): Use it if you already have a WordPress site and you’re familiar with the interface. For instance, WooCommerce uses the same admin panel organization for your products and orders, so there’s no additional learning curve.
Option b): Use it if you already have a WordPress site and you want to minimize costs by not having to invest any more funds in a new e-commerce platform.
Option c): Use it if you’re comfortable experimenting with source code occasionally.
Option d): Use it if you can cope without any fast-reacting customer support.
About that last part: Right now, you might feel that customer support is not such a big deal. But keep in mind that it’s your business we’re talking about here. For example, if something happens that causes your site to go down, not having it online for the whole day can and will mean a serious hit to your business income. Also, a lot of stress while we’re at it.
It’s those times when we tend to value customer support that’s operating 24/7!
