eCommerce websites are getting more and more popular day by day. And it’s understandable.
eCommerce websites offer all of the benefits of having a physical shop, but without the huge costs of actually making one – renting out the location, buying the products and having them on-site, decorating, employees, etc. It all just costs so much, and you’re never sure if everything will pay off.
A lot of customers don’t even want to leave their house anymore to get the products they need. And why would they? You can get everything online with just a few clicks. Sure, you may have to wait a few days most of the time, but that’s completely fine.
Besides not having the downsides of a physical shop, eCommerce stores offer a lot of benefits as well. The reach is just unbelievable. Almost everyone around the world can reach your shop, how great is that?
With some good marketing, your shop can go a long, long way. You can also do dropshipping as well, so you don’t even have to buy the products yourself but just resell them basically.
The possibilities are endless, and the risks are quite a bit lower too. If something doesn’t go well, you just cancel your subscriptions to the software you used, and that’s about it.
Most plugins also offer free trials, and a lot of plugins are also totally free. You can test out how your business will go at first with some cheaper alternatives and then invest in some more advanced software to improve everything even more.
The plugins we’ll talk about here are something that every eCommerce website will find useful when just starting out.
WooCommerce Export Orders Pro
WooCommerce Export Orders Pro helps you simply create a report of your orders tailored to your own needs. Using this plugin, you can create it manually or have it scheduled so you don’t even have to worry about it. You can export all of the data you want, and in any order you need.
Everything is made to fulfill all of your requirements. The great thing about this plugin is that everything is as simplified as possible, so even a complete beginner will have no problems using it.
The order data reports that you will export are customizable and come with sophisticated filters. These reports are in CSV format.
WooCommerce Order Export Pro also has the power to export order data easily from one WooCommerce store to another.
WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro
As an eCommerce website owner, shipping will most likely be a big part of your business. However, calculating the shipping costs can be quite a complicated task, especially if you have multiple rules that determine the cost of the shipping.
Using the WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping plugin, you can evade using complicated excel sheets and have the plugin do it for you.
This plugin helps you set up rules for shipping costs, so if you want something else than just a flat shipping cost for everything, this will for sure be really helpful.
You can calculate shipping according to weight, cart total, destination, item quantity, and so on. You also have the option to utilize advanced shipping rules, shipping classes, unique shipping method names, and more!
Shipping methods can be hidden, imported and exported, forcibly used…
Plus, with this plugin, you have the power to restrict shipping to logged-in users and thus encourage signups on your website.
Direct Checkout for WooCommerce
When you’re on a website only to get a specific product, the cart can be a bit annoying. If a customer just wants one product, having a cart adds just unnecessary steps for them to get the product. That’s where the Direct Checkout for WooCommerce plugin comes in.
Using this plugin, you can set up a button that leads the customer directly to the checkout without any unnecessary steps. If you expect your customers to just come in for certain products without scrolling around searching for something else, this is for you.
This plugin gives you so-called buy buttons you can place anywhere on your site. Once one clicks on them, they are redirected to the checkout page.
This operation can be applied to all products or just individual ones.
Envira Gallery
Every online store needs a nice gallery to show off its products or services. Of course, WordPress offers a default gallery option, but that’s just not it most of the time.
Most store owners want to have something that fits the website way better. Envira Gallery will help you with that. And not just with pictures, it supports video too!
It’s easy to set up with great templates available for you.
Envira Gallery offers a lot of different features that will put the gallery to maximum use, like social media integration, slideshows, fullscreen, SEO-friendly use, etc.
Yoast SEO
SEO is a huge part of every website. No matter how good your eCommerce website is, if people can’t find it, it has no use.
Good SEO is basically a must-have online. Good SEO puts your website higher up on the search engine results. It’s a fact that most people just look at the first 2 or 3 results on search engines, so having great SEO will really benefit your business.
Yoast SEO is one of the best plugins for helping you improve your SEO. You get recommendations on what to do or not do, what works, and what does not. It’s also extremely beginner-friendly; you don’t need any technical knowledge to use it for improvements.
MailPoet
MailPoet helps you create a subscription list for your newsletter. Having a newsletter is an efficient way of creating loyal customers for your eCommerce business. You can notify your customers about sales, new products, etc.
Using newsletters, you can build a relationship with your customers, which will make them more loyal to your shop.
Customers appreciate a business that tries to communicate with them, so it’s not just a website that offers products. Having some personality behind that website goes a long way.
Conclusion
There are a lot of benefits to starting an eCommerce store over a physical one. The eCommerce store possibilities are also getting better every day, while the physical stores will most likely stay the same for a long time.
eCommerce stores come out basically as a more rewarding, less risky option for starting a store. They also have gotten pretty easy to make, even by beginners. Countless plugins help you manage your store and improve the business, even for cheap. Here we talked about 5 great ones. Depending on your needs, you can install all of them or just one. It’s your pick.
Also, do not see their prices as a cost but more as an investment. At the end of the day, good tools lead to the creation of good websites. So, if you take enough time, consider your options and then add them to your site, you’re making the right move as a business owner. Your customers, employees, partners, and other associates will appreciate it, trust us.
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