A very nice aspect of WooCommerce is that you can get all kinds of new functionality through its many available extensions. While most of the official extensions will cost you some money, various free plugins are available to add more features to your store. Here is a collection of free WooCommerce plugins that we think you’ll enjoy.

If you’re new to WooCommerce, we have previously published a guide that will help get you up and running quickly. And if you’re looking for WooCommerce compatible WordPress themes, we have published a collection of those here.

Mailchimp for WooCommerce

Email marketing is such a big part of eCommerce these days, and MailChimp for WooCommerce can help. It populates your Mailchimp audience with purchase data, allows new users to opt into your list, and even sends abandoned cart reminders.

Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce

Drive sales via other essential channels with Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce. The plugin will create product feeds for use with Google Shopping, Facebook, and more. There are no product or feed limits, and you can tweak which attributes are included.

WooCommerce Blocks

WooCommerce Blocks has brought the eCommerce plugin into the Gutenberg era. This makes it super easy to display specific products or categories anywhere on your site with the block editor.

FiboSearch – Ajax Search for WooCommerce

The ability for customers to quickly find what they’re looking for is crucial. FiboSearch adds helpful “live” search capabilities powered by Ajax. Search by product title, description, or SKU. Product images and pricing are included in the results.

Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce

If you have specialized information that applies to one or more products, Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce is worth a look. It offers the ability to create new custom content tabs that can be applied on a per-product or multi-product basis.

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce

Positive reviews make a big difference. With Customer Reviews for WooCommerce, enhancing the built-in product review functionality is simple. The plugin will add images, voting, ratings, and send review reminder emails. It also integrates with Google Shopping and enables a question-and-answer section.

Table Rate Shipping Method for WooCommerce

Shipping is always one of the most challenging facets of eCommerce. Table Rate Shipping lets you create a simple shipping formula based on cart total or weight. There’s plenty of flexibility here – putting you in control of shipping costs.

Sequential Order Number for WooCommerce

Getting the WooCommerce order numbering system to play nicely with your internal data can be a pain. Sequential Order Number for WooCommerce lets you customize things with sequential numbering, a custom prefix/suffix, custom lengths, and more. Admin order search functionality makes it a breeze to find a specific order within the back end.

WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery

When a customer abandons their cart, it doesn’t have to be the end of the road. WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery helps by sending an automated, timed sequence of reminders. It can even generate custom coupon codes that provide an incentive for coming back to your shop.

YITH Essential Kit for WooCommerce #1

YITH Essential Kit for WooCommerce #1 is a collection of plugins that add valuable features to your WooCommerce install. There are plugins for AJAX Search/Product Filtering, Comparing Products, Image Zooming, Quick Views of Products, Infinite Scrolling, Wish/Wait Lists, Advanced Reviews, Multi-Vendor Carts, Tab Manager and a whole lot more.

Fast Simon

Fast Simon for WooCommerce Search provides cloud-based auto-complete search functionality to your WooCommerce Store. The free version is suitable for stores with up to 200 sessions.

Smart Manager for WooCommerce

Stores with a lot of products can be a pain to edit. Smart Manager for WooCommerce lets you edit products, variations, customers, coupons, and orders in a fast, easy-to-read table interface.

WooCommerce Checkout Manager

With WooCommerce Checkout Manager, you can add, remove, reorder, and require fields during the checkout process.

WooCommerce Coupon Shortcodes

Encourage your customers to make purchases using coupons with WooCommerce Coupon Shortcodes. The plugin includes shortcodes for conditionally displaying available coupons and other useful coupon-related information.

EU/UK VAT Compliance Assistant for WooCommerce

EU/UK VAT Compliance Assistant for WooCommerce is a set of tools that takes the pain out of complying with the EU’s VAT law.

WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips

Enhance your site’s customer service with WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips. You have the ability to attach PDF invoices to WooCommerce emails, customers can download their invoice via their account page, and the templates are customizable.

Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce

Some products (like gifts or flowers) may require the customer to pick a desired delivery date. Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce adds a date-picker field to the WooCommerce checkout to allow customers to choose a delivery date.

AfterShip – WooCommerce Tracking

Customers love to receive their order tracking info, and AfterShip – WooCommerce Tracking provides an easy way to add this information.

WooCommerce Digital Signature

If your customers need to provide a signature before purchasing or downloading your product, WooCommerce Digital Signature can add that capability to your site.

WooCommerce Multilingual

WooCommerce Multilingual works in conjunction with WPML to translate your store’s pages to a host of different languages.

The ability to extend WooCommerce means that you can build an online store with just about any functionality you need. Plus, the fact that there are so many great free extensions available means that you can add top-notch features without having to invest a lot of money.

Hopefully, you’ve found at least a few extensions here that will both improve your store’s functionality and boost sales.

The post Top 20 Free WooCommerce Plugins for WordPress appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

It is highly customizable and flexible, making it easy to tailor the user experience to your specific needs. Other benefits include tracking sales and customer behavior, automating email communications, and integrating with other WordPress plugins to enhance functionality.

With WooCommerce, you can quickly and cost-effectively establish an online presence, sell products or services, and expand your customer base.

The design of your online store matters just as much as the quality of your products. As such, you must ensure that your choice of WooCommerce theme has all the necessary features and an attractive design to make your products look even more visually appealing while making your customers feel welcome.

In this collection, we’ve rounded up the best free WooCommerce themes for WordPress that will help you take your store to the next level.

The post The 15 Best Free WooCommerce Themes for WordPress appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

This tug-of-war is most evident when it comes to eCommerce. Yes, it’s now possible to get a basic shopping cart up and running without too much trouble. For instance, entering products into WooCommerce or Shopify is a streamlined process. It’s the rest of the experience that gets messy.

While eCommerce has never been simple, one can argue that it also hasn’t gotten any easier – despite the technological advancements. Several contributing factors have held back progress. Let’s look at a few obstacles that are getting in the way of building a modern eCommerce website more efficiently.

So Many Options – Each with Caveats

Having a choice is usually a good thing. But what to do when there are so many options available?

Between content management systems (CMS), shopping carts, payment gateways, and related plugins – it’s enough to make even a seasoned developer’s head spin. And, in addition to their benefits, each has caveats to consider.

The recommendations we make to clients are crucial. Security, stability, and scalability are all project requirements. If we miss one or more of these aspects, it could mean a lot of headaches down the road.

That’s probably why many of us go with the tools we already know. Even if there are drawbacks, at least we have an idea of what to expect. Still, there’s always the possibility that a better solution exists elsewhere.

More Stringent Privacy and Security Standards

Privacy and security are paramount for all websites. They become even more important when considering the need to keep an online store’s customer and transaction data safe. A significant breach could be disastrous for everyone involved.

Thus, service providers appear to be making changes to tighten up these areas. It’s a positive in that we want the best security possible. But it can also make a web designer’s job more difficult.

Take payment gateways as an example. During the build process, we are often responsible for integrating them into a website. This usually requires login credentials to adjust settings, access API keys, etc.

But it’s not always a simple task. Thanks to the use of two-factor authentication (2FA), logging in means coordinating with clients to receive security codes. And if your client isn’t tech savvy or readily available, it could cause delays.

Similar scenarios play out across providers. That makes setting up analytics, customer relationship managers (CRM), and even Google Maps APIs a messy chore.

In some cases, clients can delegate access to their existing accounts. Then again, you may have to walk them through setting up the services they don’t already use. It has become a routine, yet frustrating part of an eCommerce project.

Data That’s Stored in Different Places, Ways

Data plays a huge role in eCommerce. The right information can help store owners make smart decisions on pricing, inventory, shipping, and more. But all too often, it seems like crucial data is scattered.

This is particularly the case when building with WordPress and WooCommerce. The combo will provide some basics regarding customers and sales. However, the more plugins you add to the mix, the more difficult it is to retrieve the little details that add further context.

While the data may be stored on your website, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to access. Because WordPress plugins can write and store data in various ways, not everything can be wrangled into a single report – at least, not without some serious PHP code to bridge these divides.

And it’s not just a WordPress problem. Service providers such as payment gateways and shipping companies could also have valuable order information. The process for tapping into and unifying it with other site data isn’t always straightforward.

Because eCommerce tends to rely on third parties, data is spread all over the place. Web designers have often been tasked with either building a patchwork system for bringing it together or simply leaving some items out.

eCommerce Is a Different Animal

The reality is that building an eCommerce website is a unique challenge. It’s a puzzle that has multiple pieces – each with varying levels of complexity.

And although the design and build tools may have been improved over the years, other areas have become more difficult to manage. This is due in part to the need for security and our reliance on third-party service providers.

The result is clunky integration processes and disparate data sources. Putting this all together takes time, patience, and expertise. It’s a good reason why web designers should charge significantly more for eCommerce projects.

The finished product can still be outstanding. It’s just that getting there can be a pain!

The post The Challenges of Building a Modern eCommerce Website appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

eCommerce stores that sell physical products, subscription services, and downloads – they’re all within reach. The WordPress plugin ecosystem provides plenty of options. Want to list your products on a third-party retailer such as Amazon? That’s fair game as well. And there’s an opportunity to enhance things even further through custom code.

However, the sheer number of WordPress eCommerce plugins can make your head spin. Some serve a very niche purpose, while others allow you to pick and choose functionality. We’re here to help provide some clarity.

Today, we’ll introduce you to ten of the best eCommerce plugins on the market. Along the way, we’ll provide some background info on what types of shops they’re best suited for. Let’s get started!

Please note that some product types may require additional add-ons.

The post The 10 Best Plugins for Adding eCommerce to WordPress appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

With the eCommerce boom, the demand for eCommerce themes boomed as well. These ready-made web design solutions allow merchants to have their e-stores up and running in no time. And what’s cool, they don’t need to be skilled in coding. Just follow a few steps for the installation, replacement of the default content, some customization, and voila… you have a ready-to-use store.

When choosing an eCommerce theme for your site, you can opt for a paid or free design. While paid themes are definitely win-win solutions, there are also multiple freebies that can be equally as good as paid alternatives. In this post, we provide a showcase of 20 free eCommerce themes that comply with the best standards of web design and the latest UX innovations, both visually and in terms of functionality.

The themes listed below are powered by open-source eCommerce platforms, particularly PrestaShop, OpenCart, Magento, and WooCommerce. These functional engines make it a breeze to manage online stores and their inventory. Choose the right platform depending on your eCommerce needs and the size of your store. Magento is suitable for large stores while OpenCart is intended for small ones. If you run a middle-sized store, PrestaShop and WooCommerce are ideal options for you.

You might also like: The 15 Best Free eCommerce & Shopping Themes for WordPress.

Free PrestaShop Themes

Book Hangover

Book Hangover is a premium-like freebie belonging to the vast collection of PrestaShop themes crafted by TemplateMonster. Its navigation is presented through a horizontal mega menu and a vertical bar featuring a shopping cart, search, social login, currency and language switchers. This content-focused design is spiced up with a parallax effect for more dynamic scrolling, and hover effects for better product presentation. On hover, items show up with more images and product management options.

Leo Game Gear

Leo Game Gear is a PrestaShop freebie intended for stores offering gaming equipment, mobile devices, and any other high-technology goods. It is integrated with powerful modules such as mega menu, live theme editor, and widget manager. Built with Leo Framework, this responsive theme has an intuitive control panel to configure layout and color options with ease. Among its other features, it’s worthwhile to mention three skins, full-width slider, menu for nested pages, and multilingual support.

Prestige

Prestige boasts a visually impactful design with a dynamic full-width slider, elegant banners, and parallax backgrounds. Fixed to the top of the page, a mega menu and search option are constantly accessible while scrolling. With the help of an innovative customization tool, you can change colors and fonts with a few clicks directly at the front-end. This free responsive PrestaShop theme can be integrated with Olark chat, which will enable customers to communicate with you live.

AP Hair Salon

If you run a beauty or fashion store, consider this full-fledged PrestaShop theme. AP Hair Salon‘s elaborate design incorporates modern technologies of web design and eCommerce. They include Ajax shopping cart, canvas menu, owl carousel, Font Awesome, swipe animations, and grid & list modes to show your merchandise. The theme is also integrated with Visual Composer that can facilitate the process of page building dramatically.

Tire Rack

Tire Rack offers an out-of-the-box design for automotive shops. In its package, you will find a number of premium tools, e.g. color switcher, mega menu, and others. A grid-based structure and functional header add to the usability of this design. Tabs are used to categorize products by new arrivals, best sellers, and popular items, and present all of them in one area of the page. Support for different currencies and languages gives you an opportunity to bring your store to the global market.

Free OpenCart Templates

HotSpot

HotSpot is a professional OpenCart template notable for a tile-based layout with attractive banners. Surrounded by clear space, the product block makes use of hover effects for functional purposes. Bringing a mouse pointer over a certain item, buyers can see its rating and different options such as a cart, wish list, comparison, and quick view. The template is pre-built with newsletter subscription and contact forms.

ThemeGlobal Lite

ThemeGlobal Lite is a responsive OpenCart solution providing full functionality for your store on all portable devices. With sample data, you can set up the theme in the same structured way as shown in the live demo. Its powerful admin interface provides unlimited possibilities for customization. The feature set of ThemeGlobal includes an all-purpose slider, dynamic notification popup, cloud zoom and product quick view options.

Garment Shop

This mobile-friendly OpenCart template Garment Shop boasts a versatile eCommerce design suitable for any store regardless of its merchandise. For convenient navigation across your site, visitors can use mega menu and the back-to-top button. A quick view option also lets buyers explore product details in the lightbox, without proceeding to a new page. To display your inventory compactly, there are full-width slides and multiple carousels throughout the page. Powered by Bootstrap 3, the template supports HTML5 and CSS3.

Vetiver

Vetiver is an OpenCart template meant for cosmetics or any other beauty-related stores. Its clean header keeps all the essential options in focus, e.g. menu, search, checkout, account options, and some others. This effective, parallax-based design boasts large image and video backgrounds to engage the audience. Thanks to integration of Google Maps API, you can display the location of your store on the map, which will make you look better established.

KingStore Lite

KingStore Lite is a multilingual OpenCart template that works with virtually any language and in all the modern-day browsers. With the aid of Revolution Slider, it’s easy to showcase any type of content with cool transition effects and animations. You can also create custom product sections with an unlimited number of items. Regarding customization, the theme control panel enables you to tweak its color scheme, typography, and background patterns or even edit any custom code.

Free Magento Themes

Fit Body

Fit Body is a retina-ready and responsive Magento theme appropriate for sports equipment stores. Sticky navigation, large imagery, parallax blocks and green color accents can enhance the look and feel of your eCommerce site. Online shoppers will easily find it in search engines due to the SEO-friendly nature of the theme. Social sharing buttons, testimonials, blog video and integration can add some extra power to your web store.

Cycling

Cycling is a minimalist Magento theme that has been designed for selling bicycles or any other vehicles online. It features tools to switch between different languages and currencies, so, with their help, your store can target shoppers from different parts of the globe. To preview the chosen items, buyers don’t have to leave the page where they are staying at that moment. This convenience is provided by a dropdown cart. Page-wide sliders are overlaid with captions, prices and CTA buttons motivating customers to make a purchase.

Shoe Store

Shoe Store is a fully responsive Magento theme tailored for footwear and clothing stores. It utilizes Bootstrap technology combined with HTML5 and CSS3. The theme is supplied with all the eCommerce essentials including product gallery, image zoom, wish list, and comparison options. Simple navigation presented via a dropdown menu and back-to-top button can improve the usability of your store.

CozyHome

CozyHome is a Magento-powered solution for stores selling furniture, tableware or any other home-related items. It comes with a sitemap, advanced search, product slider, banners and sale badges. Product categories, items added to the cart and a newsletter signup form are unobtrusively shown in the sidebar. The header features a background pattern, while the rest of the layout is white and easy on the eye, with only red elements drawing attention to important details.

Electronics

This Magento freebie is custom-made for selling cameras, phones, laptops, and other electronic devices on the web. Electronics supports different currencies and languages to promote your store to an international audience. Single product pages feature social media options to spread the word about your merchandise among users of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other networks. The theme has an uncluttered layout free from any distracting elements, which will let you bring your offerings into focus.

Finished!

We have shown you 20 free eCommerce themes powered by different open-source platforms. It’s your turn to choose that one is suitable for your store and give it a try at no cost. Don’t forget to make sure the theme is compatible with the current version of your eCommerce platform.

The post 15 Free Themes & Templates for Creating eCommerce Stores appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.