If you are reading this article, you are probably in the dilemma of choosing the right Content Management System (CMS) for your e-commerce website. You may have heard that WordPress is the most popular website builder platform, but maybe you are not quite sure if WordPress is the right choice for you. Is WordPress the best e-commerce solution?

To help you make the right choice, we will go over the primary features that make WordPress an excellent e-commerce solution—and times when you should look for alternatives.

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What is WordPress?

WordPress is the most popular site builder or CMS in the world. According to Joost de Valk, it powers more than 33% of all websites on the internet, that’s millions of websites all over the world.

We should be careful to not confuse the WordPress CMS with the WordPress.com blog hosting service. They were made to serve different purposes.

WordPress is an open source CMS which means it is free for everyone and anyone can download and install it. You have the freedom to customise it based on your needs without any restrictions.

With WordPress, you have the opportunity to choose from tons of different free and paid themes and plugins. Besides, the presence of quality developer communities worldwide makes WordPress the no. 1 choice for a wide range of website solutions.

That being said, now let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using WordPress and see if it’s any good for your e-commerce solution.

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The pros and cons of WordPress

Just like any other CMS, WordPress comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages that you might want to consider before making a move.

Honestly, one article is just not enough to list down the advantages of using WordPress. Here is a summary of the pros of using WordPress for your website.

• WordPress gives you access to a huge collection of premium themes and plugins to customise the website based on your needs.
• It is easy to use and gives you full control over your website.
• You have the ability to introduce new features as your website grows.
• You can make your website fast and attract new leads by following the best SEO practices.
• Being the most popular CMS in the market, many third-party tools have integrations available for WordPress.

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The cons of using WordPress

We all come with our own limitations, so does WordPress. There is some letdown that you might want to consider when choosing your platform.

• Being in charge of your website also means you are responsible for applying security patches, making backups, and installing updates.
• Even though there are some WordPress page builders in the market, it takes time for most of the users to get familiar with its interface. A bit of HTML and CSS knowledge will always come in handy.

Are the cons letting you down? You might want to leave all the hard work to us while you sit back and relax. Check out our WordPress development solutions here.

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Is WordPress good for e-commerce?

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Honestly, it depends. If you intend to pursue a content marketing strategy for your business, WordPress is the only feasible choice for your website.

If you want to sell products or services with an e-commerce store, Shopify is the one you should go for. There aren’t any strong competitors anymore as Shopify is the best e-commerce platform at the moment. But when it comes down to versatility, economy and control, you might want to think again.

There are many ways to start an e-commerce store, but WordPress is one of the best solutions. It may be best known as a blogging platform, but it possesses applications far beyond the realm of blogs.

Even though WordPress does not support e-commerce right out of the box, you can easily add e-commerce functionality using WooCommerce, which is by far the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress.

WooCommerce allows you to easily set up and customize a store. It has a lot of security options and offers many user-friendly features. WooCommerce is also mobile responsive so you can navigate from any device. It also has the financial functions you’ll need, such as payment and shipping options.

Next to choosing your plugins, selecting a WooCommerce compatible theme will be the biggest decision you make about your site. With thousands of premium themes available in the market, you can easily make a choice based on your needs. Considering popularity, functionality and performance, we would recommend you to try Astra, Uncode, Shoppe, Ultra, or Shoptimizer.

While you choose your themes and plugins, you’ll want to keep one requirement in mind—security. Any website can benefit from some basic security measures, but for an e-commerce site, you’ll want a more extensive solution as it contains personal user data and the records of financial transactions. You can use free plugins like Sucuri Security and Wordfence Security to ensure that your site’s defenses are robust.

Long story short, here are some of the features that make WordPress a go-to e-commerce solution:

1. Being an open-source CMS, it is free!
2. WordPress offers a variety of e-commerce plugins and themes.
3. You can seamlessly integrate it with your current WordPress website.
4. Security options are easy to find.
5. It works on all devices.
6. You can add unlimited products,  variants and attributes.
7. It has the option for reviews and ratings, giving your customers the freedom to review your products.
8. Unlike Shopify, you don’t have to pay a whopping $29/month.

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When should you look for an alternative?

WordPress is a powerhouse as a CMS. It is almost the perfect website platform, capable of running all kinds of websites. But, when looking for an e-commerce solution, you may want to avoid WordPress and go for Shopify if any of the following describes you:

1. Money is not a problem for you. You are comfortable with spending over $300 per month for the Advanced Shopify e-commerce solution.
2. You have no website and you want a quality ecommerce store launched quickly.
3. To be totally honest, you don’t have any design, programming, or web-building skills, and you want to get up to speed quickly.

Shopify comes with many other benefits when you’re setting up your e-commerce store. They have done an amazing job at building a platform to solve the needs of any e-commerce business owner.

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Final thoughts

By this point, you might already have made your choice. WordPress, along with WooCommerce, gives you a secure, easy-to-use, and complete online shopping opportunity. It gives you all the e-commerce features you might ask for, like shopping carts, product catalogs, online payments, coupons, etc. Most importantly, it’s free!

When it comes down to only e-commerce, Shopify is a platform that has evolved and grown over the years to become an excellent e-commerce solution. It also doesn’t matter whether you want to sell physical products, digital downloads, or services—Shopify can handle anything.

Simply said, if you already have a WordPress website up and running, then it’s always economical to just add WooCommerce to that website instead of building something new. On the other hand, if you don’t have a website yet, then it’s quicker and easier to launch an e-commerce store with a specialized platform like Shopify.

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