There are a number of good eCommerce products to help you sell online. BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento are 3 of the leaders. WordPress running the WooCommerce or WPEasy cart extensions is another.

All solutions have trade-offs( some mentioned further on ) but if the main function of the website is to market your products successfully, which is normally the main priority, I believe you should do whatever it takes to use WordPress.

That’s because WordPress lets you get things done fast, without massive learning curves and trouble and that’s a critical aspect of successful online marketing.

Online marketing campaigns require …

  • A good email marketing service like GetResponse or Drip ( or an SMS marketing service ),
  • Tracking applications like Matomo & Google Analytics,
  • Retargeting services,
  • Page building apps that let you run & update deals and specials on your website with minimum effort.

WordPress is by far the easiest solution for integrating all these things and getting them to work together. It also enables way easier workflows, which means that more gets done with the least effort.

So we build eCommerce websites using WordPress with either WooCommerce or WPEasycart.

What’s in our eCommerce package ? …

  1. Developed on WordPress, so you’ll be able to add additional pages and edit them yourself.
  2. A responsive layout that adjusts to the device to display neatly on iPads and smart-phones as well as larger screens.
  3. Graphic design of the main look based on your logo & branding and basic market research.
  4. The home page & repeating back-page elements designed & laid out.
  5. A shopping cart extension integrated and 2 products added.
  6. 3 additional pages laid out, such as About Us, Services, Contact etc.

This is our basic eCommerce website quote …

( plus GST ) Note: This doesn’t include setting up shipping rates and rules, label printing and email systems.

Trade-Offs with types of eCommerce Websites

Big Commerce and Shopify are great products offered as software as a service ( SAAS ). This means that the websites run on the providers servers ( computers ) and the code is owned by them. They update the code as the internet develops, handle security and look after the technical aspects for you.

The trade-offs are that …

  • They limit what you can use. if you’re a marketer there a lot of products that can make a big difference in the success of an online business. These are extensions to the website and integrations with other services – some mentioned at the top of this page.
  • If the SAAS is discontinued ( unlikely but possible ) you lose the work you’ve put into developing the website.

WordPress & it’s extensions like WooCommerce are self hosted. So is Magento. This means that you handle the hosting (usually a subscription with a hosting company )

  • You can integrate with any other service you like.
  • you can extend your website with anything you like and alter the code if needed.
  • If you don’t like the host because it’s too slow or the service is bad, then you can move you website somewhere else – like moving a caravan 🙂

But, you need to keep the website updated with the latest code, and keep an eye on the security by maintaining backups and installing security measures.