Best WooCommerce Alternatives For Building an Online Store on WordPress

Posted on Mar 05 2020 by in Advertising Blog ecommerce 

When it comes to building an online store, WooCommerce is, hands down, the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress. But, you also have to keep in mind that just because WooCommerce might be the most popular plugin, that doesn’t mean it’s the best tool for every business owner… it just depends on the needs of the business owner.

No business owner is the same and neither are their needs, therefore WooCommerce might be the perfect solution for some business owners but other business owners need something else. With WooCommerce, you may have to display products and categories in various ways that you may not like… you may like your products displayed in a way that WooCommerce doesn’t offer. That difference in needs is the very reason why there are WooCommerce alternatives to better meet the needs of business owners.

Why Use WooCommerce Alternatives?

The only answer to that particular question is simply, “Why not?” If one thing isn’t working for you, why shouldn’t there be any alternative options? Think of it like going to restaurants. There used to be a point in time where you had no choice but to eat what was on the menu… there were no “healthy” or “gluten-free” alternatives but because the demand for healthier and gluten-free alternatives became so high, the restaurant industry had no choice but to supply the demand.

That’s the exact same theory with WooCommerce. WooCommerce has tons of great features that are very beneficial for business owners but sometimes there are specific things a business owner is looking for that WooCommerce doesn’t offer, despite its numerous features… That lack of a specific feature can make any business owner say no to WooCommerce and look for an alternative that has the specific feature their business needs.

That particular business need could be anything, really… but if WooCommerce doesn’t have a solution for it, that’s when WooCommerce alternatives come in to save the day. Ultimately, these WooCommerce alternatives provide better solutions to meet those specific needs of a business. Let’s take a look at some WooCommerce alternatives that would be more suitable for your business

The Best WooCommerce Alternatives

1.   WPForms

WPForms is a WordPress form builder plugin. What that means is that it’s not an e-commerce plugin that’s fully featured. You can’t use it for advanced processes like shipping or taxes but where WPForms shines is with payment integrations.

You can create simple payment forms with WPForms and they’re integrated for both Stripe and PayPal. It’s the simplest option when creating a simple order form to process credit card payments.

2.   Shopify

Shopify is its own fully hosted e-commerce platform that doesn’t require users to use WordPress in any way BUT Shopify does make an extension for WordPress… With Shopify’s extension on WordPress, users can utilize the WYSIWYG site builder and the e-commerce option as well.

With WordPress, you somewhat need to know some technical skills like software management and how to install updates… With Shopify, you can just start your online store with ease and without the frustration of needing to know certain technical skills… Shopify takes the guesswork out of building an online store.

Because Shopify is its own fully hosted e-commerce platform, you can imagine that it has some pretty great features. Some of it’s biggest features include discount codes, multi-channel integration, and, of course, the ability to sell an unlimited amount of products.

3.   MemberPress

MemberPress is a membership plugin for WordPress. Business owners have the ability to sell paid memberships with different levels of subscriptions and multiple payment gateways. The biggest purpose of MemberPress is to help you sell and expand your business’ membership.

The ease and convenience that comes with MemberPress is the fact that if you’re wanting to create a membership site that only gives its members access to content, then MemberPress is the better option for you.

Realistically, you could go with WooCommerce to get this done but you’d have to go through the hassle of getting several different add-ons, making things extremely complicated when it doesn’t have to be. If you get MemberPress, you’ll get the same functionality you would have with all those add-ons, only with MemberPress, all those functionalities are built-in so there would be no hassle of multiple add-ons.

4.   Easy Digital Downloads

Unlike physical goods, Easy Digital Downloads is specifically made for selling virtual goods. Things like ebooks, software, and music are all virtual goods you can sell without the customer physically touching them.

Easy Digital Downloads is the better solution for business owners who only want to sell virtual goods only… it’s just easier to manage file downloads, manage the software licenses, and accept payments… it’s more of a one-stop-shop.

You technically can use WooCommerce for selling virtual goods as well but with WooCommerce, you’re going to be dealing with features you don’t need in addition to the features you do need. Being that you only want to sell virtual goods, you only need features for that. WooCommerce is going to give you features for virtual goods but it’s also going to bombard you with features for physical goods as well.

On top of that, you’re also going to need to get several different add-ons just to produce the same results as Easy Digital Downloads.

Which WooCommerce Alternatives Will You Use?

As you can see, there are quite a few WooCommerce alternatives for WordPress to meet the many needs of business owners. According to trends.builtwith.com, powers over 3.3 million websites and has an e-commerce market share of over 30%, so it’s no wonder why it’s been dubbed as the most popular plugin for WordPress!

But as you know, technology is constantly changing, which means that there is always going to be something that comes out that’s going to be better than something else. That’s when WooCommerce alternatives came into play… There are certain features that business owners need that WooCommerce just simply can’t provide without the use of several different plugins… that can make running an online business harder than it should be.

With WooCommerce alternatives, business owners at least have the option to see what else is out there, such as a restaurant website builder, to better meet the needs of their business.