An e-commerce plugin adds online selling to a website. WooCommerce is the dominant option for WordPress: open source, freemium, and extendable with additional features. section 10.0 section 10.3
WooCommerce can support several common selling situations:
- Physical products such as furniture or personal-care products. section 10.3.1
- Downloadable products such as books. section 10.3.1
- External offers such as affiliate products, courses, and webinars. section 10.3.1
- Specialized store functions added through WooCommerce extensions and related plugins. section 10.3.1
Its practical strengths include flexibility, scalability, customization, and payment gateways such as Stripe and PayPal. Security still requires care because widely used platforms attract attackers; encrypted backups and security plugins provide additional protection. section 10.3.1
Choosing and checking the plugin
For a WordPress site that plans to sell products, compare ease of use, efficiency, security, and required features. Install or search for WooCommerce from Plugins > Add Plugins, then check whether its free core meets the business need before paying for extensions or gateway services. section 10.3 section 10.3.1 section 10.4
