Month: April 2015

Magento vs WooCommerce—Which Is Better for eCommerce?

With eCommerce having become a booming field, the demand for online store building tools is also increasing. The companies and stores dealing with physical as well as virtual entities are going online with a fast pace. While planning to launch a self-hosted eCommerce solution, two major names may strike the mind of a developer, i.e. Magento vs WooCommerce. Both are highly powerful tools for creating a shopping website and very popular among the users. In this scenario, it becomes difficult to find out which one is superior to the other. For the solution of this ambiguity, I have tried my best to compare and contrast the plugins while elaborating all of their major aspects. Hopefully, after reading the full post, you will be in a better position to select the better one for your online shopping store. Let’s go ahead with the critical evaluation and comparison of WooCommerce vs Magento:

A Platform versus a Plugin:

The first major difference between Magento and WooCommerce is that the former is a complete platform with advanced structural & functional framework designed exclusively for the eCommerce websites. The later, on the other hand, is merely a plugin that has to be installed on some content management system (CMS) to make it utilizable for the intended purpose. Obviously, on these particular grounds, you may consider the former as superior to the latter. But, the ground realities might be a bit different. No doubt, Magento is already a complete online shopping solution, at the same time, you can take the help of WordPress CMS to get the same functionality from WooCommerce. Surprisingly, you won’t be required to invest a penny or do extra labor for it—integration is the matter of a single click only!

Professional Requirements:

One of the greatest disadvantages of Magento is that it requires professional skills and sound background knowledge for setting up and launching a furnished shopping website. WooCommerce, on the other hand, is extremely easy to use and can be handled even by the novice users who do not have any ‘know-how’ of web development. With just one click, this eCommerce plugin can be installed on WordPress base which, in turn, is extremely easy to use.

Setup and Customizations:

Working with Magento is not a piece of cake for everybody—it requires sufficient expertise in the field. Moreover, setting up the website also demands adequate effort on the part of the developer. The customization and personalization activities are also time consuming. If you opt for WooCommerce, you would definitely be using WordPress as the structural and functional framework for your website. It is an admitted fact that WP is comparatively very easy to use and a fun to work with. On its intuitive and interactive admin panel, the users are self-guided to do everything that needs to be done. In short, a fully-accomplished and completely customized website can be launched within a few minutes.

Premium Versus Free:

WordPress—the base for WooCommerce—is totally free to download and use or modify. Undoubtedly, it was originally created for blogging, the extreme level of flexibility makes it suitable for all kinds of sites, whether it is a buying/selling platform, an online portfolio, a business forum or any other type of project. In case of Magento, though the Community version is free to download, the Enterprise version is essentially a premium offering. It means, Magento is defeated by WooCommerce also on the economic front. Here it is also worth noticing that themes and extensions are comparatively very costly, often reaching $1000 a piece! The premium WP templates, on the other hand, are less expensive and easily affordable. Moreover, the WP products available for free number in thousands. The free WordPress shopping themes are particularly worth mentioning here.

Flexibility:

As the requirements and tastes vary from person to person, the flexibility of a web building tool has got primary importance. Looking for the same functionality in the products under discussion, there is a considerably large pool of themes and plugins supported by WordPress. This is what renders it enormous amount of flexibility both in design and performance. Magento, on the contrary, supports comparatively small number of templates and extensions.

Limited versus Limitless Functionality:

The utility of Magento is limited only to eCommerce sites. It can provide the functionality of online buying and selling on no other site but a shopping platform. Turning to WooCommerce, though it is also exclusively devoted to shopping functionality, its parent framework (i.e. WP) comes with limitless web solutions. Here you can build almost any kind of website you want. At the same time, you can impart the web-based trading and payment system on any section or page of any kind of website.

“Shopping on Shopping Site” versus “Shopping on Every Site”:

Magento is not a plugin or extension to be installed on some content management system—it is itself a CMS crafted specifically for eCommerce sites. In other words, with this tool you can create only a shopping site. Essentially being an eCommerce plugin, WooCommerce can be installed on any type of WP-based website. It means, even a blog or saloon can be having trading and money transfer system integrated into it.

Search Engine Friendliness:

Stuffed with too many features, the Magento-based websites face difficulty while loading on browsers. The slow speed connections require even more time to fully display the pages. Such a condition serves to distract the attention of the users from such sites. The search engines too give them less priority and thus low ranking. On the other side, WooCommerce is comparatively very lightweight. Owing to quick loading, the WooCommerce-powered platforms can easily secure higher ranking on search engines. Higher ranking means your site will be listed on the top of the search results and there will be more visitors and, consequently, more income!

Concluding Remarks:

Beyond any question, Magento enjoys overwhelming popularity on account of its par excellent shopping functionalities. It has exclusively been developed as one of the best eCommerce solutions. But, when compared against WooCommerce (WC), it gets defeated on several fronts. Firstly, its functionality is limited only to shopping, while WC can impart online buying and selling feature on every kind of web-based project. The former is bulky due to overstuffing of features, while the latter is very lightweight. Working in combination with WordPress, WC allows for immense flexibility, while its counterpart is not that much flexible. WC is totally free to download and use, while the Enterprise version of alternative tool has to be purchased for download and utilization. In short, it will not be wrong to say that Magento is an excellent eCommerce solution, but WooCommerce becomes an even better choice when powered by WordPress.

Best Business WordPress Themes 2015

What are the most basic things your online business project needs to sound like customer friendly? For this end, you have to ensure a number of different things. An easy to remember, search engine friendly and brand-defining domain name lies among the primary requirements of a flourishing and future-oriented business. As the users visit your website, they must be introduced the nature and purpose of your business. Easy-to-find contact information will let the customers get answers to their queries and stay connected with you. A section of customer testimonials is also necessary, as it can inspire the first-time visitors to become your permanent clients. Similarly, proper knowledge of SEO, secure hosting, speedy page loading, call to action features and reader-friendly design can collectively contribute a lot to the outstanding success of your business. So, if you are serious about building an online business platform and making it successful at any rate, the following best business WordPress themes 2015 are packed with not only essential but also additional and innovative features.

Construction – Construction, Building Business WP Theme

Features | Demo

With industrialization being in its heyday, construction has become a promising business. If you are planning to earn your fortune through a construction company and are also aware of the modern marketing techniques, you should be looking for an advanced theme to build a powerful business website. Construction is, undoubtedly, one of the best premium business WordPress themes that will require only a few minutes for complete setup and customization. Depending on what specific features you want to have on your website, you can choose from various demo versions.

Catchy Features:

  • Easy and pleasant navigation across all pages and features of the website through powerful, dropdown menu. Originally transparent, it gets dark and sticky on scrolling.
  • Forcefully introduce your project over the top section with slider or video support.
  • Get in touch with customers through working Contact Form, powered with AJAX.
  • Refreshing graphics and visuals for an attractive view and easy content readability.
  • A tabber section to showcase sharp clickable images related to different services.
  • Build the confidence of clients through testimonials with images.
  • Multiple post formats.

Mega Project – Construction Business Company WordPress Theme

Features | Demo

The best and most reliable criteria to determine the worth of a product is to test it personally for various features and functions. If you can do this, there will be no need to make a decision on basis of ratings, reviews and sales. Based on my personal experience, I consider Mega Project as one of the best WordPress business themes and strongly recommend it for your project. Just look at its sticky header with mega menu. The users can easily navigate through all the built-in features by simple mouse-hover at any time. Slider, parallax and carousel sections make the posts dynamic and vibrant. With this single product, you can launch many different types of projects, blogs and shopping websites.

Catchy Features:

  • Various slider, parallax and carousel sections, adding dynamism and vibrancy to your business platform.
  • Versatile project building on classic and modern styles.
  • Masonry, medium, full and multi-column blog versions.
  • Simple, cool and customer-friendly design.
  • Easily navigable sticky header with mega menu.
  • Logo with a few-word project description.
  • Promote your company through integrated social media.

Spectrum – Multi-Trade Construction Business WordPress Theme

Features | Demo

Developed by an Elite Author, Spectrum premium WordPress theme is the first product of its kind, distinguished by the innovation, originality and professional feel of the features. Owing to the versatility of the built-in features, Spectrum can be used for any kind of business including construction, wood craftsman, online shopping, gardener, electrician, plumber and conservatories. For each of these niches, you will find a separate feature-rich homepage version. The color combinations make it extremely cool and super attractive. The decently styled header remains attached to the top as you navigate across the page. Wow, there is also a section with video parallax! Parallax effect is also furnished on images in some posts categories.

Catchy Features:

  • Decency, sophistication, professionalism and creativity tripling from every inch.
  • Larger, full-width layout with larger images and text fonts.
  • Superb color combinations, making the theme look pleasing to the eyes and soothing to the heart.
  • Sections with video parallax support.
  • Parallax effects on large images in certain post categories.
  • Incredibly sharp visuals and graphics.
  • Dynamic and cool animation effects.
  • Full-width auto-play slider.
  • Two Contact Form versions.

RT-Theme19 – Responsive Multi-Purpose WP Business Theme

Features | Demo

RT-Theme 19 is one of those truly modern themes that are very rare to come by. Taking innovation a step ahead, this easy-to-use WordPress theme is packed with 8 creative homepage versions; some of which are in vertical layout while others come with horizontal style. Similarly, there are light and dark variants. In Demo 1, you can see a wide vertical main menu bar with logo, multi-level dropdown, social integration, useful call-to-action buttons, and, above all, superb parallax background. To stay connected with potential clients, you have a powerfully-featured, Ajax-powered Contact Form with Google Maps integration. Another unique thing is that, as you scroll the page down, the page layer slides over the large footer area.

Catchy Features:

  • Spectacular vertical and horizontal demo styles.
  • Half a dozen homepages for multi-niche coverage.
  • Vertical menu and logo bar with beautiful parallax background.
  • Full screen slider with multiple navigation effects.
  • Unique Contact Form with extended features and functionalities.
  • Page layer beautifully sliding over the large footer area.
  • Dark and light homepage variants.
  • Awesome parallax sliding sections.
  • Talented theme customizer plugin for easy and quick setup.

Constructo – One of the Best WordPress Construction Business Theme

Features | Demo

Which style do you want for your business website—classic, full-screen, limitless or extravagant? All these frameworks can be found in a single product, i.e. Constructo—one of the best business WordPress themes 2015. You can’t imagine the level of beauty and freshness emanating from the top section of full-screen demo version—it’s mind-blowing! Spanning across the full-screen, the ultra-decent slider lies in the background of logo, transparent menu bar and other header features. Here, as you click on the search icon, the search bar emerges from between the header section and address bar of the browser. The bold, white text becomes dazzling against the pitch dark background.

Catchy Features:

  • Classic, limitless, full-screen and extravagant homepage designs—a 4-in-1 WP template.
  • Full-screen slider with super-elegant graphics, placed in the background of fully transparent header.
  • Search bar emerging from between the header of your website and address bar of the browser.
  • Neat, clean and clear layout with high text visibility.
  • Plenty of space around different textual and visual elements.
  • Parallax and carousel slider support.
  • ‘Back to Top’ button for swift back scrolling.
  • Ajax-powered Contact Form with essential input fields, text area, primary & secondary contacts and Google Maps integration.
  • One of the best selling premium business WordPress themes with 5-star ratings.

Aaika – MultiPurpose WordPress Theme for Business

Features | Demo

Though not as innovative as you might be expecting, the primary appeal of Aaika premium multipurpose WordPress theme lies its capacity to build a mega project on a variety of business and other niches. For this end, it comes packed with as many as 14 feature-rich homepage variants. The 12 built-in slider versions will make your content dynamic and full of spirit. Image supported mega menu, on the sticky header, makes navigation very easy and quick. Moreover, the simple, neat & clean layout, beautiful parallax sections, high image & textual visibility, tabber sections, circular charts, multiple blog & portfolio styles and full shopping support are among some other great accomplishments.

Catchy Features:

  • A mega business project building tool with versatile features.
  • Full-width, spacious, neat and simple layout.
  • 14 homepages and 12 slider variants.
  • Multiple versions for blogs and portfolios.
  • Full online shopping support, backed by WooCommerce and PayPal.
  • Lovely parallax sections.
  • Three Contact Form styles.
  • Video backgrounds.

Best WP Themes for Furniture Stores 2015

Furniture is one of the basic requirements for all kinds of human dwellings. Depending upon the quality of material and some other factors, prices of different brands vary greatly. Buyers, however, always look for something both economical and durable. So, if you are running furniture business, online platform will serve as the best tool for popularity. For this purpose, you also need one of the best WordPress themes for furniture store, as listed below:

Cheope Shop – Flexible e-Commerce Theme

Features | Demo

Looking to create a site that will help you and your clients interact better? Well, try Cheope. It is loaded with features that are crafted not only to make an aesthetically pleasing website, but are also functionally benefitting.

Salient Accomplishments:

  • It is fully responsive.
  • Includes the zoom effect.
  • Comes with 2 custom checkout pages.
  • Unlimited Sliders.
  • The theme is brandable.
  • Manages shortcodes.
  • Variety of styles, layouts, colors and fonts.
  • Well documented with an efficient customer support.
  • Premium plugins are included free of cost.
  • Offers animated banner shortcodes.

Audience Targeted:

It is specially designed for people looking to build a flawless business site related to furniture.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, WPML, Wishlist Plugin, W3 Total Cache, Contact Form, SEO, Magnifier, Revolution Slider Plugin, FlexSlider, Gravity Form, Etalage and Pop up plugin.

Fee:

Cheope is available for a license fee of around $63.

Home Decor Responsive WooCommerce Theme

Features | Demo

As the name suggests, this theme is fully responsive to make your website according to your needs. The features are amazing and promise to help you build a website that will make you stand apart from your contemporaries. Let’s explore it further to find out why this theme is so exciting.

Salient Accomplishments:

  • Stock photos included.
  • Extensive documentation and a 24/7 free and efficient customer support system.
  • Completely editable, customizable and fully responsive.
  • Offers a number of post formats.
  • Is translatable into any language that you want it to be in.
  • Can be easily installed in just 2 steps.
  • A wide number of styles, layouts, colors and formats to choose from.

Audience Targeted:

Best suited for people looking to build a classy furniture website.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, SEO, Slider plugins and WPML.

Fee:

You can get this theme for a license fee of about $114.

Trendy Room – Elite E-Commerce WordPress Theme

Features | Demo

Create a long term relation with your clientele with this simple, fresh and easy to use theme. It is packed with features that create an appealing yet simple website. Your customers will find the clear and unique typography easy and user friendly. While the professional design and class will enhance the quality and professionalism of your website.

Salient Accomplishments:

  • Elegant Layouts.
  • Clean Coding.
  • It is very easy to download, install and run.
  • 100% responsive.
  • Extensive documentation.
  • Great customer support.
  • The sample data comes included with it.
  • Unlimited styles, fonts, layouts and colors etc.

Audience Targeted:

People who wish to create simple, clean and pleasant business websites.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, Bootstrap and WPML.

Fee:

Trendy Room can be bought by paying a license fee of $58.

Maxshop – Responsive WooCommerce Theme

Features | Demo

If you wish your business to enter the world of web, Maxshop offers the easiest way to do so. It is not only rich in features but incredibly easy to use. With a few clicks, you will be able to create an impressive and a completely professional looking website.

Salient Accomplishments:

  • A very powerful admin panel.
  • It offers vast variety of styles, layouts, colors and fonts.
  • Comes with visual shortcode generator.
  • Maxshop is fully responsive.
  • Has a video tutorial to setup the theme easily.
  • Translation ready.
  • Offers almost over 250 icons.

Audience Targeted:

For people who wish to build stylish and easy to use e-commerce websites.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, Contact Form Plugin and WPML.

Fee:

You will have to pay $58 as the license fee to purchase it.

Mazine WordPress Theme – A WP E-Commerce theme

Features | Demo

Combine the crisp and clean layout with unmatched style and class to create a perfect website for your business. Mazine is a feature rich theme which is very easy to install and use. The features are updated regularly to make sure that your website stays abreast of the current trends. Let’s dig in some more, to find out more about Mazine.

Salient Accomplishments:

  • It is completely responsive.
  • Can build impressive parallax banners.
  • The most amazing feature is the animated sortable gallery, which adds the extra dash of style to it.
  • Incredible catalog Ajax sorting.
  • Unparalleled page builder.
  • Can be translated into as many languages as you please.
  • Extensive documentation accompanied by a great customer support system.

Audience Targeted:

Specially designed to create websites related to furniture.

Plugins:

E-Commerce, Slider Plugins, Contact Form and WPML.

Fee:

License fee for getting Mazine is $58.

Lookshop – Furniture WordPress eCommerce Theme

Features | Demo

Make a vibrant, full of color and a cheerful website for your furniture collection with Lookshop. This theme is your ultimate guide in making a bright statement about your business. It is fully loaded with features that will help you create cheerful and an upbeat website to stand out amongst your competitors.

Salient Accomplishments:

  • It is a fully responsive and easy to install.
  • Supports HTML 5 and CSS3.
  • A wide variety of options, styles, fonts, sidebars, layouts to create a magical website.
  • Comes with incredible blog features.
  • Stylish gallery features to make your website look impressive.
  • Flexible featured products widget.

Audience Targeted:

It is typically designed for people looking to create a bold and a vibrant website for their business.

Plugins:

WP e-Commerce, contact form and Facebook comments plugin.

Fee:

License fee to purchase Lookshop is approximately $58.

Sommerce Shop – A Versatile E-commerce Theme

Features | Demo

Sommerce is a one stop stop solution for anyone looking to create an impressive and a professional looking website for their business. With multiple layouts and styles it fits almost all kinds of businesses. You can use your creativity and ideas to come up with the style that fits your products the most. Read on to find why this theme is a favorite!

Salient Accomplishments:

  • Comes with big image uploaders, unlimited colors, styles and layouts.
  • Six amazing slider options.
  • Unlimited contact forms with Java error control.
  • Multiple order and shipping order options.
  • Shortcodes and clean typography.
  • Well documented and a great customer support.
  • Supports HTML files

Audience Targeted:

Sommerce is meant for anyone and everyone looking to setup an impressive e-commerce website for furniture store.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, Contact Form, Jigoshop, Wishlist plugin, PrettyPhoto, slider plugins and WPML.

Fee:

It is available for a license fee of $63.

Best Wood Finishes Store WooCommerce Theme

Features | Demo

Your classic wooden furniture requires a classic website theme. Leave a lasting impression on your clients through this amazing theme. It is not only feature-rich but also very chic and trendy to add an extra dash of grace to you website. Find out more below why this theme is a must try out!

Salient Accomplishments:

  • Includes Stock Photos.
  • Completely editable with hundreds of colors, styles and fonts for you to choose from.
  • Great slider options.
  • 100% responsive design and easy installation in just two steps.
  • Well documented with free support 24/7.
  • Comes with free updates for a lifetime.
  • 80+ short codes.
  • Translation ready.
  • Built in theme customizer.
  • It also offers a filterable portfolio.

Audience Targeted:

For people looking to create a furniture website, especially wooden furniture.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, WPML, Slider plugins and SEO.

Fee:

The license fee to get this amazing theme is nearly $114.

Flooring Responsive WooCommerce Theme

Features | Demo

If you are into the flooring business, and looking to create or revamp your website, this theme is all that you need. It is simple, easy to use and classy with some great features. Reach out to your audience in style by using Flooring responsive theme. To know more details about this theme read below:

Salient Accomplishments:

  • Translation Ready.
  • Extensive documentation and efficient 24/7 customer support.
  • Completely customizable and fully responsive.
  • Has 80+ short codes.
  • Gives multiple color options and customizable typography.
  • Easily installed in just two steps.
  • Incredible Slider options.
  • It also has a filterable portfolio.
  • SEO ready for better ranking in search results.
  • With all these superior features, you also get a lifetime of free updates with Flooring.

Audience Targeted:

As the name suggests it is best suited for businesses that are about floors.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, SEO Plugin, Slider plugins and WPML.

Fee:

It is available for a license fee of $114.

Lighting Store WooCommerce Theme

Features | Demo

Brighten up your website with this amazingly stylish theme suited perfectly for you, if your business is all about lights and lightings. You can create an artistic website and allure your customers to explore more about your products. Read on and get to know more about this simple to use yet feature rich theme.

Salient Accomplishments:

  • A wide range of custom post format and post types.
  • Ready for translation in any language that you desire.
  • Includes stock photos.
  • 100% responsive.
  • Offers a variety of options in terms of styles, fonts and colors to create an impeccable website.
  • One of the standout features of this theme is that it offers advanced backup.
  • SEO optimized, and has a filterable portfolio.
  • It has a built-in theme customizer.
  • Can be easily installed in just two simple steps.

Audience Targeted:

For people looking to build a website for their lighting products and furniture business.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, SEO Plugin, Slider Plugin and WPML.

Fee:

It is available for around $114.

Koorsi

Features | Demo

Koorsi is a multipurpose theme to create a website, especially if your products are related to furniture. This impressive theme amalgamates features, class and ease of use in a single bundle called Koorsi. It comes with many styles and easy to use demos.

Salient Accomplishments:

  • It is fully responsive.
  • Offers a large number of styles, fonts, colors and formats to curate a stylish furniture website.
  • Extensively documented with an efficient customer support.
  • Offers multi-purpose layouts, catalogue page, Blog, Landing page and portfolio page.
  • Child theme is supported.
  • Unlimited slider option.

Audience Targeted:

It is specially designed for furniture websites.

Plugins:

WooCommerce, bbPress, shortcodes plugin, Slider plugins and WPML

Fee:

The license fee for using this theme is about $58.

Magento vs WordPress — Which is best for eCommerce?

Both Magento and WordPress (WP) are open source software applications that can be used and improved or contributed by anyone in the world. Based on PHP and MySQL frameworks, these programs can be used to launch an online platform. Also utilized as a programming language for general purposes, PHP is actually a server-side scripting language created for building websites. MySQL, on the other hand, is the world’s most famous open source relational database management system. Turing back to Magento and WordPress, both the apps support extensions and plugins for the enhancement of their functioning. Regarding their mode of working and utilization, you will find one to be much different from the other. For example, Magento has exclusively been designed for eCommerce or shopping websites while WordPress is an advanced and easy-to-use platform for blogging.

Magento versus WordPress—Which is better for Online Store?

Though Magento has been created especially for eCommerce or online buying/selling websites and WordPress is simply a blogging platform, yet the latter is a better option even for shopping sites! Wondering how? Let’s go ahead only to get convinced with the logical arguments. By taking some unconventional leaps, WP has left its peers far behind in the realm of web development. No doubt, WordPress, as it is, cannot be used for eCommerce sites, you can quickly transform it into the one by the use of WooCommerce or other such plugins. For this purpose, you don’t have to spend even a penny as WooCommerce—one of the best eCommerce tools—is totally free to use!

Here are the features that make WordPress enjoy significant superiority over Magento for building an advanced shopping website.

  • Level of Difficulty in Usage: By Magento vs WordPress comparison, WordPress is much easier to use than that of Magento. While working with the former, you don’t have to be professionally skilled or have adequate background knowledge of programming or coding. Handling Magento, on the other hand, requires sufficient background knowledge of web development.
  • Utility as eCommerce Platform: Magento is already meant for launching a shopping website, but WP can easily be converted into such a tool by the installation of a free extension, called WooCommerce. If properly integrated into the site, this additional tool renders almost equal level of efficiency. At the same time, you can enjoy all the amazing potential of this advanced content management system.
  • Setup Time: The setup time of a software app matters a lot for the busy fellows who have got calculated time for every task. That is why, while deciding among different options, they always go for the one that can save their time without compromising for quality and efficiency. Talking of an equipment to build a website, WordPress CMS is relatively easy and quick to setup as compared with Magento.
  • Popularity Status: WP as a content management system has earned great popularity among the public associated with online business or blogging over the past decade. Though Magento is very useful for eCommerce platforms, it is not that much famous. Moreover, it is five years junior to WordPress in age. In any case, the favorite choice for online businesses is still Magento.
  • Receptivity to Plugins: Both the content management systems are receptive to third party plugins and allow for the quick installation of additional tools. However, one has to realize that WP supports greater variety of such supplementary equipment. Consequently, it can be easily modified and used for creating almost any kind of website.
  • Relative Economy: As you might have known, hosting a site on WP is less expensive when compared with hosting a website based on Magento. The individuals, desirous of saving some money, choose the former as their web building tool.
  • Customizations: While personalizing an eCommerce store, the users have to do a lot of necessary customizations. For example, they may feel the need to add, delete, change or rearrange different sections and elements on the given page. It already requires sufficient amount of time. If you are troubled by the complexity of the background framework, you would definitely like to quit it. The use of WordPress can eliminate many such complexities.
  • Maintenance: Your responsibilities continue even after the successful creation of an outclass website. After making it ‘live’ over the web, it will require maintenance. As compared with WordPress-based websites, a Magento-powered site needs more attention and efforts for maintenance.
  • Two-in-One Support: The integration of WooCommerce or other such plugin into the WP blogging CMS will enable it serve as both as an advanced blog and efficient online store. Magento, on the other hand, lacks in such a dual advantage. There is still a solution which involves the integration of both these tools. It again testifies the superiority of WP over its counterpart.
  • Sequencing and Nomenclature: On the basis of enhanced naming conventions and proper sequencing of PHP scripts in WordPress, the handling becomes much easier. All the template files can be contained in a single theme directory. Magento, on the other hand, is object-oriented and its scripts can be contained in a great number of files and folders. Here, the sharing of same name by several files and folders also creates a problem for the developers.
  • Theme Support: An important advantage of WordPress over Magento is that the former offers support for multiple themes at the same time where the functioning of one theme remains independent of other installed themes. This is, however, not the case with the latter. It is based on the fall-back logic and can work with default theme only.

Inference:

From the above detailed logical arguments, it can be easily inferred that WP, as an advanced blogging CMS, enjoys much superiority over its eCommerce counterpart—Magento. You can use the former even for the best shopping website simply by the single-click installation of an eCommerce plugin, such as WooCommerce. Its use can easily be extended for building all kinds of websites, while the utility of its counterpart is limited only to online stores. Quick setup, convenient customizations, well-defined nomenclature, hassle-free maintenance and receptivity to a huge collection of WP plugins are some of the other benefits of using WordPress as a web building tool. Here you can install multiple themes at the same time and switch to anyone of these whenever you like. The greatest benefit, however, lies in the fact that you are not required to have any professional expertise to create a blog or any other kind of website—even novice users can launch a fully accomplished project without the assistance of any external agency. This is what makes WP the best content management system ever created.

Best WordPress Shopping Cart Themes

As change is the only permanent phenomenon in this world, it has evergreen appeal for the individuals of all the ages. The same is the case with WordPress shopping cart themes, i.e. developers always look for a product that offers a change from the traditional features and functionalities. To cater to the taste and advanced requirements of online buying and selling project, some modern web development experts have successfully created unique and powerful templates based on WordPress—the easiest to use content management system. All of these have at least one thing in common, i.e. WooCommerce integration and a trusted online payment gateway, such as PayPal. I made extensive research and judged a huge collection of themes against the standards of novelty and perfection. Only some products fulfilled the criteria that are being briefly described here. Just analyze and choose an item from the best shopping WordPress themes that harmonizes with the true nature of your online buying and selling project.

Nielsen – Premium WordPress Shopping Cart Theme

Features | Demo

Hailed as an ultimate eCommerce store building premium WordPress shopping cart theme, Nielsen abounds in features and functions that you would love to have for your project. Packed with unique features and potential, each of the 12 predesigned homepage versions of Nielsen offers you a distinct and unrivalled layout for the structuring and functioning of the shop website on modern lines. In other words, there is everything ready for use and you won’t be required to produce a new style yourself. Similarly, you can make use of nearly a dozen shop and product pages for various ends. The full-width slider section has been partitioned by a sub-menu bar to the left. As you bring a cursor over any of these options, a mega menu appears to the right with images and plenty of clickable buttons. Another truly appealing thing is that the WooCommerce powered Nielson is a precisely coded, simple, minimalist and extremely lightweight product, thus ensuring maximized page loading speed over the web.

Distinctions:

  • Dozens of predefined homepages, basic pages, special pages, shop pages and product pages.
  • Full-width slider partitioned by a vertical submenu bar, supporting mega menu with images.
  • Complete WooCommerce integration and shopping features, including Add to Cart, Add to Wishlist, Price Tag, 5-star product rating system, and other essential features.
  • Exciting mouse-hover animations.
  • Newsletter subscription box.
  • Precise professional coding with extreme lightweight.
  • Cool and 100% responsive layout for perfect adjustability on various screen sizes.

MixStore – MultiShop WooCommerce Theme

Features | Demo

Boasting a clean, catchy and bold design, MixStore WooCommerce WordPress theme best caters to the niches of mobile, fashion, store, market, CD and gift websites. Bearing somewhat resemblance with one another, the six superb demo versions also have certain features that are totally unique. The topmost section of matchless header is occupied by a bar with “Account” dropdown and login/register options. Moving downward, you come across decent main menu bar with mega menu support. The search bar below contains “Select a Category” option, space for contact number and shopping cart. On the lowest part, there is ample space for showcasing promotional features. As noticed in Nielsen eCommerce theme, here as well you can find a vertical menu bar but it is a bit differently styled and does not divide the slider into two. On each homepage, there are sticky social buttons attached to the right side.

Distinctions:

  • Six chic and trendy homepage versions.
  • Unique, extra-featured and extra-functional headers.
  • Horizontal main menu and vertical submenu both supporting mega menu.
  • Fashionable footer with parallax support.
  • Products with “Zoom”, “Compare Product” and “Add to Wishlist” buttons that appear on animation.
  • Sticky social buttons attached to the right.
  • Different slider designs.

WooPress – Responsive Ecommerce WordPress Theme

Features | Demo

Exclusively created for shopping websites, WooPress is a premium WooCommerce theme that also contains over a dozen blog page versions and four built-in portfolio styles. It will be of special appeal for those who want to keep the internet users refreshed while they view the website. Though the overall design is not totally new, still you will find many things unique and unprecedented. For example, in the carousel slider section, through thumbnail navigation, you can get a whole set of new posts. At the same time, every post is provided with independent carousel and navigation buttons. So, it can be put as “multiple sliders within a slider”. All the aspects of shopping have been precisely and tactfully managed. Though already you find a collection of feature-rich pages, many useful shortcodes are included in the package which can be easily used to invent a new design for a page.

Distinctions:

  • Beautiful and simple-looking sticky header with search button. In sticky mode, search box appears as pop up window.
  • Powerful shopping features with online payment gateway.
  • Multiple shopping demos, and portfolio & blog page layouts.
  • “Sliders within a slider”, i.e. in the carousel slider section, each individual post is also provided with a carousel slider and thumbnails for navigation.
  • Full width slider with buttons and arrows for switching from one slide to another.
  • Boxed, full width, parallax and one page versions of homepage.
  • Integration of WooCommerce and payment gateways.
  • Improved checkout process and multilanguage compatibility.
  • Single click demo installation and easy website setup through powerful options panel.

illusion – WooCommerce WordPress Premium Theme

Features | Demo

It is one of the online marketing tactics that the users are urged to sign up for news letter as soon as they open a shopping site. Popup newsletter signup window is one of the built-in features in Illusion premium WooCommerce Theme for WordPress. However, if users do not want to sign up and enter the site, the popup window can be closed with a click. Different carefully crafted homepages serve to the all around requirements of a number of website niches, such as shop, business, magazine, agency, portfolio and landing page. Similarly, you can apply any of the six distinct headers on a specific homepage. Classic, grid, masonry and single post are different styles for blogging. Two shop layouts and three product page versions also deserve praise for their grand design and outlook.

Distinctions:

  • Fully furnished homepages for Shop, Magazine, Business, Agency, Portfolio and Landing Page.
  • Multiple shopping and product page versions.
  • Cart, checkout, wishlist and all other shopping features.
  • Business slider, portfolio slider and shop slider backed by Slider Revolution plugin that also saves you $18!
  • Lightweight, minimalist and decent-looking.
  • Dynamic design and cool animation effects.
  • Features of compare product and 5-star rating system integrated into individuals product posts.
  • Product filtering based on the criteria of price, color and size.

Mandala – Responsive Ecommerce WordPress Theme

Features | Demo

Do you know what the reason is for Mandala eCommerce WordPress premium theme to get 5-star ratings from the users?  Obviously, it is because of the unique and powerful featuring and performance. Innovation and elegance lie only a click away from you! As you go to the live demo of any of the six extraordinarily-featured homepage layouts, there appears a transparent or whitish header bar with just three icons that show Search Bar, Login or Register Box, and Shopping Cart in the form of dropdown boxes. Menu icon and Logo are placed in the foreground of wide, spacious and super clean slider on the top-right and top-left corners, respectively. On scrolling, both these icons are shifted to the respective ends of header which turns sticky. Extra neat, pure & neat outlook, and minimalist featuring make the theme super-pleasant to look at.

Distinctions:

  • Six innovative layouts, replete with original features.
  • Light, dark, transparent and minimalist header versions.
  • Menu appears as a pop-up semi-transparent window as you click on small menu icon. Menu is also integrated with social icons.
  • Icons for search, login and shopping cart placed in the middle of header that open as dropdown boxes.
  • Spacious and ultra-pleasant design with minimalist featuring.
  • ‘Compare Product” functionality appearing as icon on bringing mouse over the given product.
  • Unique styling and featuring of footer with Google Map integration.

Suave – Multi-Purpose WooCommerce Theme

Features | Demo

Default, grid, business, juice, active, creative, snow, décor, skin care and digital are different demos that you come across in Suave—one of the best shopping WordPress themes of the present times. Do you know all the users have given it five-star ratings? Super clean look, video powered sections, awesome mega menu styles, full-width slider and ticker for latest news and promotions about the products are some of the ‘above the par’ accomplishments of Suave. As you scroll the page down, only main menu bar gets sticky to the top while remaining parts of header are scrolled up. The quality of graphics and visuals cannot be appreciated in words. This single product has dozens of shopping layouts to cover all the possible niches of shopping.

Distinctions:

  • Uniqueness, decency and originality tripling from every inch of the theme.
  • As pleasant to look as you can’t even imagine.
  • 8 feature-rich homepages, including Active, Creative, Juice, Snow, Décor, Business, Default, Grid, Digital and Skincare.
  • Versatile shopping page styles to cover almost all the niches of online stores.
  • Nearly a dozen blog page variations.
  • Full-width slider and sections with video background.
  • A collection of useful shortcodes.
  • WooCommerce-powered shopping platform.