WordPress is a free content management system with an abundance of free plugins and themes to launch and manage an ecommerce shop. If you’re looking for an inexpensive and flexible solution to test the ecommerce waters, WordPress might be right for you.
Here is a list of free tools to open a WordPress shop. There are a variety of free ecommerce and site management plugins, as well as free ecommerce themes to model your shop.
Getting Started
WordPress.org. WordPress started as a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system through the thousands of plugins and themes. Download the latest stable release of WordPress for free.
WordPress Lessons. Here is some free help for getting started on WordPress. There are lessons for beginners and advanced lessons on designing your website, theme development, and website development.
WordPress.com. Build a site and spend nothing. WordPress.com offers a free site to get up and running. Upgrade the account when you need increased customization and additional space.
Free Plugins
WP e-Commerce. WP e-Commerce is a free WordPress shopping cart plugin that lets customers buy your products, services, and digital downloads online. It features multiple payment gateways, easy customization, marketing and search-engine-optimization options, flexible shipping options with real-time rates, and catalog management and browsing tools.
Ecwid. Ecwid is a full-featured shopping cart and ecommerce solution that can easily be added to any blog or Facebook profile. It offers performance, flexibility, and features seamless upgrades.
Cart66 Lite Sell products and services, incorporate product variations and promotions, and manage orders. Conveniently sell through PayPal Websites Payments Standard or Express Checkout.
Zingiri Web Shop. Zingiri Web Shop is a WordPress plugin that turns a great content management system into an ecommerce solution for digital and physical products. It features customer and stock management modules, Ajax powered shopping cart, multiple payment gateways, and multiple language libraries.
WooCommerce. WooCommerce transforms your WordPress website into an ecommerce store for free. The free version features reporting on store performance, intricate tax and shipping options, store management functionality, and the ability to run complex coupon campaigns and discount options.
All in One SEO Pack. All in One SEO Pack automatically optimizes your WordPress site for search engines. Utilize Google Analytics support. Generate meta tags automatically, override any title, and set any meta description or meta keywords. Basic version is free.
JetPack. Jetpack is a plugin that connects to WordPress.com and increases its features. Get simple and concise stats. Enable your visitors to use WordPress.com, Twitter, or Facebook accounts to comment. Allow users to subscribe to your posts and comments to receive a notification via email.
Google Analytics for WordPress. The Google Analytics for WordPress plugin allows you to track your site easily and with lots of metadata. It allows usage of custom variables in Google Analytics to track meta data on pages. Easily connect it to your Google AdSense and Google Analytics accounts.
Google XML Sitemaps. This plugin generates a special XML sitemap that helps search engines to better index your site. With a sitemap, crawlers can see the complete structure of your site and retrieve it more efficiently. Also it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post about the new content.
WP Remote. WP Remote provides a single place to monitor and update all of your WordPress sites. It handles updates to installed plugins and themes remotely via the WP Remote website and provides quick access to core updates.
Free Ecommerce Themes
Mystile. Mystile is a clean, lightweight WooCommerce theme, designed as a canvas that you can use as-is, or easily create a unique design to match your products. The theme is responsive as standard, and comes bundled with plenty of options and alternate color schemes.
Artificer. Artificer is a free responsive ecommerce powered theme for people selling arts and crafts. There are several color schemes to match your brand identity, as well as two custom shortcodes for a sticky note and a sale banner.
Wootique. Wootique is intended to be a great solution for any online store. It features a home page slider and customizable home page. Stamp your brand style by changing color, adjusting the menu and footer, or adding a background image.
Kakileema Lite. Kakileema Lite is the lite version WordPress eCommerce theme from Tokokoo. Kakileema is ideal for a clothes, fashion or apparel shop. It includes a featured products section, product slideshow, and widgetized sidebar and footer.
Zenshop. The Zenshop theme is designed with a minimalistic style and a grid layout to showcase your store. The supports custom post types, menus, taxonomies, meta boxes, and page templates. The theme also comes with an options page and user-guide page.
FrameMarket. FrameMarket provides a variety of features to create and customize your ecommerce store. Customize the product grid, header, background, and navigation menus. It includes six widgetized areas and Google Analytics integration.
Mio. Mio is a free WordPress ecommerce theme with an Apple-like style. It’s responsive and contains a home page slider, several widgetized areas, and over 20 custom shortcodes. Use product grid or list view display, as well as four areas for promotions.
Balita. Balita is a theme dedicated to shops that sell products for children. The theme is free for both private and commercial projects.