WordPress.com Business Users: Ecommerce has Arrived!

Update: Ecommerce integration is currently available for site owners with a WordPress.com Business plan — read more about adding the WooCommerce plugin to your site.

We’re thrilled to announce that, starting today, WordPress.com Business users can connect their sites to their online stores. With three leading ecommerce partners to choose from — Ecwid, Shopify, and ShopLocket (Update: ShopLocket is no longer an ecommerce partner on WordPress.com)– you can showcase, promote, and sell products to your customers directly from your site.

If you’re already a WordPress.com Business user, or are thinking of becoming one, here’s how the ecommerce feature will power your WordPress.com site.

A simple, hassle-free connection

Users with the WordPress.com Business upgrade already enjoy great features like live-chat support, unlimited storage, and free access to all our premium themes. Now, you can turn your site into a sleek online storefront, and let visitors shop from any post or page. The partners we’ve teamed up with — Ecwid, Shopify, and ShopLocket — all provide a smooth and secure ecommerce experience for you and your customers.

Connecting to your store is quick and easy — you initiate the process on your Dashboard, by going to  eCommerce Plugins, where you can select the desired service:

 

Screen Shot 2014-02-25 at 10.31.51 AM

After activating the service you’d like to use, you can go to the service’s Settings page to complete any necessary account details — from your Dashboard, go to Settings → Service Name (i.e. Ecwid Store, Shopify, or ShopLocket). In case you don’t already have an online store, you’ll be able to create one from the Settings page. (If you’ve ever used Publicize to connect your site to any social media platform like Facebook or Twitter, this process, which is very similar, will be a breeze).

Turn your site into a tailor-made storefront

Once your WordPress.com Business site is connected to your online store, the possibilities are endless. Each service is slightly different,  but you can feature your products by simply embedding a link to your product into the editor, pasting in a shortcode from the services’ dashboard/admin, or, in some cases, just copying over the embed code into the editor. Regardless of the method you choose, we’ll automatically convert each link into a sleek, professional product image.

If you’d like more control over your site’s visuals, you can tweak your products’ appearance even further. You can modify the look and feel of the products on your page by customizing the shortcode, from image size and background color to “Buy” button text. Depending on the ecommerce service you’re using, you can add products to your sidebar with a designated widget, or even have a shopping cart on your page.

All three ecommerce options are now available to all WordPress.com Business users — we hope you give them a try!


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31 Comments

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  1. Chris Lauzon

    Reblogged this on Portal of Delusion and commented:

    Amazing!

    Liked by 2 people

  2. David Boles

    This is a terrific and welcome addition to my Business hosting on WordPress.com. Thank you for taking the next great leap in blogging/web/social media with the ease and official support of the WP.com staff and backend services.

    This update not only makes WP.com easier to use, but more robust and brutally specific on your side in the marketplace of ideas and tasks.

    Can’t wait to get this set up!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Wetlander

    WAAAAA-Hooooooooo! I was about to jump to another platform to get a proper storefront going. Now, I can stick with my ol’ friend WordPress. Can’t wait to get started – I am super pumped!!

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Moco Scribe

    I have been waiting years for this and finally it is here!! It is a great price compared to some other offerings and I’ve no doubt there will great support too, thanks WordPress!

    Like

  5. Moco Scribe

    Also just a very quick question….if I have more than one wordpress.com blog do I need to buy WordPress business for every site or will one purchase cover them all?

    Like

    • Min Wei

      Yes, that’s right – the business upgrade is per site, so you would have to purchase an upgrade for each site that you’d like the upgrades for.

      Like

  6. buyritebc

    This is exciting news for businesses!

    Like

  7. past60admin

    Do you need to be premium to have the plug in option? Reblogging as well!

    Like

  8. GlamStar443

    That’s great….maybe I’ll move my store over to Shopify!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Scanit Media

    I use Ecwid and find it so easy to use and integrate – would recommend it 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Andy M.

    This is a pretty big deal.

    Like

  11. Bryan Tomlinson

    This is great — now I have a place for my business clients to grow.

    Like

  12. Widdershins

    Cool! … and timely … thanks WP 😀

    Like

  13. Sacredcheryl

    I love it , now I can sell items from my boutique here also, thanks WordPress !

    Like

  14. Brent

    It’s incredibly exciting to see WordPress.com offer eCommerce, but a real shame to see the many excellent open-source options snubbed (including those built specifically for WordPress).

    I understand the many very good reasons why it makes sense to partner with existing hosted services, but I hope that one day, we’ll see WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) and other open-source eCommerce options alongside these initial launch partners.

    Matt has long said “WordPress.com is a gateway drug for WordPress.org”.

    It’s an asset to the platform that if a blogger outgrows the limited features available on WordPress.com, they can seamlessly move off to create their own WordPress.org site and be free to do whatever they can dream of with their site.

    Choosing these 3 partners for eCommerce means WordPress.com users will not have that same freedom once their store out-grows the service they started on.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Alk3r

    Great opportunity for a lot of people!!!

    Like

  16. bellringsing

    This is exciting news! I am looking forward to learning more about how to use this feature.

    Like

  17. Aaron

    Excellent addition, keep up the good work!

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Sentimental Scorpion

    Definitely interesting for my next e-business lecture.

    Like

  19. Anna G.

    Wonderful News for all small businesses! Tnank you, WordPress!

    Liked by 1 person

  20. homepreneurs

    This is big news for WordPress.com users!

    Like

  21. Jenia

    Reblogged this on Jenia on WordPress.com and commented:

    Long-awaited e-shop option now WordPress.com! Congratulations to the teams who have made it a reality!

    Like

  22. stijbob

    This is great news. Well done, Min Wei — ecommerce sites are becoming more and more popular, let’s hope they can compete and offer the necessary things on site to attract views.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. creeksidedesignstudios

    Where can I find pricing for the ecommerce? Or is it included with the $299 business upgrade?

    Like

    • Ben Huberman

      Yes! The ecommerce plugins are now an integral part of the WordPress.com Business upgrade, with no additional charge to use them on our end. Please note, however, that there may be additional fees charged by Ecwid and Shopify to use these services.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. Editor

    I’m looking for a solution to give a no-profit blog readers the opportunity to make donation or pay for services and goods using directly their credit card. Could this be a solution? Sorry to ask, I’m not technical savvy, I already have the codes for a bank, but I’d like much better to remain with WP, at least I learned enough to blog…

    Like

    • Ben Huberman

      To enable readers to make a donation or send a payment through your site, the easiest and simplest solution (which is also free) would be to embed a PayPal donation button (instructions on how to do that are in the linked support page). Of course, the ecommerce plugins can achieve the same thing if you’re offering a wider selection of products and services. The best solution would vary depending on your specific needs.

      Like

  25. Fawad Malik

    Awesome addition, let me try for my new business. Thanks much for the sharing .

    Like

  26. arahard90

    I’m really excited about this news, thanks a lot WordPress.com! 🙂

    Like

  27. Emenike Emmanuel

    This is a great development. May be I will consider using it later after securing my domain name and making my blog more popular.

    Like

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