If you intend to build an ecommerce website in Nigeria for your online retail, then you will consider using some plugins that will enhance safety display of products and checkout in your website. Starting your online store in Nigeria can be an easy process with the right plugin’s; and the reverse is rather daunting.
Using the right plugin’s eliminates the try and error method most people do and help one start their online store from anywhere in the world with out a knowledge in programming. Good news is, there is a free plugin for just about anything you can think of. Nevertheless, we sometimes work on a tight budget and have insufficient funds to purchase premium plugin’s, I understand this, of course. I have highlighted below, seven necessary and absolutely free plugin’s you cannot do without if you are going to start an online store in Nigeria.
7 Free Plugins for Your Ecommerce Website in Nigeria
7 Free Plugins for Your E-commerce Website in Nigeria
- Woo-commerce: Woo-commerce is an e-commerce plugin that allows you build your online store in Nigeria with ease and little or no technical knowledge. I have quite the experience with WordPress e-commerce plugin’s and so I do know what I am talking about when I select woo-commerce from the many out there. Woo-commerce allows you to customize your store, products, product categories, downloadable products, standard payment options, shipping, tax and many other important parameters you probably would die creating on your own. It allows a seamless integration of an online store into your website (for those who have a website and want to add a store) and allows you to sell anything, from anywhere. With Woo-commerce, you can schedule availability of products, choose time for which they would be available, send automated purchase receipts to store customers, and most of all, customize the look and feel of your online store from countless woo themes.
- Huge IT Slider: A Slider is what it is, a slider. The plugin allows you to create sliders from multiple images and watch them slide across within a time-frame that would be selected by you. An online store is characterized by a pictorial and explicit interface, somewhat fast paced. You would know if you have ever shopped on Ali Express or Amazon or the more close to home, Jumia and so, your online store cannot live without a slider. Usual image banners can be used but sliders have more advantage. A hundred products can be advertised in one slide which saves space on your store, the animation and detailed appearance of the slides never ceases to draw the customers attention. This would not be the case with static image banners. Woo themes sometimes come with sliders that can be integrated in certain places, but with a plugin as this, you can have a slider anywhere: Header, footer, sidebar, etc. You can also add video slides with the premium version.
- Email Subscribers: A very important part of an online store or any business at all is customer relationship. Beyond the usual purchase receipt, woo-commerce sends when customers buy a product, your customers need to know that you have them in mind. This is where email subscribers comes in, the plugin has a backlog of every email that has been entered on your site either as a customer, reviewer, commenter or anything at all. Thus you can send emails to your millions (this is most probably not the case, thousands is close) of customers, subscribers or people who have in one way entered their email on your site in one simple click. Emails can be scheduled, can be sent from anywhere and select emails can be exempted. No need to log in to your email account and start adding a long list of addresses, simply use this plugin and send anything, from new product alerts, to newsletters, to progress report in one click.
- Email SubscribersFast Secure Contact Form: Questions, complaints and suggestions are also an integral part of any business, there is nothing more refreshing to a customer than knowing their opinions matter, that their opinions count and would be taken seriously by the franchise. A contact form is usually a little box on the contact page where visitors can send messages or requests to the web owners. For a store however, a contact form is somewhat different, it is somewhat more important. Your stores contact form is your customers little space on your store, it is a space they completely own, where customers can complain about products, suggest ways to improve your store, and inquire about products and services. With Fast Secure Contact Form, this process is made seamless. The plugin allows you choose destination emails for various contact categories, that is requests about product category “Fashion” can go to one email and another about “Electronics” can go to a second email. This way, all your employees no matter where they are receive your customers questions and complaints. The plugin also allows the creation of multiple forms, allows you to customize the questions and can include CAPTCHA for security purposes at your command.
- Buddy Press: If you’re going to have a forum on your site where customers can discuss about products and services or a social networking site where customers can connect with each other besides shopping, buddy press is the plugin for you. It allows you to create social network on your site, with member groups, activity stream, user profiles and many more. Think Facebook but branded by you and affiliated to your online store where multiple customers can connect. Buddy Press is useful/more effective for stores that sell streamlined products and probably have similar customers with similar interests.
- Smart Manager: Smart manager is a plugin that integrates with your woo-commerce plugin, it is very essential as your products; team and customers start to grow. With Smart manager, you are essentially a smart manager, it enables adding or removing products to be done in lesser time. With its vital spreadsheet interface, it allows you view more products at a glance than the custom WordPress interface. Smart manager might not be useful as a start up store but it becomes almost inevitable as your store grows. Except you want to die from headache that is.
- Easy Social Icons: As the name implies, this plugin is one of the millions out there that allows you incorporate your social pages (Facebook, twitter, Instagram) to your store so your customers can reach out to you. More cannot be said, it allows you upload your own icon, include a URL and select hierarchy.
These plugins are good for most beginners who wants to start an online retail store and reach to more customers in Nigeria.
