How to Create a Shopping Cart in WordPress with BigCommerce: An Expert Guide

As an experienced webmaster, I often get asked by site owners how to add ecommerce functionality to their WordPress site. One of my top recommendations is to use BigCommerce.

In this beginner-friendly guide, I‘ll explain step-by-step how to create a fully-featured online store with WordPress and BigCommerce.

Why Choose BigCommerce for Your WordPress Ecommerce Site?

Ecommerce has exploded over the last decade. According to Statista, global retail ecommerce sales reached $4.9 trillion in 2021.

For small business owners, the ability to sell products or services online levels the playing field. But setting up an online store from scratch can be daunting.

This is where hosted ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce come in. BigCommerce handles all the complex backend functionality like payments, security, and order management.

You get a robust, enterprise-level foundation to build an online store quickly.

In my experience guiding clients, here are the top reasons BigCommerce stands out:

• Easy integration with WordPress – BigCommerce offers a well-built plugin to connect your store painlessly.

• Scalability – BigCommerce sites can easily grow to support huge sales volumes without slowdowns.

• Security – Your customer data is protected with top-notch security features like SSL and PCI compliance.

• Built-in features – Everything you need to start selling is included – payments, shipping, tax calculations, reporting, and more.

• Marketing capabilities – Optimize your store with coupons, promotions, and omnichannel selling options.

• Support – Friendly and responsive support staff can assist you via live chat, email, phone, and documentation.

When combined with WordPress for content management, BigCommerce is an attractive ecommerce option for small businesses.

Getting Started: Setting Up Your BigCommerce Store

The first step in creating your online store is signing up for a BigCommerce account.

It only takes about 5 minutes – just visit their website, click "Start Your Free Trial", and fill out the form.

After signing up, you‘ll arrive at your store‘s dashboard screen. This is where you can:

• Customize your store‘s design using pre-made themes
• Configure settings like payments, shipping, and taxes
• Add your logo, images, and text
• Populate your store with products
• Set up domain name and hosting

For those new to ecommerce, BigCommerce makes setting up a professional-looking store surprisingly simple. Their themes, templates, and setup wizards guide you through the process.

During this setup process, I recommend:

• Choosing a theme designed specifically for your type of products (like fashion, jewelry, etc)
• Adding high-quality product images
• Configuring shipping and tax options upfront
• Enabling popular payment methods like major credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay
• Adding an SSL certificate for security and SEO benefits

BigCommerce offers a free 15-day trial. So take advantage of it to get your store ready before launch!

Installing the BigCommerce Plugin in WordPress

Now it‘s time to connect your BigCommerce store with a WordPress website.

This allows you to harness WordPress for content creation while BigCommerce handles the shopping cart and ecommerce functionality.

Installing the plugin takes just a couple minutes:

1. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New
2. Search for "BigCommerce"
3. Install and activate the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin

After activating, a new BigCommerce menu will appear in your WordPress dashboard for managing the integration.

The plugin will guide you through creating a "Channel" to sync your products from BigCommerce to WordPress automatically.

Adding a Shopping Cart and Ecommerce Pages

With the plugin installed, you can easily add a shopping cart and checkout process to your site.

In the plugin settings, make sure "Enable Cart" is turned on. This embeds a cart on product pages so customers can purchase items.

You can also enable the integrated checkout feature. This allows customers to complete orders without leaving your site – the checkout happens directly on your WordPress pages.

Next, connect the required ecommerce pages like cart, checkout, and account registration. The plugin handles this seamlessly.

And that‘s it – your WordPress site now has a fully-functional shopping cart thanks to the power of BigCommerce!

Managing Products and Inventory

Another time-saving benefit of the BigCommerce plugin is centralized product management.

When you add or update products in BigCommerce, they‘ll sync automatically to WordPress.

But you can also manage products directly from your WordPress dashboard:

• View, edit, add, and delete products
• Configure images, pricing, variants, inventory, and other product details
• Organize products into categories and tags

Changes made in WordPress synchronize back to your BigCommerce store. This allows you to manage products from one centralized interface.

For new store owners, I recommend starting with 50-100 products to minimize initial workload. You can then expand your catalog over time.

Displaying Products on Your Website

A common question I get is "How do I showcase products on my site pages and blog posts?"

The good news is the BigCommerce plugin makes it easy. Here are two recommended methods:

1. Add a "Shop" link in your primary website navigation menu. This will display your full product catalog organized into shop pages.

2. Insert individual products into pages, posts, or sidebars using the BigCommerce product block. This lets you hand-pick products to highlight.

The plugin also automatically creates WordPress archive pages for your product categories, tags, and brands.

No matter how you display them, I suggest choosing one of the many WordPress ecommerce themes. These include styling and layouts optimized for product showcasing.

Growth Tips for Your Ecommerce Site

If you‘re just getting started with BigCommerce and WordPress, keep these tips in mind:

• Promote your store on social media, send email campaigns, and utilize SEO to get found online. Marketing is key to driving traffic and sales.

• Analyze performance using built-in analytics in BigCommerce and WordPress. Identify top-selling products, traffic sources, and conversion rates.

• Experiment with discounts and coupons to incentivize purchases and promote new products. Just enable promotion tools in your BigCommerce store settings.

• Expand your product catalog over time to give shoppers more variety. Start small and scale up.

• Provide excellent customer service via phone, email, and chat support. Building loyal repeat customers is invaluable.

• Consider paid advertising like Google Ads and Facebook Ads once you have validated demand for your products. Targeted ads can profitably accelerate growth.

With some dedication and smart digital marketing, your WordPress and BigCommerce ecommerce site can generate impressive revenue streams.

Conclusion

I hope this beginner‘s guide provided valuable insights into creating an online store with WordPress and BigCommerce.

The combination offers a user-friendly way for small businesses to unlock ecommerce capabilities quickly.

In just a few clicks, you can setup a shopping cart, process payments securely, manage shipping and taxes, showcase products beautifully, and start selling online.

If you have any other questions as you build your store, don‘t hesitate to reach out! I‘m always happy to help fellow webmasters succeed.