An online store that stands out from the crowd is a must-have for any brand, and WordPress is a great option for anyone looking to start or grow an ecommerce site. With a variety of plugins, themes, and extensions to choose from, it is possible to completely customise your WordPress ecommerce site to create a unique and memorable user experience.
But with virtually unlimited customisation options available, designing a WordPress online store can be overwhelming, even for experienced creatives. In this article, we highlight 12 excellent examples of WordPress ecommerce sites to use as inspiration when designing your own. Or if you’re looking for alternatives to WordPress, check out our list of the best website builders to find the best free or paid website builder for you – or see today's top deals below.
For more inspiration, check out the best free WordPress themes. Or if you’re ready to start building your WordPress ecommerce website, our brilliant WordPress tutorials roundup has guides for users of all experience levels.
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The best Wordpress ecommerce sites
01. Shop Catalog
Shop Catalog, the online store of popular youth culture website Thought Catalog, has a simple grid layout on a plain white background. On the neutral backdrop, the bold colours and graphics of the store’s featured books truly stand out. The top navigation bar is simple, with only a few options so visitors can quickly find what they are looking for, while the use of emojis adds a bit of fun and whimsy to an otherwise minimalist approach.
Shop Catalog was built with WooCommerce, a powerful, open source WordPress plug-in.
02. Offerman Wood Shop
Actor Nick Offerman’s woodworking shop, Offerman Wood Shop, offers large custom furniture pieces, and the website design matches with splashy, full-page images that grab your attention. These images also enable would-be buyers to see pieces like shelves and cabinets in the context of a home, an important consideration if you are selling high-ticket furniture items. Offerman Wood Shop was built using WooCommerce extensions.
03. Flwr
New Zealand-based floral shop Flwr fills the screen with stunning images of its custom bouquets, arranged by color. When visitors hover over an image, they are shown a text box with more information about the flowers in each bouquet and can click to order a custom bouquet. The shop’s homepage also features stunning images from its Instagram feed, turning a standard link to follow on social media into an eye-catching design element.
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Flwr’s stylish website, also built using WooCommerce, is a great example of how getting creative when photographing your items for sale can have a huge impact on your ecommerce site.
04. The Arty Teacher
True to its name, The Arty Teacher has a design featuring fun drawings of art supplies, but remains professional by keeping the header images transparent and the colours mostly neutral. Links are in bright blue to catch the visitor’s eye. The Arty Teacher sells digital downloads of educational materials for teachers, so the shop relies heavily on text descriptions of products. This layout has plenty of space for text descriptions without appearing too clunky or crowded.
The Arty Teacher was built with Easy Digital Downloads, a WordPress plugin that enables you to sell digital products on your ecommerce site.
05. Nalgene
WordPress isn’t just for small businesses. Large retailers like Nalgene also use WordPress and WooCommerce to power their online shop. Nalgene’s eye-catching background image enables it to highlight many of its available designs at once, while the #nalgene page features user-submitted photos of its products in action.
06. Louise Kennedy
Fashion retailer Louise Kennedy makes an impact with repetition, using three photos with the same model at the same location to feature three colourful coats. The visual impact is not only stunning but shows more products than a single photo would. A pared-down navigation bar and black-and-white colour scheme provide an air of elegance and make the colours pop.
The Louise Kennedy shop was built with BigCommerce for WordPress.
07. Cola Gourmet
A colorful, thematically appropriate background sets a bright and fresh tone for South Carolina-based meal delivery service Cola Gourmet. Featuring attractive pictures of food right up top gets visitors’ mouths watering, and the photos scroll to display numerous options in a small space. The website is easy to navigate and features a guide on how meal delivery works, for customers who may be new to the service.
Cola Gourmet utilizes the WooCommerce plugin for WordPress.
08. Airstream
For travel or outdoor retailers, showing visitors images of your products in lush, scenic locations can inspire visitors to hit the great outdoors. Airstream’s homepage features a slideshow of its products in a variety of scenic locations, instantly inspiring visitors to imagine their own travel possibilities.
09. Lost Dog Cafe
With so many websites going for a minimalist aesthetic, a colourful approach can make your ecommerce site stand out from the crowd. Lost Dog Cafe’s quirky website matches the Bohemian vibe of its Binghamton, NY cafe. Built with the WooCommerce plug-in for WordPress, this website enables visitors to order food online in addition to buying merchandise.
10. Björk
The official shop of legendary Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk is another example of using bold colors effectively. Björk is known for her creativity, and her official store is designed to evoke her unique persona. The use of two unique shades transforms a simple gradient background into something artistic and memorable. The text is simple and minimalistic to allow the colours to be the focal point.
The store is incredibly easy to navigate: all products are listed on one page, making it extremely easy for visitors to see if the product they are looking for is available. The official Björk store was built with the WooCommerce plug-in for WordPress.
11. Art & Hue
Pop art retailer Art & Hue arranges collections from its large store into graphics for its homepage, using fonts and colors that bring to mind the 1960s era its prints recreate. Its sizeable inventory is easily navigated: visitors can select to view prints from large categories like “Americana” or “Retro,” by a film or TV show, or by smaller categories like “Art Icons” and “Smart Pets.”
The website also features a framing guide and a gift guide to assist shoppers before and after purchase. If you’re looking to organise a large inventory without your ecommerce site looking confusing or sloppy, Art & Hue is a great example to follow.
12. House of Whisky Scotland
A minimalist approach doesn’t have to mean a plain white background. House of Whisky Scotland features a wood grain background for its simple home page. The top navigation bar displays the business’s contact information prominently, making it easy for visitors to find. Visitors can scroll down to sort the whiskies by type, distillery, or region. A nice touch is the ability to search for whisky by year, enabling shoppers to find meaningful birthday or anniversary gifts with a single click.
Read more:
- WordPress websites: 14 awesome examples
- Top tips for building a WordPress theme
- 26 top-quality WordPress portfolio themes
