OK, my title may need to come with a small disclaimer. It is hyperbole. Even an easy-to-use ecommerce platform requires a bit more than a spreadsheet backing it. However, the method I describe here is about as easy as it gets.
The standard for ecommerce on WordPress is WooCommerce. The core store plugin is free, but it requires numerous paid addons to be fully functional. It can also take a lot of work to set up with your product list and other customizations. Or, you could go third party and use a service like Shopify. It's easy to set up and use and full of features. But at around $30-40 per month starting cost (almost $400 paid annually), the set-up cost could be a bit much for a new business taking a risk on online sales.
That's why I'm a big fan of SpreadSimple. It leverages the data you save in Google Sheets to populate your store with products. If you're comfortable using a spreadsheet, SpreadSimple makes it easy to set up and maintain your shop without having to learn a lot of new things. When it comes to pricing, starting around $14-20 per month is a lot easier to afford!
SpreadSimple is an easy-to-use ecommerce platform
Check out my "wonky tech directory" of web-based tools and services I use for an example of an easy-to-use ecommerce platform. In this example I've embedded the pages created by SpreadSimple directly into my WordPress pages. However, it is possible to make your SpreadSimple a standalone website, complete with its own domain name, static pages, policies, cookie banner, etc. This is a great option if you're still working on your WordPress website or not even sure if you want one. You can always embed your shop pages in a site you build later, and they will blend into the new site design flawlessly.
Start with a Google Sheet containing the information about what you're trying to sell. This could be as simple as five columns in a spreadsheet:
- a product name,
- a picture,
- a short description or a snappy subtitle,
- a long description and
- a price
Of course, you can include other information now, or easily add it later:
- Display multiple product pics (one spreadsheet column per image URL)
- Offer variations, like different colours or sizes
- Categories for filtering
- Inventory control
- Discounted price
Because you're storing all of this in a spreadsheet, it's easy to start with a few products to get used to it, then add more later. There's no charge per product or limits on how many products (rows on a spreadsheet) you can include.
Linking to product information is as easy as telling SpreadSimple which column holds what information. The system displays this information in a searchable, filterable list of products as well as a detailed product page.
Selling with a simple online store setup
Selling typically involves charging money. SpreadSimple connects to payment gateways for collecting card payments. The best known of these are Stripe.com and Paypal. Unlike Shopify, SpreadSimple doesn't charge additional fees to use a third party payment gateway, another way it works out cheaper.
To support membership-based websites that restrict access to certain pages or information, SpreadSimple provides basic support to manage access (again using a Google Sheet). It can also connect to a membership management system like MemberStack for more features.
Want to sell digital downloads? Easily add download links to your order receipts. As soon as payment is received, the customer gets an emailed receipt with a link to the file they've just bought. Easy!
Maybe your product pages (like mine) employ affiliate links to earn a commission from sales. Easily done, just define a column of your spreadsheet for affiliate links and use these links in the buy buttons instead of linking the button to an order form.
Advanced features in an easy-to-use ecommerce platform
Despite being super easy to set up and economical to run, SpreadSimple supports some advanced features for an easy-to-use ecommerce platform. For instance, you can associate a location with each entry, and display your entries on a map. This is a great way to use SpreadSimple as a directory. Create a list of your favourite cafés or restaurants. Display it on an interactive map!
With add-ons to suit almost any stage of development, there are advanced features so that you won't feel limited as your website and your ambitions grow. Maybe you want to monetize your product or directory pages with advertising. SpreadSimple can link to a Google Ads account to display banner advertisements on your product listings. Use it to collect email addresses for a newsletter. Link to a CRM to track interactions with your growing customer base.
Note: Pictures not included in this simple online store setup
There's one thing to keep in mind with this simple online store setup: Pictures and downloadable files are not hosted by SpreadSimple. You need to find your own hosting for these, and copy the link back to the file into your spreadsheet so that SpreadSimple can display them.
For pics, SpreadSimple recommends some popular image hosting services, both free and paid. These are Cloudinary.com, PostImages.org, and Imgur.com. After uploading images to one of these services, copy the link for each image in a dedicated column of your spreadsheet, eg Image1, Image2, etc. If you've already got a WordPress website, you can even use links from your media library.
Downloadable files are similar. Store them in a hosting service like Google Drive or Dropbox or your WordPress site, and link back to them in your spreadsheet.
Top Tip: There are public APIs where you can easily get commonly used images. I've used logo.dev on my product pages for the logos of each product or service I've linked to. You just have to create a URL to the logo.dev service that requests the logo you are looking for. For example, you could display the Google logo with a single URL.
Whatever your online sales ambitions, SpreadSimple is a quick and simple e-store setup that's a great way to get started.
Want to discuss your store idea? Contact me here for a free consultation.