There are over 26.5 million e-commerce stores worldwide.
Since its inception, the internet has completely changed how modern consumers shop. It’s almost unheard of for a brand not to have a website with an online shop. With so much competition, brands have to stay hyper-focused on not only making (and selling) good products but also on creating a buying experience that’s engaging and easy from start to finish.
Unsurprisingly, the first impression is everything.
88% of internet users are less likely to return to a website after a poor user experience.
Not only this, but a well-designed user interface (UI) can increase a website’s conversion rate by up to 200%, and a better UX design can achieve conversion rates of up to 400%. This is precisely why the experience your customers have with your website is just as important as how you go about selling your product or service.
The design of your online storefront matters. With an abundance of images, videos, text, payment gateways, CTAs, and customer testimonials, your WordPress site can easily be overloaded, and a subpar theme can slow down its overall performance.
If you’re looking for fast, reliable WooCommerce themes on WordPress, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together a list of the eight best themes you can install on your site to delight your customers, create a seamless buying experience, and drive more revenue.
Why e-commerce brands love WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free, open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress that transforms your website into a fully functional online store. It allows you to sell anything from physical products and digital downloads to subscriptions and appointments. Offering a wide range of features, including product management, secure payments, inventory tracking, and shipping options, WooCommerce is an ideal solution for businesses of all sizes looking to establish or expand their online presence.
There are many reasons why e-commerce brands use WooCommerce. Outside of helping brands tailor their online stores to personalize the buying experience and the straightforward setup/management, there are a few standout features that make it so popular.
Why WooCommerce stands out among the rest:
- It’s flexibility and customization: Put simply, WooCommerce is incredibly flexible. You can customize just about anything to fit your brand, from the design to the functionality. Whether you’re selling physical products, digital downloads, or subscriptions, WooCommerce can handle it all.
- Ease of use: WooCommerce is super user-friendly, especially if you’re already familiar with WordPress. Setting up your store is straightforward, and there are tons of tutorials and resources available if you need help.
- It’s cost-effective: WooCommerce is free, and many extensions and themes are reasonably priced. Plus, since it’s open-source, you’re not locked into any expensive, long-term contracts.
- They offer an extensive plugin ecosystem: There’s a plugin for almost anything you can think of. From SEO optimization to advanced analytics and payment gateways, you can easily extend your store’s functionality to meet your specific needs.
WooCommerce or Shopify: Which is Better For You?
Is WooCommerce free?
While the core plugin is free, there may be additional costs for premium themes, extensions, and certain features, such as advanced payment gateways, shipping options, and marketing tools. These paid add-ons can enhance the functionality of your store but are optional depending on your specific needs. Plus, you’ll need to continue paying for your domain name and hosting service even if you’re using the free version of WordPress.
Connecting your WordPress site to WooCommerce can sometimes be daunting. We’ve put together a guide that goes step-by-step to help you make sure everything’s buttoned up properly.
Learn how to set up WooCommerce functionality on WordPress.
Once you’ve installed the WooCommerce plugin, you’ll decide to use either a free or paid WordPress theme. Let’s take a look at how they stack up.
| Feature | Paid theme | Free theme |
| Design quality | High-quality, professional designs | Minimalistic designs, often less polished |
| Customization options | Extensive customization options | Limited customization options |
| Support | Dedicated support from developers | Limited or no support |
| Updates | Regular updates and improvements | Infrequent updates, if any |
| Features | Advanced features and functionality | Basic features |
| Compatibility | Better compatibility with plugins | May have compatibility issues |
| Security | Enhanced security measures | Basic security |
| Performance | Optimized for better performance | May not be optimized |
| Documentation | Comprehensive documentation | Limited documentation |
| Unique designs | More unique and niche-specific designs | Often more generic |
Paid themes generally offer more robust, feature-rich, and customizable options with better support and regular updates, while free themes are a good starting point with basic features and designs but may lack advanced functionalities and support.
We’ve created a guide on setting up your WordPress site from start to finish.
What to consider when selecting a WordPress theme
When choosing a WooCommerce WordPress theme for your online store, there are a few things you should be looking for:
- WooCommerce compatibility: First and foremost, make sure the theme you choose is specifically designed to work with WooCommerce and supports all its features seamlessly.
- Responsive design: Look for a theme that is mobile-friendly and offers a responsive design to ensure your store looks great on all devices. Customers should have a consistent experience on your site, whether browsing on a desktop, phone, or tablet.
The numbers don’t lie… Mobile-friendly websites experience a 40% higher conversion rate than non-optimized sites.
- Customization options: Personalization is the key to differentiating your brand from the rest. Choose a theme that provides a range of customization options, including layouts, color schemes, and fonts, to match your unique brand identity.
- SEO friendliness: The theme you choose will have a big impact on your site’s search engine optimization (SEO). Choosing an SEO-friendly theme will help you optimize your site for things like load time and page experience, improving your rank on search engines (which is a major avenue to attract new customers).
- Support and updates: Opt for a theme that comes with reliable customer support and regular updates to ensure compatibility with the latest WordPress and WooCommerce versions. You’ll be happy you did later.
The top eight WooCommerce themes for WordPress
• Astra
• The7
• Flatsome
• Botiga
• Blocksy
• OceanWP
• Zakra
• Storefront
Astra
Cost: Free but offers additional paid commercial upgrades or support
Supporting over 1,654,000 WordPress websites, Astra is one of the most popular themes available today.
Astra is well-designed and fully customizable, making it perfect for a variety of uses like personal portfolio websites, blogs, and WooCommerce storefronts. On top of that, it’s a super lightweight theme (less than 50KB on the frontend), offering incredible loading times. And it doesn’t boast that alone. Real Astra users often praise how fast it is.
Built with SEO in mind, Astra comes with Schema.org code integrated and is Native AMP ready, so search engines will love your site. It offers special features and templates that work perfectly with all page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, SiteOrigin, Divi, etc.
Other highlights include:
• WooCommerce ready
• Responsive
• RTL and translation ready
• Extendible with premium addons
• Regularly updated
• Supports a long list of languages
The7
Cost: $39
The7 is the best-selling Elementor and WPBakery theme, offering incredible customization for WooCommerce.
Not only that, but it’s the #2 best-selling theme of all time, boasting a full website builder, 60+ prebuilt websites, premium support, and a 5-star rating. The7 has an extended Woocommerce integration and allows you to build advanced templates for your storefront, checkout, cart, product pages, lists, and more.
Other highlights include:
• Easily modify any WooCommerce page and add advanced filters to improve the user experience
• A deep integration with Fast Velocity Minify, so you know it’s fast
• Full site builder so you can build dynamic headers, interactive mega menus, sidebars and footers, and much more
• 24 WooCommerce custom widgets
• The ability to completely rebrand your website in minutes
• SEO and mobile-friendly
Flatsome
Cost: $59
Flatsome is a multipurpose theme that’s an excellent choice for your WooCommerce e-commerce store, company website, or your client’s websites if you’re an agency or freelancer.
The theme’s Live Page Builder is 100% compatible with the new WordPress block editor, so you can create advanced layouts and beautiful content. Plus, it’s one of the fastest WordPress themes on the market, scoring a 98% Google Page Speed and 100% on both desktop and mobile UX.
Other highlights include:
• No coding knowledge required
• Great drag-and-drop page builder
• Easily customizable with Live Theme Options
• Regularly updated
• Improved mini cart to increase the average order value
• Ajax pagination and filtering so you can navigate to more posts/products without refreshing the page
Botiga
Cost: Free but offers additional paid commercial upgrades or support
Installed on over 20k stores, Botiga has a clean and modern design that can showcase your products in a minimal but dynamic view. It’s been developed from the ground up with clean code for optimal performance.
Botiga is a complete WooCommerce theme that allows you to set up and get your online store up and running fast. Plus, it boasts lightning-fast performance with a 44.3KB total page size and 454ms page load time.
Other highlights include:
• Three gallery styles for your product page to show your products however you choose
• Optimized for both the block editor and Elementor
• Mobile-optimized theme that looks and works great on any device
• Ability to customize and change every part of your website in real-time
• Smart and intuitive website builder
• 100% Lighthouse performance score
• Pre-built sites that are built to help you convert
Blocksy
Cost: Free but offers additional paid commercial upgrades or support
Blocksy was built with the Gutenberg editor in mind and comes with features that make it extendable and customizable. It’s also a very fast and lightweight theme, so you can be sure your pages load without any issues.
Blocksy is lighter and faster than most similar WordPress themes, with a 95% Google Page Speed, 92% Pingdom Performance Grade, and 100% GTmetric PageSpeed Score. Plus, you can create any type of website, making it perfect for a range of businesses like e-commerce companies, corporations, educational establishments, restaurants, blogs, portfolios, landing pages, etc.
Blocksy works well with WordPress page builders, including Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, and Brizy.
Other highlights include:
• Built from scratch to be 100% compatible with the Gutenberg editor and blocks
• Load JavaScript behavior when you really need it using webpack’s support for dynamic imports
• E-commerce ready, allowing you to build and customize your online store in minutes
• Ready to be translated into any language and doesn’t contain hardcoded strings
• Clean code
• Fully responsive
• SEO-optimized
OceanWP
Cost: Free but offers additional paid commercial upgrades or support
Boasting over 7,508,000 downloads, OceanWP is a well-known WordPress theme trusted by hundreds of thousands of users, major WordPress developers, and major hosting providers.
Lightweight and highly extendable, OceanWP enables you to create almost any type of website, including blogs, portfolios, business websites, and WooCommerce storefronts with a professional design. OceanWP works with the most popular page builders (Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, Visual Composer, and Divi). Plus, it allows you to edit the settings on both tablet and mobile so your site looks good on every device.
Other highlights include:
• Elementor, WooCommerce, and Gutenberg ready
• Super fast and responsive
• RTL and translation ready
• SEO-friendly
• Best friends with WooCommerce so you can increase conversions and boost sales and ROI
• Royalty-free images included
• Advanced customization that allows you to control, style, and optimize every aspect of your site
Zakra
Cost: Free but offers additional paid commercial upgrades or support
Zakra has 50,000+ installations and offers over 40 free pre-designed starter demo sites to choose from. This helps you to quickly build a unique and functional site that fits your specific needs as a brand.
Zakra is one of the best WordPress themes offering WooCommerce integrations and a product catalog that can help you easily set up your e-commerce store. As a theme, it has everything you need to succeed and integrates seamlessly with popular page builders like Elementor, Brizy, BlockArt, and the Gutenberg editor, giving you complete freedom to create any layout you can imagine.
No matter what kind of site you’re building, Zakra is optimized for speed and boasts a mobile-first responsive design.
Other highlights include:
• SEO-friendly and optimized for search engines
• Offers top-notch e-commerce features
• Highly customizable so you can effortlessly tailor your site
• Fast (97% Pingdom Speed Test, 100% Google Speed Test, 100% GTmetric Speed Test)
• Integrates with a wide range of plugins like Gutenberg, WooCommerce, Elementor, Yoast SEO, Rank Math, WP Rocket, Jetpack, Block Art, and more
Storefront
Cost: Free
Storefront is a free, intuitive, flexible theme offering deep integration with WooCommerce. It was developed by WooCommerce themselves and is maintained by their core developers, which helps avoid compatibility issues.
Although it has a rather basic layout and the customization options are somewhat limited, it’ll do the job if you want to launch a simple online store. Storefront comes with several layout and color themes, multiple widget regions, and is simple enough for the more beginner e-commerce store owners.
Other highlights include:
• Responsive layout
• Flexible and nestable grid system
• Enhanced SEO plugins
• Supports a long list of languages
• Extensible codebase so you can customize the theme as you wish
• Eliminated the fear of conflicts between theme and plugin during major WooCommerce updates
WooCommerce FAQ
With a handful of WooCommerce theme recommendations in your back pocket, you may have a few lingering questions.
Can you use WooCommerce with any theme?
Yes, you can use WooCommerce with almost any WordPress theme. However, for the best results, it’s recommended to use a theme specifically designed to be WooCommerce-compatible. These themes ensure that all WooCommerce elements, such as product pages, shopping carts, and checkout processes, are displayed correctly and function smoothly.
Where to buy WooCommerce themes
There are thousands of themes available to customize your WooCommerce website. You can buy WooCommerce themes from several online marketplaces and theme providers, including:
- The WooCommerce official website: They offer a selection of themes specifically designed for WooCommerce.
- ThemeForest: A large marketplace for themes and templates, including many WooCommerce-compatible themes.
- TemplateMonster: Offers a variety of WooCommerce themes with different designs and functionalities.
Before you purchase a theme, make sure it meets your specific needs in terms of design, features, and support. Additionally, check customer reviews and ratings to gauge the quality and reliability of the theme. You’ll often find common issues that users have run into using that specific theme and can determine if it’s a dealbreaker before installing.
How to install WooCommerce themes
You can easily install and activate a free theme straight from your WordPress admin dashboard. All you need to do is go to the left sidebar of the WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Appearance, and click the Themes option. On the next screen, click the Add New button, search for your desired theme, click Install, and then Activate.
If you want to install a theme you bought from a website like ThemeForest or WordPress.org, it’ll look a little different. Download your theme’s .zip file, login to your WooCommerce account, navigate to Appearance, and click Themes. Then click Add New, upload the .zip file, and activate it to start using the theme.
WooCommerce and email marketing
Why are we talking about email marketing? Email should be intertwined in the design of your site and the way you engage your e-commerce customers.
Did you know that 92% of people who visit your online store will leave without buying anything? This is precisely why it is important for e-commerce businesses to take the time to build their email lists (and nurture those contacts).
Although WooCommerce provides built-in features that send emails to users who take specific actions on your store, these email features are pretty bare bones. You may miss out on more sales if you don’t invest in an email marketing solution to properly build long-lasting customer relationships.
Collecting email addresses isn’t just about quantity; it’s about quality. You need potential customers, not just random contacts. For WordPress users, the platform offers versatile tools and plugins designed to streamline this process. From simple to sophisticated strategies, WordPress can be your ally in building an email list that not only grows but actively boosts your engagement and conversion rates.
ActiveCampaign and WooCommerce
When you integrate WooCommerce with ActiveCampaign, you can engage with your customers throughout their entire purchasing journey. What do we mean by this?
ActiveCampaign throughout the purchasing journey:
• Acquire new customers: Streamline the process of reaching and engaging with potential customers with dynamic content, making it an invaluable tool for acquiring new customers and growing your business.
• Re-engage your existing customers: Send reminders for abandoned carts, personalized recommendations, event-triggered messages, feedback requests, and win-back campaigns to foster customer retention.
• Drive revenue: Deliver personalized and timely messages that resonate with your audience, showcasing products they genuinely desire, thus driving sales and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.
• Optimize subscription business: ActiveCampaign’s Recurring Payments automations help manage personalized communications and address customer needs to increase customer lifetime value, drive average order value, and reduce churn.
To fully integrate, you’ll need to install the ActiveCampaign plugin for WordPress as well as the WooCommerce integration within ActiveCampaign. This is an additional step but one worth taking since you’ll have access to the full suite of marketing features, including advanced marketing automation, campaigns, landing pages, forms, contact segmentation, and site tracking.
ActiveCampaign shines with email marketing automation. You can automate your emails based on custom triggers, actions, and conditions, giving you the power to stick close to your customers as they engage with your site. Use this data to send customized follow-up emails to your contacts, trigger automations, create list segments, configure automation goals, and more.
Connect your WooCommerce storefront with ActiveCampaign.
Wrapping up
Choosing a fast, high-quality theme for your WooCommerce storefront will help you build a brand for your business and make sure your customers can find what they’re looking for (and hopefully make a purchase).
To truly drive revenue, you’ll need the help of email marketing tools like ActiveCampaign to create a personalized customer experience for every single person who lands on your website. Want to give us a try?
Sign up for a free trial of ActiveCampaign to see the benefits of investing in email marketing.
Next read: How to Sell More With WordPress (A Complete Guide)
