Toronto-based startup ShopLocket wants to enable its users to sell anything, anywhere with an ultra-easy e-commerce platform that pretty much anyone can figure out. So why not let people sell things on their blogs? That’s what ShopLocket hopes to do now, by integrating with WordPress and launching a plugin to enable in-blog e-commerce.
WordPress, of course, powers a cubic buttload of web sites around the world, including the one that you’re reading now.* And no doubt, a number of ShopLocket sellers have blogs of their own, to talk about their products. So it seems like a no-brainer that the two would work together.
Previously, users with self-hosted versions of WordPress could enable e-commerce through third-party plugins. But this is the first integration to take advantage of a platform like ShopLocket’s for users of WordPress’s hosted platform.
To enable this brave new world of blog-based e-commerce, ShopLocket has introduced a WordPress plugin that will enable users of the platform to quickly make their goods available on their sites. With the integration, WordPress.com Enterprise and VIP users will be able to easily embed items for sale anywhere they wish to, whether that be in posts, separate pages, or even through various sidebars on their sites.
The best part, though, is probably for buyers. That’s because they’ll no longer have to add an item to a shopping cart and then go to a separate website to login and check out. Through the integration, users will be able to make purchases directly on the site. By keeping users on-site during purchase, ShopLocket can help sellers increase engagement and lower the amount of dropoff that inevitably happens during the sale conversion process.
For WordPress users, ShopLocket provides an easy, cost-effective way to start selling items online. There are no upfront costs to get set up, and the company charges just a nominal fee per transaction (2.5%, plus credit card processing fees). The company was part of the Toronto-based startup incubator Extreme Startups last year and has raised $1 million in seed funding from Valar Ventures, Rho Canada Ventures, and others.
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* More than 60 million sites, and growing, apparently.