Prodigy Commerce is the only hosted eCommerce platform for WordPress that’s free at any scale. Prodigy’s unique solution seamlessly blends WordPress’s superior CMS with a powerful platform to create an alternative to WooCommerce. Prodigy was built specifically for the WordPress community of developers, designers, and agencies so that they can more easily build beautiful, secure, fully functional stores for their clients. Store owners gain access to a Shopify-like platform from which to manage their products and orders.
The key benefits of Prodigy’s solution include:
Requires only ONE free open-source plugin
Hosted platform is free at any scale
Solid infrastructure and security
Complete storefront design flexibility
Shopify-like backend experience
Multi-channel customer support
HOW CAN FULLY FUNCTIONAL STORES BE BUILT WITH ONLY ONE FREE PLUGIN?
Prodigy’s solution eliminates the complexity, security risks, and costs of WooCommerce’s plugin and extension architecture by tightly integrating all essential functionality, and natively building premium features, into the platform. Integration partners include ShipEngine, TaxJar, MaxMind minFraud, a handful of high-quality payment processors, Google Analytics, and Facebook Pixel. Natively built premium features currently include abandoned cart recovery and the ability to sell products and services on a subscription basis. No third-party services are needed to build fully functional stores.
WHY IS THE HOSTED PLATFORM FREE AT ANY SCALE?
Prodigy’s business model is based solely upon revenue sharing agreements with the payment processors integrated into its platform, similar to Shopify’s exclusive relationship with payments’ facilitator Stripe. Prodigy, however, does not charge a subscription or app fees; it really is free for the professionals who build stores and their store owner clients. There are no limits on the number of products, orders processed, sales generated, bandwidth or storage used, staff seats, or API requests. Payment processing rates start at the standard 2.9% + $0.30. For high-volume stores, Prodigy helps store owners negotiate lower rates and fees. Prodigy is perfectly aligned with a store owner’s primary goal, generating sales.
SOLID INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY
Prodigy’s platform is hosted on AWS and the checkout is PCI-compliant. WordPress is self-hosted; however, Prodigy provides every store with a free SSL/TLS certificate. The combination of one plugin and a hosted platform not only reduces the complexity of building stores and their ongoing maintenance but also maximizes site speed and security.
COMPLETE STOREFRONT DESIGN FLEXIBILITY
Prodigy’s plugin was built using WordPress conventions and standards. The templates can be overridden to create unique designs or popular themes and page builders, like Elementor Pro, can be used.
SHOPIFY-LIKE BACKEND EXPERIENCE
Store owners manage their product catalog and daily orders on the platform, which is beautifully designed, intuitive, and easy to work with. WordPress is only used for its strengths: managing content and creating the storefront.
MULTI-CHANNEL CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Prodigy provides free phone, email, and online chat support from California for the WordPress community of developers, designers, and agencies and their store owner clients. Prodigy is the opposite of WooCommerce, never hiding behind a support forum and pretending that’s customer service. The Prodigy team wants to communicate with, and proactively respond to any feedback received from, the members of the WordPress community and their store owner clients so that the solution can be continuously improved. Of course, a support forum is available via this plugin page and DIY support can be found via the help center documentation on Prodigy’s website.
A CREDIBLE ALTERNATIVE TO SHOPIFY AND BIGCOMMERCE TOO
The WordPress community of developers, designers, and agencies now have a credible alternative to Shopify and BigCommerce since Prodigy is also a hosted solution but with a unique business model (free). Prodigy’s platform is entirely merchant branded as soon as a store logo is uploaded, providing full control over the look-and-feel so that your store owner clients’ customers have a seamless shopping experience from start to finish. Prodigy always prioritize the store owner’s brand over its own.
YOUR CLIENTS OWN AND CONTROL THEIR STORE DATA
It should go without saying, but a store owner’s data is their property. If a store owner wishes to migrate to a different platform, they can use the Prodigy product export tool and the Prodigy team will help them export all of their other content free-of-charge.
PARTNER WITH PRODIGY
Become a Prodigy partner so that you can influence our development roadmap, share your client’ pain points, and learn about financial incentives.
PRODIGY’S PLUGIN FEATURES IN A NUTSHELL
Prodigy’s plugin allows you to synchronize the product catalog from the Prodigy platform to the WordPress frontend and customize the storefront using WordPress conventions and standards.
Synchronizes an unlimited number of products from the Prodigy platform as a custom post type
Synchronizes product categories and tags from the Prodigy platform as custom taxonomies
New and updated products are automatically synchronized when the site is on an accessible production server (manual sync available for development environments)
Templates for catalog pages, product detail pages, and cart page that you can easily override and customize to meet your client’s needs
Use popular page builders, like Elementor Pro. Prodigy’s Elementor Pro integration contains a myriad of powerful Elementor widgets, and Elementor page templates, with conditions for displaying them in specific places. It has more features and widgets than what’s offered in the WooCommerce Elementor plugin.
Utilize powerful product search and attribute filter widgets in the store sidebar
Products and Categories shortcodes allow you to create custom lists of products or categories on any page
Customizer options available to help with simple customizations of the Catalog and Product detail pages
Optional product ratings and reviews that can be moderated through the standard WordPress comments functionality
PRODIGY’S PLATFORM FUNCTIONALITY IN A NUTSHELL
Prodigy’s platform allows you to create a free developer account, build an unlimited number of stores for your clients, and manage them all in one place. You can work on stores in test mode and then seamlessly transfer ownership to your store owner clients when they are ready.
Secure hosted checkout that can be customized to match the website’s design
One-click express checkout for customers who wish to use Apple Pay or Google Pay
Simplified checkout for all logged in customers
Merchant-branded customer account portal for customers to manage orders, track shipments, etc.
Import a product catalog of any size using our simple CSV import tool
Manage the product catalog, attributes, and categories; including inventory management
Use our drag-and-drop feature to change the ordering of categories
Manage the SEO metadata for products and categories
Create and manage coupon codes that can be applied during checkout
Use cross-sell and up-sell functionality to increase average order value
Manage abandoned checkouts and send automated recovery emails to capture sales
Free shipping calculations from the major carriers (USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL)
Free global tax calculations that can be configured with multiple nexus addresses
Securely accept credit card payments (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover)
Manage payment statuses (configure to authorize only or immediately capture upon order completion)
Manage returns, refunds, and order cancellations
Comprehensive order fulfillment process that includes free printing of shipping labels
Google’s Invisible reCAPTCHA used on checkout pages to protect against fraud while not adding any friction to the checkout process for legitimate customers
Free fraud analysis on every order to protect from losses
We currently only support store owners located in the United States that transact in USD.
Where can I find Prodigy Commerce documentation and user guides?
Please visit our Help Center. If you have any questions, please contact us via phone, email, or initiate an online chat.
Does Prodigy Commerce use or sell store owner or their customer’s data in any way?
No.
Does Prodigy Commerce compete with WordPress developers, designers, or agencies?
No, we provide software, not services. The only way to build a store with Prodigy is to connect our platform to WordPress with this plugin; we do not have a DIY portal with storefront themes. We only interact with your clients to help them set up their merchant accounts and answer any questions they may have about the day-to-day management of their stores. If one of your clients asks us about website development, design, or digital marketing, we refer them back to you.
Do WordPress developers, designers, and agencies have an ongoing role after a store is up-and-running on Prodigy?
Yes, WordPress needs to be hosted, maintained, and updated just like any website. In addition, as we add more features and functionality to our platform and plugin, store owners may need your development and/or design assistance with activation, setup, and implementation.
Why does Prodigy Commerce focus exclusively on WordPress?
Because over 40% of all websites run on WordPress. Entrepreneurs love using it for blogging and content creation and the WordPress community love helping them develop/design custom marketing and eCommerce sites.
What sets Prodigy apart from WooCommerce?
There are three main things that set Prodigy apart from WooCommerce. You only need ONE free open-source plugin to build beautiful, secure, fully functional stores. Prodigy’s hosted platform is free at any scale and provides your store owner clients with a Shopify-like experience. Prodigy provides free multi-channel customer support (phone, email, and online chat) from California for the WordPress community of developers, designer, and agencies and their store owner clients.