You want your store live by the weekend. That means no endless plugin comparison charts. You need the exact stack that works, with settings you can copy-paste. I’ve launched over 200 WordPress stores. This is the stack I use when I need to go from domain to first sale in two days.
First, hosting. Skip shared hosting. You need a host with one-click WordPress install and built-in caching. I use SiteGround or Cloudways. Both have staging environments, which you’ll need for testing. Set up your domain and install WordPress. Takes 10 minutes.
Now plugins. For e-commerce, WooCommerce is non-negotiable. It’s free, powers 40% of online stores, and has the largest ecosystem. Install it. During setup, skip the onboarding wizard — it adds unnecessary pages. You’ll create your own.
Next: payment gateway. Stripe is the easiest for digital products. Install WooCommerce Stripe Gateway. Connect your account. Enable Apple Pay and Google Pay. That alone increases mobile conversion by 20%.
For digital products, you need WooCommerce Digital Products extension. It handles instant delivery, license keys, and no shipping. Install it. Then set up your product as ‘Simple’ and check ‘Virtual’ and ‘Downloadable.’ Upload your file, set download limit to unlimited, and expiry to never.
Now the settings you’ll forget: In WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Downloadable, check ‘Grant access after payment.’ And in Stripe settings, enable ‘Capture charge immediately.’ If you don’t, you’ll manually approve orders and lose sales.
For tax, use WooCommerce Tax. Connect to TaxJar if you’re in the US. It auto-calculates sales tax. For EU, enable VAT rates. Don’t skip this — it’s a legal requirement.
For email, use Fluent SMTP or WP Mail SMTP. Connect to your transactional email service (SendGrid, Mailgun). This ensures order emails actually arrive. Without it, customers won’t get download links.
For security, install Wordfence. Run a scan. Set up two-factor authentication for your admin account. Enable reCAPTCHA on checkout and login. This prevents fraud.
For backups, use UpdraftPlus. Schedule daily backups to Google Drive. Test a restore once. You’ll thank yourself later.
For speed, install WP Rocket. Enable page caching, minification, and lazy loading. Then run a GTmetrix test. Aim for under 2 seconds load time.
Finally, legal pages. Use WP AutoTerms to generate privacy policy, terms, and refund policy. Link them in your footer. This builds trust.
That’s it. The whole stack costs under $200 per year. Install plugins in this order, configure as described, and you’ll have a working store by Saturday. The only thing left is adding products and driving traffic. But that’s a different post.
One last tip: create a staging site first. Test the entire checkout process with a real credit card (use a $1 product). Make sure the download link works. Then push to live. This 30-minute test saves you from refunds and angry emails.