5 Brilliant Bookstore WordPress Themes
We’re all told not to judge a book by its cover. Yet we do it anyway. Because we are visual creatures – we remember images easier and we engage more with visually-rich content. This is why having an attractive, well-designed and functional website is a must. And luckily, with our list of bookstore WordPress themes to help, you can be off to a great start.
Books nowadays come in all shapes and sizes. And we don’t just mean pop-up books or graphic novels. There are e-books and audiobooks and downloadables that don’t require stocking and handling like physical objects. That doesn’t mean we’re overlooking paper books. On the contrary! Our selection consists of themes that are compatible with WooCommerce as this plugin will be the power behind your online storefront. Thanks to it, you can create an online shop that will let you sell any kind of book.
This is a stunningly designed and highly functional theme. With six different, beautifully designed homepages, ChapterOne is a theme that will help you leave a lasting impression.
The layouts are flexible and the theme includes the premium page builder plugin – WPBakery. It will let you make changes via a simple drag&drop editor interface. However, if you don’t want to bother, the options that are ready provided ensure that you only need a few tweaks to set your site up. For example, there’s a home specifically created for shops specializing in e-books or audiobooks. There is also a home for individual authors, suitable for anyone aiming to sell books directly or via affiliate links. In any case, you will have a great base to build your website on.
Moreover, there are several handy inner pages that will help you get your website off the ground quickly. There is an FAQ page for displaying information about ordering, shipping, billing, and more. And predesigned single product page layouts include a couple of useful features. There are product images and descriptions along with room to include reviews (from both critics and readers/buyers). Additionally, there are shipping alternatives you can offer customers by appending buttons for different shipping companies. And you can try your hand at cross-selling by putting in a section for related products.
On the topic of increasing sales, there is a newsletter functionality where you can keep everyone up to date with the latest events, promotions, book signings, etc. as well as offer coupons or advertise promotional items. And there is the option for customers to submit a coupon at checkout or list different billing and shipping addresses.
Features that make ChapterOne a great WordPress theme:
- Social Share Functionality and Twitter and Instagram Social Widgets
- 800+ Google Fonts
- Big Custom Shortcode Collection
- Mikado Search Functionality
If you are looking for a no-frills, to-the-point WordPress bookstore theme then check out Aurum. It is a minimalist WooCommerce theme intended to help you provide visitors with a streamlined shopping experience.
Among its six different eCommerce home demos, there is one just for bookshops. Aside from that, there is a predesigned welcome page where you can direct visitors to a regional store. This is a great feature for businesses with multiple branches – having visitors decide on the region at the start will give them a more accurate portrayal of the stock availability as well as shipping costs and delivery times.
Aurum includes other great bookstore-oriented features. For one, it has subtle effects to confirm an item’s been added to cart – the plus icon briefly changes to a green checkmark so there’s no need to check the cart itself. There are also sliders that you can use to feature products or highlight bestsellers. You can introduce authors of the month in a section of the homepage. Doing so would be especially useful if your bookshop organizes signings, book readings or author meet-ups.
Since easy navigation is essential to any website, this bookstore theme includes a mega menu functionality. It even allows for individual layout controls for each menu item. Furthermore, Uber-menu functionality is supported (but requires a separate plugin), so you can choose to show as many or as few options as you want to help your visitors get around.
Features that make Aurum a great WordPress theme:
- 4 Header Types
- Layer Slider (supported + included)
- 4 Different Shop Item Hover Effects
Bookshelf is a clean, fresh theme aimed at all forms of modern libraries, book stores, literature blogs, or online courses. It boasts 5+ layout options for homepages.
There are several ways to navigate about this theme – from menus with entrance effects for submenus to button-shaped breadcrumbs. Your visitors will hardly lose their way around your site, but for the enterprising few, there is a predesigned 404 page to set them back on the right path.
Bookshelf stands out thanks to its compatibility with two different forum plugins – bbPress and BuddyPress. Either of them can help you grow an online community around your bookstore website. Moreover, thanks to the Events Calendar plugin, this bookstore theme will let you create and display events online. Export to Google Calendar and iCal will help visitors keep track of events when offline. In either case, engaging visitors will surely benefit your business.
Additionally, Bookshelf includes numerous useful shortcodes. There are accordions and tabs that can help you present important information or sort your FAQs. Or, if you prefer, infographics like progress bars and doughnut charts can show your products by categories. You even have biography shortcodes that can connect to a more detailed author profile. This could be especially useful for anyone looking to build an indie bookstore and promote up-and-coming authors.
Features that make Bookshelf a great WordPress theme:
- WooCommerce Compatible
- 10+ Blog Styles
- SEO Ready
- Interactive Ajax Search Mechanism
Livre is a WordPress theme with a focus on eCommerce, particularly in the book niche. It is designed to support a multimedia shop and it includes an impressive 14 homepage layout options alongside numerous inner pages.
This theme also includes layouts for single product types for books, movies, games, and music. Now, the product type layout for books includes a great preview option. It allows visitors to look at the covers as well as take a peek inside the book. And, to further entice shoppers, the preview display includes a list of related products and a “you may also like” section. Take advantage of these options to tempt visitors into spending more. And for the visitors who prefer to take longer to consider a purchase, there is the option to add a given product to the Wishlist or share it via social media.
Livre comes supplied with a lot of inner pages. Those include 7 versions of Contact page, 4 versions of FAQ page, and 3 versions of About Us page layouts. On top of that, there is are nifty Authors and Publishers pages that will let you display all the authors/publishers you have available. The demo layout suggested arranging them in a grid in alphabetical order but that is easily customized. This feature includes an option to narrow down the results view by picking just one letter to show all authors/publishers whose names start with it.
Features that make Livre a great WordPress theme:
- Login/Sign up Pop-Up Form
- King Composer Custom Elements
- Icon Shortcode
- 3 Landing Page Layouts
How to describe Bridge? In the simplest terms, it is a creative multipurpose WordPress theme. But once you scratch the surface you can see that it comprises numerous functionalities, great design… and a massive number of demos. At the latest count, there are 430+ of them, but we’re here to take you through just one – the bookstore demo.
This homepage demo features a great blend of powerful functionalities and appealing design. The layout makes good use of white space as well as bold color contrasts to differentiate sections and clearly display all the information you need. There are full-width parallax sections, smooth scroll, and an unobtrusive transparent back-to-top button that all make navigation easy and pleasant. There is a section where you can include an order form so customers can reach out to you with queries or orders. Also, there are highly noticeable “Buy now” buttons throughout the homepage that serve as a clear call to action. Overall, Bridge’s book demo comes across as quite polished and elegant without sacrificing any features.
Of course, since it is intended for selling books, this WordPress theme is compatible with WooCommerce so you’ll be able to set up an online store without any issues. Besides WooCommerce, Bridge supports a number of really useful plugins. There is the Events Calendar that will help you display any happenings, like book readings and such, and keep your visitors updated. And there is WPML which can help you create a multilingual site ready to welcome global visitors.
Features that make Bridge a great WordPress theme:
- SEO Optimized
- Social Media Integration
- Smooth CSS3 Animations
- Layer Slider Plugin Included (you save $23)
In Conclusion
We’re living through the fourth industrial revolution, looking at the rise of IoT and growing online interconnectedness. In this day and age, as tempting as it may be to favor operating as a simple, back-to-the-roots business, it’s not feasible. And if an institution as venerable as Shakespeare and Company has embraced the digital transformation, then there’s no excuse for anyone else.
The easiest way to join the online sphere is by making a website that will represent your business. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this from scratch. Specially designed themes are a budget-friendly, quick and efficient way to set your website up. So decide on a theme you like and start expanding your business.
We hope this article was helpful. If you liked it, feel free to check out some of these articles as well!
