Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce site or making products available for sale to an overseas customer base? If so, then you should think about providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce web site.
Currency converting software lets your prospective customers convert foreign currency pricing into their local currency at the buying or checkout phase. It also lets your visitors see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own home currency.
One advantage of adding currency conversion to your site is that it lets customers see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, it’s easy and simple to add a currency conversion plugin to your WP website, allowing your prospective customers to easily work out the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Currency Conversion Plugin
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free!
This currency conversion plugin features:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports several exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with various e-store plugins like WP-eCommerce & Shopp.
- Automatically determines local currency
- Supports full language translations
Note: This plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP. Alternatively, ask your webhosting provider to update your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking “Install Now” …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can visit the plugin’s settings section by choosing Currencyr from your WP admin user navigation menu …
The plugin settings page offers you several configuration options …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default option is ‘USD’ …
Similarly, you can choose any supported data provider from a dropdown menu. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can choose one of the other options, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, you will need to enter an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you want to update the exchange rates by selecting an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, simply ignore this section …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings according to your own needs and don’t forget to click Save Changes when done …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to any WordPress post or page using widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into pages, posts and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling your products online for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to display the price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below to your page content …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 16.95, 79.45, 544.97, etc …)
The example below shows how the above shortcode looks when added to your page …
After your information has been published, your currency conversion will appear as shown in the example below …
Using the above example, let’s now convert the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
After publishing your page or post, your converted currency will then appear as shown in the example below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to specify a different base currency than the one you have set as your default.
For example, say you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to visitors from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
After publishing the content, your currency conversion will then appear as shown in the example below …
How To Use The Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add the currency codes you want to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency converter tool will now show on your sidebar menu with the settings you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.
You can change the symbol in the Multiple Separator settings field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify the symbol and update your settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
WordPress E-Commerce
As stated earlier, the plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from plugin site)
And there you have it! Now you can go and easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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