Are you planning to sell goods online worldwide? If so, you should probably consider providing your potential customers with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce web site.
Currency conversion software lets your customers have the cost of an international currency transaction translated to their local currency when purchasing products on e-commerce sites. It also lets your customers view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One great benefit of adding currency conversion is that it lets customers view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, you can add a currency converter to your website, allowing your visitors to easily work out the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Great plugin features include the following:
- Inline converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with a number of e-store plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full support for language translations
Note: This plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Alternatively, ask your web host to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you can get to the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WP dashboard area …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you prefer to use something other than the default option ’United States Dollar’ …
You can also choose any supported data provider from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can select one of the other options, such as European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how frequently you want the exchange rates to be updated by specifying an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (like WordPress plugins).
Unless there is a reason to modify the jQuery settings, just ignore this option …
Edit the remainder of the settings according to your needs and click Save Changes when you have configured this section …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to any of your WordPress site’s pages or posts using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WP pages, posts and widgets without editing 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 goods on your site for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show this amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
To do this, you will need to add the following shortcode to your page content …
Note: You can also insert prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 6.95, 37.95, 129.10, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode should look once you have inserted it into your post …
When your information has been published, the converted currency amount will display as you can see in the screenshot below …
Using the above example, let’s now translate the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode appears when added to your content …
Once your content has been published, your converted currency will then display as you can see below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to use a different base currency than the one set as the default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to non-European customers (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the shortcode appears when added to a page …
After publishing your page, your currency conversion will then display like this …
Plugin Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your site’s sidebar menu using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now display on your site’s sidebar menu with the settings you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using multiple 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 the forward slash as shown below …
If you modify this symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin site)
And there you have it! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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