If you’re a small business owner looking to provide an online shopping experience for your customers, you might be considering how to use WooCommerce.
With so many options available, it can be challenging to determine which platform makes the most sense for your business and choosing the right eCommerce platform is crucial.
To help you make an informed decision, we’ve created a series of eCommerce guides covering the main benefits, costs, and integrations of the most popular eCommerce platforms.
In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at WooCommerce.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce platform that runs on WordPress and is fully customisable. WooCommerce was first developed by WordPress theme developer WooThemes and it quickly became popular for its simplicity to install and customise.
It is currently the leading platform for UK eCommerce, holding 23.43% of the market share worldwide and In January 2020, it was estimated that WooCommerce is used by around 3.9 million websites.
Benefits of using WooCommerce
Plenty of ways to improve your store’s features and functionality
One of the most significant advantages of using an open-source eCommerce platform like WooCommerce is the amount of control you have over building your online store.
There are over 6,000 WordPress plugins available directly from the plugin directory, with an additional 500 available on the WooCommerce Extensions store.
These plugins enable you to link your WooCommerce store to other web apps, extending its functionality.
For instance, if you’re planning to offer your products overseas, you can use plugins to provide a wide range of languages to your customers online.
WooCommerce Multilingual (WPML) supports more than 40 languages for any WooCommerce store. This plugin can translate your products and store emails, is compatible with all popular WooCommerce extensions and themes, and simplifies the SEO process in different languages.
More control over your store’s design
If you’re eager to revamp your store’s entire design, WordPress.org provides over 1,300 WooCommerce site themes that are highly customisable and free to download and install on your website.
Many of the themes are set up to utilise Gutenberg Blocks and designed mobile-first to work on any device. Other features you can lean on for your website can include Dark Mode, Full-Site Editing, customisable Headers and Footers and Megamenu’s.
Having the flexibility and ease to drag-and-drop widgets, patterns and full page designs enables website owners and merchants to quickly get set up and start selling.
Related: Do You Need A Web Developer For Your Website
You Can Sell Digital Products
WooCommerce isn’t limited to physical goods; you can also sell downloadable digital products. The core features of WooCommerce include the ability to:
- Set download limits based on your type of product
- Sell a combination of physical and digital products for the same item
- Offer free trials or demos for a set period
By configuring the ‘Downloadable Products’ settings within your WooCommerce dashboard, you’ll have the option to choose from one of three downloadable file methods for your digital products:
- Force Download – this helps keep files secure but requires powerful servers for larger files.
- Redirect Only – redirects your customers to a different URL where the file can be accessed. Anyone with the link can access the file.
- X-Accel-Redirect/X-Sendfile – secure and reliable, but requires your web hosting provider to enable a specific module on your server in advance.
Related: Am I Ready To Sell Online?
Payment Integrations with WooCommerce
Among the many plugins available for WooCommerce are those that allow payment gateways and one-stop-shop payment solutions to connect with your WooCommerce store.
To start accepting online payments from your customers, you’ll need to integrate one of these solutions into your cart.
Some of the most popular include PayPal and Stripe, but do check which merchant that will offer you the best rate, based on your sales quantities and country.
WooCommerce Pricing
Both WooCommerce and WordPress are free. However, there are other costs to consider when launching and running your eCommerce store.
Since WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce solution, you’ll need to factor in the costs of initial web development, ongoing security, and software updates.
Although some plugins and themes are free, you will need to pay for functionality or a high-quality web design. This plays in your favour as you’ll receive regular updates by the original creators and attract loyal customers.
Related: Using WordPress for eCommerce
