What is WooCommerce? A beginner’s guide

Are you planning to create an online shop? You must have researched various e-commerce solutions. Like WooCommerce, one of the most popular software for building an online shop. Do you want to know more about WooCommerce? This beginner’s guide will tell you what WooCommerce is, what the software offers you and what you need to get started with your online shop.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress. With the plugin, you can convert a new WordPress website into an online shop or extend your current website with an online shop. With WooCommerce, you can easily manage your shop, including:

• Add products;
• Keeping track of orders;
• Check stocks;
• Set up payments 
• Check shipments.

The history of WooCommerce

WooCommerce was created in 2011 by developers Adii Pienaar, Magnus Jepson and Mark Forrester. Their goal was to build an online shop solution for WordPress. And so it happened; the developers made it possible for anyone to create an online shop for free using the CMS.

100% WordPress

In 2015, WooCommerce was acquired by Automattic, the company behind WordPress. Anno now, WooCommerce has become one of the most popular e-commerce solutions worldwide.

Why WooCommerce?

Now you may be wondering: why should I choose WooCommerce? The software offers you many advantages. Here are 8 benefits:

1. User-friendly

The user-friendly environment makes it easy to develop and manage your online shop.

2. Flexible

WooCommerce’s flexibility allows you to create an online store that meets your needs.

3. Affordable

You can download and use WooCommerce for free. You don’t have to invest significantly when building an online store.

4. Good integration

WooCommerce works with many WordPress themes (designs), plugins and extensions, so you benefit from convenient advantages.

5. Extensive payment options

You have many payment options, whether you do business only in the UK or worldwide.

6. Safe

The developers of WordPress, WooCommerce and other services are constantly improving the software to keep it as secure as possible.

7. Insightful

You get access to detailed reporting and analysis functions, giving you insight into how your webshop is doing. It is possible to link WooCommerce to Google Analytics.

8. Rank in Google

Several plugins have been developed for WooCommerce that allows you to rank high in Google, such as the Yoast WooCommerce SEO plugin. In addition, many themes are optimised for SEO.

The disadvantages of WooCommerce

Besides the fact WooCommerce offers you many advantages, there are also some disadvantages. Here are 6 of them.

1. Less scalable

WooCommerce is suitable for small to medium-sized online stores. Are you growing fast? It can be challenging to scale up.

2. Technical

WooCommerce and WordPress require some technical knowledge. Without this knowledge, the software can be challenging to work with. Would you instead set up an online shop without any technology? Choose our online shop solution.

3. Depending on WordPress

You can only use WooCommerce through WordPress. So you are dependent on the CMS.

4. Limited support

Do you need help? You usually get limited support from developers or the community. If you look for personal support, you often have to pay.

5. Not entirely free

While you can download WooCommerce for free, you need a domain name, hosting and often a paid theme to get started. This costs money.

6. Vulnerable

WordPress is very popular with hackers. Therefore, it would help if you took extra security measures to keep your online shop safe.

What can you do with WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a versatile e-commerce solution. You can sell a lot with it. Here are some examples:

• Digital products
• (Time-based) services
• Subscriptions
• Memberships and memberships
• Bookings, appointments and reservations
• Accommodations
• Tickets
• Courses
• Dropshipping

WooCommerce Multistore

Do you want to run multiple sites? With WooCommerce, you can create a multistore. It is possible to manage multiple shops through the WordPress Dashboard (the environment where you manage a shop). You can even create separate sites for each shop to quickly add products and help customers better. To make a multistore, you must install a plugin such as Veeqo.

Who uses WooCommerce?

A broad audience uses WooCommerce. For example:

• Entrepreneurs
• Freelancers
• Web developers
• Medium-sized enterprises
• Internationals
• Bloggers
• Individuals
• Physical shops
• Non-profit organisations

The WooCommerce community

Because WooCommerce has a broad audience, it has created a community with millions of users. This community consists of developers, designers, bloggers and other users who help take WooCommerce to the next level. They all contribute to finding bugs and vulnerabilities to improve the software. But also to help each other if someone runs into something. Check the support forum or the private Facebook group, for example. Regular events are held worldwide to get to know community members and exchange knowledge.

How much does WooCommerce cost?

You can download and use WooCommerce’s software for free. However, there are hidden costs to setting up an online shop. At a minimum, you must buy a domain name and hosting to put your shop online. In addition, you often need a paid theme and paid plugins and extensions to expand your shop with valuable features. Finally, you need to take into account possible third-party transaction costs.

Not an exact price

What the exact costs are, is impossible to say. Prices depend on the top-level domain for your domain name, hosting, theme, and any plugins and extensions.

How does WooCommerce work?

WooCommerce offers you powerful features to run everything around your online shop. Of course, you can sell products or services, but it is much more than that. Below, you will find some of the features.

1. Product management

Through WooCommerce, adding, editing and deleting products or services is possible. You create a clear and user-friendly online shop via categories, tags, and product properties. It is also possible to add cross-sell or up-sell options to sell more.

2. Stock management

Through the WooCommerce Dashboard, you can easily keep track of how many products you have in stock and replenish them automatically or manually. In addition, you can specify whether customers can order the product when it is out of stock or get a notification when the product is almost sold out. If a product is indeed sold out, you can temporarily hide it.

3. Payment options

Are you running your business locally or internationally? Plugins allow you to choose from various payment options, such as PayPal, Stripe, and local. In addition, it is possible to determine whether customers pay via:

• Credit card;
• Bank transfer;
• Pay on collection;
• Gift vouchers;
• Payment gateways to pay in arrears or pay afterwards, for example.

4. Shipping

Managing shipping orders is also an essential part of your online shop. In WooCommerce, you set shipping rates based on size, weight, distance and shipping. For example, do you have a physical shop where customers can pick up their orders? Or do you want to offer free shipping to attract customers? You can easily set that too. Finally, create and print shipping labels to send your products to the customer.

5. Taxes

Activating taxes is a part that should be remembered. After all, you must calculate taxes on your products or services. You set up taxes easily through a plugin like WooCommerce Tax and Avalara. You can:

• Set tariffs for various countries or products;
• Products exempt from taxes;
• Set a reduced rate.

6. Analytics

Of course, you want to know how your online shop is performing. To celebrate successes or make adjustments when necessary. Through analytical data, you gain insight about:

• Orders;
• Customers;
• Stocks;
• Taxes;
• Shipping labels.

Are you often on the road and want to manage your webshop even then? You can do so with the WooCommerce app on mobile (Android or iOS). Do you run several webshops? You simply switch accounts.

What do you need for a WooCommerce store?

Are you convinced, and would you like to create a WooCommerce store? You need to buy a domain name and hosting, among other things. Read more about it below.

1. A domain name

You need a domain name to ensure future customers can reach your online shop. You can compare a domain name to a physical shop address only online.

A domain name at one.com

At one.com, you can register a domain name. We have hundreds of top-level domains to choose from, so you will always find a domain name that suits you. For example, choose a domain name with .store or .shop.

2. WordPress hosting

Of course, you want customers to see your shop’s content. So you need to buy hosting. Hosting is a space on a server that holds all your shop’s files.

WordPress hosting at one.com

You have also come to the right place at one.com for WordPress hosting. With our web hosting packages, you can install WordPress in just 1 click. Don’t want to worry about the maintenance and security of your webshop? Then choose Managed WordPress Hosting.

3. WooCommerce theme

Besides a domain name and hosting, you want to attract future customers with a stunning design. You do this with WooCommerce themes. WooCommerce themes are designs specially built to develop an online shop. With a theme, you decide what your webshop will look like, such as fonts, colours and images.

Finding a WooCommerce theme

You can find various WooCommerce themes online, for example, via the WordPress Theme Directory. Or use one of the professional themes from the developers of WooCommerce themselves. Finally, you can look at ThemeForest, where you will find hundreds of themes, each with its features.

Examples of popular WooCommerce themes:

1. Divi
2. Astra
3. Botiga
4. Storefront
5. Flatsome
6. Shopkeeper
7. OceanWP
8. Ultra
9. SeedProd
10. Neve

Tip: Can you code? Dive into the code and customise the theme to your liking.

Related article: https://www.one.com/en/wordpress-hosting/what-is-a-wordpress-theme

4. WooCommerce plugins and extensions

With just the installation of WooCommerce, you develop a basic online shop. However, you often need more functions. You take care of this with WooCommerce plugins and extensions. These are pieces of software that add extra functionalities to your shop.

WooCommerce plugins

WooCommerce plugins are plugins that work well with WooCommerce. You can find them in the Plugin Directory of WordPress by searching for ‘WooCommerce’. For example:

1. Checkout Field Manager
2. PDF Invoices & Packing Slips
3. Customer reviews
4. YITH WooCommerce Wishlist
5. Product Feed PRO 

Related article: https://www.one.com/en/wordpress-hosting/what-are-wordpress-plugins

WooCommerce extensions

WooCommerce extensions are software explicitly developed for WooCommerce. Like plugins, you use them to add useful functions to your online shop. You can find them, for example, in the Extension Store of WooCommerce or via CodeCanyon. Useful WooCommerce extensions are:

1. Mollie Payments
2. Adyen
3. Mailchimp
4. GDPR Cookies
5. Smart Coupons

Have a WooCommerce store built

Creating your own WooCommerce store can be a technical chore. Or you have more important things to take care of. In this case, it is possible to have a WooCommerce online shop built by a WooCommerce specialist. That person will create a ready-made online shop with your needs. Search in Google for ‘get a WooCommerce online shop built’ to find a suitable specialist.

Conclusion

After reading this beginner’s guide, you can create your own WooCommerce online shop. WooCommerce is a powerful e-commerce solution with lots of flexibility and features. Do you want to get started at one.com? Order a domain name and WordPress hosting today. Good luck!