The world of online stores and e-commerce continues to grow with over 25 million sites today. Still, thousands of businesses are joining in every year to create an online presence and reach potential clients. WooCommerce is one of the leading online business platforms with over 27% market share and almost 13% of all online stores on the internet.
The platform offers an easy solution for creating and managing an e-commerce website on WordPress. If you are not familiar with this platform, then read on as we look at its benefits, key features, how to get started, and more.
The benefits of WooCommerce
The WooCommerce plugin enables businesses to build and manage online stores easily. Here we highlight some benefits of using the plugin on your online store.
- Flexible and scalable — With both paid and free plugins, WooCommerce allows you to enhance your store functionality. This allows you to customize features such as payment options, marketing, and shipping tools, as well as access management features.
- Multiple shipping options — WooCommerce has different built-in shipping options for all stores. This includes international shipping, local delivery, and pickup. Moreover, you can set up automated tracking and checkout using one of their plugins.
- Easy to install and set up — Adding WooCommerce to your online store is just like installing any other plugin. It offers an easy-to-follow installation wizard that will walk you through the entire process.
- Robust security — Customer security is a key feature in e-commerce since it involves transactions. The WooCommerce plugin protects data on your store to prevent third-party access. This means that transactions between merchants and customers are secure.
Key features
To ensure that your online store is flexible and runs smoothly, WooCommerce includes unique features. While some are enabled by default, you might be required to download additional plugins. These features include:
- Product management — The hardest thing in an online store is how to manage your product inventory. Luckily, WooCommerce allows you to add categories and fully customize products with specific attributes such as color or size.
- Order management — This feature allows buyers to monitor their orders easily before they arrive at the specified destination. The system also gives merchants the ability to create offline orders, which it then adds to the site.
- Flexible payments — WooCommerce provides different payment options, including cash on delivery, bank transfers, and digital wallets. These methods are fully compatible with some of the best payment services, such as Stripe, PayPal, and Doku.
- Sales report — To improve your business, you need a sales report which gives you a clear sign of performance. WooCommerce provides an easy way to generate reports, either as a comma-separated values file(CSV) or an Excel file.
Getting started with WooCommerce
Installing WooCommerce is a simple, and straightforward process that requires a few basic steps. Follow this guide to set up your online store in no time.
Find a good hosting and domain name and install WordPress
To begin, you’ll need a good WordPress hosting site for your online business. Then, install the WordPress software from its repository.
Install WooCommerce
The WooCommerce plugin is free and easy to install. Just head over to the Plugins section, click on Add New and search for WooCommerce. Select Install Now and Activate to run WooCommerce on your site.
Add a WooCommerce-compatible WordPress theme
Finally, select the best theme that works for your online business. Once you find the best theme, you can now add products and sellers to the site.
How to reach out with your new WooCommerce shop
Once you have set up your online store, then it is time to promote it to a target audience. You can do this using different ways, including selling on social media or paid advertisements such as Google Ads. Content marketing with blogs, promotional emails, and influencer marketing are other options you can use. By implementing different marketing strategies, you can effectively promote your online store to improve sales and revenue.