If you’re planning a launching an online store, you’ll be presented with many software options for developing out your storefront. These choices, initially will feel like a windfall, can quickly feel overwhelming due to the multitude eCommerce options available. In this blog, we will go through one very popular solution and present an overview of what is WooCommerce and why you should consider it for creating an e-commerce website.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is the free plugin, or functional extension WordPress eCommerce plugin for quite some time. It has been downloaded over thirteen million times and supports more than a million active installs. As per research, it covers more than a third of the entire online shop market. Automattic purchased WooCommerce has increased the number of WooCommerce operators. WooCommerce is installed into a WordPress website and adds in order processing, shopping cart functionality and basic product management. With the help of WooCommerce, you can create a basic online store and sell a variety of products and services which include goods (both physical and digital), ongoing memberships and affiliate transactions. The core software present in it manages vital e-commerce features like inventory management, international customers, shipping cost calculations, coupons and sales tax management. The base functionality of WooCommerce can be elevated with over three hundred extensions that can add in additional features such as composite products, bookings, EU VAT calculations and tracking, returns and warranties, customer documentation, product bundles, as well as a number of learning management systems for selling courses.
WooCommerce was originally created in September of 2011 by the team at WooThemes. Later in May 2015, WooThemes was purchased by Automattic and WooCommerce was placed within the Automattic family of products. There are more than 300 contributors to the WooCommerce code base. There are many WordPress agencies and developers working beside the WooCommerce team to build plugin extensions and stock website templates for storefront presentation, perform storefront installation and set up for clients, as well as offer custom code and theme tweaks.
WooCommerce’s Pros and Cons
WooCommerce is the most customizable eCommerce platform for building your online business. Just like any piece of software, WooCommerce has a range of pros and cons when working with it. These differ by individual, but they should be considered before selecting WooCommerce as your eCommerce solution.
Pros
- WooCommerce is free and open source software.
- It is developer friendly and integrates well with almost any theme.
- The plugin is fairly easy to use just install, configure and the plugin takes care of everything eCommerce related.
- WooCommerce is feature rich, suitable for selling both digital, physical and affiliate products.
- It has over 300 extensions available for making the base functionality more strong.
- This software is frequently updated for new features and functions.
- WooCommerce has a good track record of ratings and reviews on WordPress.org.
- WooCommerce offers different payment gateways, product variations and shipping options.
- Users can choose from a wide array of WooCommerce-ready themes and loads of both free and commercial extensions.
Cons
- To create a full-fledged online store it requires a lot of different elements assembled together some of these are security measures, dealing with FTP servers which can profuse beginners.
- The core system of WooCommerce is free if required certain features then you have to pay. Depending on your needs, that can get costly over time even if expenditures are one-time investments.
- Software updates can sometimes require a developer to assist in execution, testing, and troubleshooting.Some WooCommerce themes are not coded well and/or are robust. So buyers need to make sure they purchase templates from trustworthy theme developers.
- People new to e-commerce take lightly the time involved in setting up an online store. There are a lot of settings, usage considerations and functionality decisions required for managing orders, customers, sales tax, shipping and inventory.
- Virtually every storefront will require an extension and these plugins cost money and require an annual license purchase.
- WordPress.org has a support forum which is not well maintained.
Is WooCommerce right for your online store?
Well, every software has its own plus and minus points and are most suitable for different types of users. Any e-commerce software will not be ideal for every user or situation. So, it is best to use a structured process to determine what e-commerce solution will be a perfect match for your individual needs. Before taking WooCommerce as a solution, start by documenting your individual requirements. Examine functionality, documentation, theme availability and support. Once you have a well-prepared document of your needs, compare it to a variety of solutions to see if WooCommerce meets your requirements. In short, WooCommerce can be used by users of all levels, however, having at least some web experience is considered as plus point.
Need some helping hand in developing your online store then Ecomsolver is always ready to assist you with its top-notch web development and designing solutions. It is a digital consultancy with expertise in custom web development in all major platforms like Magento, Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, Opencart and much more. We provide web solutions to all industries irrespective of their size and domain. So discuss your project requirements with us.
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