WooCommerce Review

Summary review

Did you know that around 28% of all e-commerce websites today are powered by WooCommerce? Yup, it’s probably the most popular e-commerce platform out there and for some obvious reasons. First, it’s free to use. Secondly, it’s not a website builder per se but rather an e-commerce plugin for WordPress - the world's most popular CMS (Content Management System) that in turn powers around 35% of all websites in the world. That is like a dream union of two of the world’s best! Thirdly, being an open-source plugin built on top of another open-source project means a lot of freedom and flexibility!

But how does it work, exactly? First, you’ll need to get the services of a website hosting provider such as Bluehost, install and configure WordPress, and then install WooCommerce. In a nutshell, WooCommerce will be responsible mainly for the e-commerce section of your existing Wordpress site.



Pros

+ Great for those who are already familiar with WordPress
+ Tons of plugins and extensions powerful enough for even the largest online stores
+ It’s open-source which means it's highly customizable
+ Quick and intuitive install and configuration
+ Allows selling of both physical and digital products as well as subscriptions or recurring services
+ Easily integrates with external services like Printify and Printful
+ WooCommerce pages are optimized for mobile
+ Extensive WooCommerce themes available - free and paid
+ Customer and store administrator accounts with guest checkout
+ Easy payment processing integration
+ Connect to multiple payment and shipping gateways
+ Tons of developers and expert communities

Cons

- There is quite a learning curve especially for inexperienced users
- Requires knowledge and proficiency of WordPress
- While the actual WooCommerce plugin is free, the fees for paid apps and integrations, hosting, maintenance, and more can seriously add up
- You’ll need to purchase a domain, hosting service, and SSL certificate separately
- Lack of central support
- You’re required to handle updates and maintenance yourself
- It’s very popular, which means that if you don’t do some degree of customization, your store will end up looking like a lot of other stores out there



Who is WooCommerce for?

Unlike other e-commerce platforms, WooCommerce is not an out-of-the-box solution. In fact, you’ll have to configure everything. This means WooCommerce is not for you if you have little to no technical knowledge. On the other hand, if you are already familiar with WordPress and you're comfortable with making tweaks on your own, or if you're willing to learn a bit about how to set up and manage Wordpress, then WooCommerce is an excellent choice for your e-commerce store.

Main Features

Themes

There are thousands of WooCommerce themes that are readily optimized to support conversions. These themes are divided into 5 categories: all themes, new, free, storefront themes, and responsive. If your goal is to sell your products or services, a storefront theme will be your best bet. There are also themes especially designed for the following industries:

- Arts and crafts
- Bookings and accommodations
- Digital and audio
- Electronics and software
- Fashion and apparel
- Flowers, gifts, and collectibles
- Food and drink
- Health and beauty
- Home and furniture
- Pets and pet care
- Sports and recreation
- Toys and games

Payment Options

WooCommerce offers standard payment options such as credit cards, bank transfers, cheque, and COD or cash on delivery. In addition, there are more than 100 other payment integrations to choose from like PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Payments, Square, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more.



E-Commerce

As an e-commerce platform, WooCommerce offers tons of features you’ll need for your online store, including but not limited to the following:

- Manage products and add variants
- Order fulfillment
- Zoomable product images
- Automated tax calculations
- Real-time shipping rates and tracking
- Label printing
- One-page checkout
- Cart abandonment emails
- Customizable confirmation emails
- User-based review system
- 1-click upsells
- Upselling and cross-selling
- Site search
- E-commerce analysis

Apps and Plugins

In addition to its built-in e-commerce features, there are also hundreds of free and paid extensions for almost any function that your store needs. There are plugins to enhance your website’s aesthetic, increase conversions, maximize your email campaigns, and more. Using these plugins allow you to set up appointment bookings, recurring subscriptions, or a membership system. There are also plugins for offering bulk discounts and gift certificates, managing event ticket sales, adding a new language to your store, generating store credit coupons, displaying multiple currencies, generating opt-in forms to grow your email list, creating a customer wish list, automating marketing, adding a waitlist feature, and more.



Below are some of the most popular WooCommerce plugins:

- Conversio
- Elementor Addons & Templates
- MailChimp
- Beeketing
- One Page Checkout
- Checkout Field Editor
- Smart Coupons
- TrustPulse
- OptinMonster
- LiveChat
- RafflePress
- WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips

The above is just a sample of what is doable with WooCommerce. It would not be an exaggeration to say that pretty much anything technically feasible is doable with WooCommerce and it's countless add-on extensions - some of which are free and some paid.

Shipping Options

WooCommerce offers three main shipping options: free, flat rate, and real-time cost calculation options. You can set up geographical shipping restrictions if you want or use extensions to further customize these options.

Discounts and Coupons

Worried about a single customer using your promo codes multiple times and you ending up broke and out of stock? No worries! WooCommerce allows you to add restrictions and limits for the coupons. For example, you can set a minimum or maximum spend, exclude sale items, or exclude products. You can also limit how many times a coupon can be used, how many times it can be applied to a specific product, or limit usage per customer.

WooExperts

If you need some assistance with your WooCommerce site, you can hire a WooCommerce verified developer or an agency to help you with your store. These are experts with WooCommerce products that can help you with web or theme development, plugin development, theme customization, and many more. It won’t be cheap though. Hourly rate starts from $50 while project-based contracts can be as high as $35,000.

Support and Knowledge Base

If you are hell-bent on doing everything yourself due to lack of budget, WooCommerce has a documentation page that has plenty of articles, references, and tutorials. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can checkout Wordress or WooCommerce’s community forums. If all else fails, you can always open a support ticket. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like there’s a way to contact support either by chat or phone call.

Pricing and Plans

While WooCommerce is free to use, it might not actually be the cheapest option. After all, you’ll have to pay separately for other website building essentials such as hosting and domain name. And then, there’s all the plug-ins and extensions that your store will eventually need as you scale your business.

The Bottom Line

There is no doubt that WooCommerce is definitely one of the most powerful e-commerce platforms out there. There are so many features and integrations that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed though, especially if you are a beginner. Unlike other platforms, you’ll also have to worry about things like a domain name, SSL certificate, and hosting. As such, we would only recommend WooCommerce if you have some technical experience, or if you can afford to hire someone at WooExpert.