WooCommerce Deals WooCommerce WP is the most popular site content management system on the planet. But, by itself, the platform does not include any option to support payments from clients of the service through a WP site. For this, you need an online commerce extension like WooCommerce. WooCommerce is intended to manage a smooth buying experience for visitors to a WP site. In our Automattic WooCommerce review, we examine the pros and cons of using the software to support payments and whether it should be considered one of the best online commerce platforms in XNUMX.
When installing WooCommerce, you are asked questions about the product models you are going to sell, as this can affect how much you are going to pay annually (Image credit: Automattic)
Plans and prices
WooCommerce and WP are open source software, which means they are free to download and use on your site. But you will need WP hosting and you will probably have to pay additional fees to WooCommerce. You can use a free WooCommerce theme, download your theme, or choose one of the paid themes, which cost between $249 and $49 a year. Multiple WooCommerce features require an annual payment. It costs €49 / year to offer subscriptions or memberships. Taking reservations costs €XNUMX/year, offering custom product bundles and discounts adds €XNUMX/year, and selling customizable products costs €XNUMX/year as well. All of these additional expenses can add up quickly.
Features
WooCommerce has a massive list of features, making it intimidating for new users. But you don't have to use all the bells and whistles of your online store. An important part of building a profitable eCommerce site is deciding which features make sense for your particular store and which don't. With eCommerce platforms, you also have to factor in the cost of customer payments, as there is always a charge somewhere.
You can accept payments in your WooCommerce store using WooCommerce Payments (Image Credit: Automattic) If you are in the United States, WooCommerce offers its own payment gateway extension for WooCommerce. Installation is free, but it costs twenty-nine% + €0.30 per transaction for US-issued credit cards. There are also 32 other extensions available for WooCommerce to accept payments. Stripe, Amazon Pay, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.Net are all options, each with their own starting price and their own ongoing charges.
WooCommerce can automatically install several important plugins that you can use to optimize your store (Image Credit: Automattic) When you install WooCommerce, you have the option to include several plugins to optimize your store for search engines and social media. These include Facebook for WooCommerce, MailChimp for WooCommerce, Jetpack, and Google Ads. They are powerful plugins that can improve the performance of your store. You can add social media integrations to your store, offer coupons, display related products, change how your website looks in search engine results, or integrate with Google Analytics to see how each is performing on your pages. Some of these plugins are free, while others require a one-time payment or subscription. All of these features combined can be overwhelming for new users, and setting up your store will take some time, but it will ultimately be worth it in the improved sales figures.
WooCommerce has a theme store that you can use to find the perfect look for your website (Image Credit: Automattic) Just like WordPress, WooCommerce offers impressive customization capabilities in themes and plugins. You can quickly build an eCommerce store that looks great and includes advanced features without touching a line of code. With WooCommerce on your WordPress site, you can seamlessly embed products into pages and blog posts using shortcodes. Products can be sorted by categories, tags, and attributes, making it easy for customers to find them. And you can add product reviews, customer reviews, and image galleries that will help you showcase your products in the best light.
WooCommerce has an integration wizard to help you set up your online store (Image credit: Automattic)
Interface and in use
Despite the long list of features and enormous customization on offer, getting started with WooCommerce is relatively simple, albeit time consuming. You will be guided by various integration wizards. Depending on the answers you provide about your business, what you sell, and what you hope to achieve, different plugins and defaults will be implemented. The performance of your WooCommerce store largely depends on your web host. Also, the more plugins, themes, and advanced features you add to your store, the slower you should expect it to load. In our tests, on the same server, we found our WooCommerce store loading in around 750ms, where a Shopify store loaded in 310ms, much faster.
You can use the WooCommerce Docs website to familiarize yourself with the product (Image credit: Automattic)
Support
WooCommerce has excellent documentation online. The WooCommerce Docs site offers hundreds of in-depth articles on all WooCommerce features, all of which are searchable through an intuitive interface. There is also a very popular community forum where you can ask for help. On the other hand, customer service is limited. You can benefit from live chat or email support only if you have purchased a premium extension owned by WooCommerce and developed by WooCommerce.
Competition
Shopify has become a great alternative to WooCommerce. Since Shopify is specifically designed as a standalone ecommerce platform (as opposed to WooCommerce, which is a plugin to a blogging platform), it's easier to start building an ecommerce site with Shopify. Everything runs on Shopify's servers, too, so you don't have to worry about renting your own web hosting. Wix is a website builder with eCommerce support. With a drag and drop interface, you can create a beautiful website with Wix and accept secure online payments. Wix eCommerce plans start at just €17/month and include free hosting and a domain name.
Final verdict
WooCommerce is definitely the best eCommerce platform for WordPress websites. It offers unparalleled customization through themes and extensions, and you have full control over how you display your products and accept payments from customers. However, this versatility comes at a price, as new users will need time to get familiar with WooCommerce, especially if they have little experience with WordPress. But when everything is set up, a WooCommerce web store can be the best in the business. Cost - WooCommerce WooCommerce: ▼