Using WooCommerce for your Ipswich business
WooCommerce, one of the most extensible WordPress plugins, enables eCommerce capabilities to otherwise lead-generation or informational-based sites.
Currently, it has one of the biggest market percentages of all online shopping sites.
Statistics Of Businesses Using WooCommerce
Since its inception in 2003, WordPress has grown from obscurity to powering 33 percent of all sites in 2019. This figure encompasses sites that do not utilize a CMS whatsoever. WordPress has a massive 61 percent market share of the overall CMS-using, site-owning universe.
Most enterprises have resorted to WooCommerce to drive their shopping carts as they have adopted WordPress for their online stores. WooCommerce is a free and open-source WordPress ecommerce plugin.
Even though Magento, Shopify, and other competitors have gained traction, WooCommerce remains a standard. As per BuiltWith research, WooCommerce currently has a 23 percent market share for online stores in the leading 1M sites by visitors.
Pros of WooCommerce
Entirely Free and Open Source: WooCommerce is economical due to its ‘freemium’ sales model. This means that the fundamental software is free, but some new updates or capabilities may require payment.
Highly Flexible: It fits perfectly all types of online stores. It could be set up to sell downloadable, virtual, or physical items. It is also adaptable to affiliate programs and other business structures.
Specialist Appearance: WooCommerce is a well-organized platform with a polished look. The layout of various functionalities and tools makes it appear realistic and convenient to use.
Personalization Options: WooCommerce plugins provide a variety of themes for your online store. Thus, you may quickly improve its capabilities and tailor it to your own enterprise’s requirements.
Premium Security: It has a great shopping cart that is both robust and safe. It is kept up to date to eliminate all flaws and problems.
SEO-Friendly: WooCommerce SEO is no longer a difficult task thanks to WordPress plugins. These plugins, as well as their extensions, are interoperable with WooCommerce. They give the specific capability to handle your online store’s SEO demands.
Offers analytical tools: Numerous factors relating to your firm and site traffic determine the rate of growth. Visits, average orders, sales, CTRs, and so on are all important indicators. The WooCommerce plugin enables you to display these data into meaningful trends (market assessment) and make critical business decisions.
Easily Navigable, Integrative Nature: WooCommerce enables you to handle your site’s activities in a streamlined manner. Its back end is easy to comprehend and interact with. Also, you do not have to be a tech whiz to deploy WooCommerce functionality on your site.
Vast Community: WooCommerce enables you to comprehend and improve it with the assistance of the WordPress community. As you would post questions regarding WordPress development, you possess alternatives for WooCommerce. Its community members will delight you with their customized solutions.
Cons of WooCommerce
Numerous Plugins Affect Performance: WooCommerce has numerous plugins! It is mind-boggling how many features and tools could be included. However, this has an unforeseen downside for far less seasoned users: excessive extensions and plugins- eat up a large amount of memory, slowing down downloading speed and general performance.
It is preferable to use jQuery, CSS, or HTML codes to perform the needed functions. If not practicable, restrict the number of plugins added.
Some Extensions Come at A Cost: This WordPress plugin is free to download and launch. The vast majority of its add-ons and widgets are free. However, the activation of some extensions might necessitate a regular payment or packages with monthly payments.
WooCommerce Features
Its features could transform any WordPress website into a powerful online market. This section will review the following main WooCommerce features and demonstrate how you could utilize WordPress for eCommerce.
Products
You can use the platform to build a product listing and provide extra info, including descriptions, prices, SKUs, and so on.
The integration also makes it simple to deploy discounts, offers, coupons, and other time-sensitive data on a user-by-user or product-by-product basis.
Products could range from simple individual variables to multi-variation products with several alternatives. WooCommerce, which supports a wide range of product lines, may also be utilized to offer digital downloads, including eBooks and media, as well as course bookings. Your product-selling options are nearly unlimited.
Orders
WooCommerce enables quick order generation, which includes reference numbers, receipts, record-keeping, and payments.
WooCommerce makes it simple to enter shipping and billing data, plus information about the purchase handling, progress, and order specifications. Orders could also have shipment statuses, and notes added, which could be handled by your staff and communicated with your client in the case of order follow-up emails, as well.
Refunds are also part of its functionality and, like the rest of WooCommerce, are smooth and safe.
Customers
Clients of WooCommerce could benefit from precise and copious data regarding their consumers. Shipping and billing addresses, personal preferences, emails, \ and, most significantly, marketing priorities.
This is augmented with the possibility for users to establish their in-store account, which simplifies marketing and re-ordering of regular purchases.
A frequent upgrade conducted by the Illustrate Digital staff also provides customers with accessibility to invoices for past purchases.
Reporting
WooCommerce’s reporting function enables enterprises to monitor earnings, recurrent consumers, product popularity, the ratio of repeat buyers, and so on.
Because information is key in online marketing, possessing the ability to gain a convenient and simple unbiased picture of the business is valuable. Addironally, with so many WooCommerce extensions available, reporting may be rendered much more comprehensive and worthwhile.
Integrating WooCommerce Into Your WordPress Website
There are three options for accomplishing this.
Register for a basic version at WooCommerce.com
– Create an account on WooCommerce.com and WordPress.com
– Choose from the following options:
– An already installed solution with a dependable host
– If you already got a WordPress website, WooCommerce will be installed automatically
– You can do it yourself if you get the zip file
Setup WooCommerce
– Install the plugin
– Visit your site
– Navigate to the Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Upload
– Choose the downloaded plugin
– Install \Activate
On your site, look for the WooCommerce plugin
– Visit your site
– Navigate to the Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Plugins for Search
– Look up ‘WooCommerce’
– Install/Activate
When you activate the plugin, a Setup Wizard appears. It is highly recommended that you adhere to these instructions to guide you during your first setup.
Choose a Theme
The above-mentioned Setup Wizard will prompt you to select a theme. The theme you select will decide the initial appearance and design of your site/online store- although you can still personalize it.
You have the option of using a free WordPress theme or getting yourself a premium theme.
Storefront and its daughter themes are recommended since they are created and tuned for WooCommerce. The Storefront is entirely free. You could purchase Storefront extensions to expand features.
If Storefront is not ideal for you, there are plenty of other WooCommerce-compatible themes.
Extend WooCommerce
Extend the functionality of your online store by using extensions. There are many extensions accessible for almost anything, including bookings, subscriptions, shipping, memberships, payment gateways, and many more.
You could create a website/online store for free and develop it as your client base and expand earnings. Every extension is paid (annually) as part of a subscription, including access to resources and product upgrades.
