Should You Choose WooCommerce To Run Your Online Store?

Are you looking to start an e-commerce store? Should You Choose WooCommerce To Run Your Online Store? If so, you are not alone. In recent years, selling online has exploded, and the pandemic has only fueled the fire. More and more people are looking to create online businesses to create passive income, financial freedom, or even a side hobby or passion project.

There are a lot of questions that you might have when first starting in this exciting new world. One of the most popular options for powering an online store is the WooCommerce plugin for WordPress. But what exactly is WooCommerce, and why do so many people trust it to run their online businesses? Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about this powerful and dynamic plugin.

WHAT IS WOO COMMERCE?

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. Should You Choose WooCommerce To Run Your Online Store? It provides a fast and easy way to set up your online store and start selling in no time. Its flexibility allows for swift and secure payment management, inventory control, tax management, shipping integration, etc. WooCommerce has an enormous user base and developer community. This means constant updates and customizations are available to keep the plugin working optimally.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

WooCommerce works by allowing you to turn any WordPress site into an online store. It is a turnkey plugin completely compatible with WordPress, meaning you can list products and services and sell them through a shopping cart to consumers. The backend provides a simple way to track orders and manage customers.

HOW DO YOU SET IT UP?

The beauty of installing WooCommerce is that anyone can do it. You do not have to be a programmer or even tech-savvy to have this plugin working for you in a matter of minutes.
Step 1 – From your WordPress dashboard, select “Plugin Options”
Step 2 – Search “WooCommerce”
Step 3 – Download the plugin
An easy-to-follow setup wizard will walk you through the rest of the process.

WHY CHOOSE WOO COMMERCE?

It Integrates with WordPress

So, we have told you what WooCommerce is, how it works, and how to install it. Now you probably want to know why you, Should You Choose WooCommerce To Run Your Online Store? are seven reasons why WooCommerce might be the perfect choice for you.

WordPress is the most popular website-creation platform on the web. People love it for its ease of use and its customizable features. One of the best things about WordPress is its use of plugins. Plugins are software additions that can enhance the capability of your website.

And WordPress has thousands of them – both free and paid. As we mentioned above, WooCommerce is one of those plugins. This means that it integrates perfectly with WP without complications or interruptions.

Another key feature is flat-rate pricing!

Unlike some of its eCommerce store competitors that take a percentage of each sale or charge by the transaction, WooCommerce setup costs are the same. That is to say, there is no charge since the software is open source. So, Should You Choose WooCommerce To Run Your Online Store? It won’t matter if you are selling five products or five thousand. What does cost you are the plugins that you may want to add to your store.

Plugins add extra features to your store and there are literally hundreds to choose from. Features like Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce help keep your product pages clean by using consolidated tabs. You can title your tabs with information like descriptions, reviews, specifications, etc. Very useful plugin that we use here at Slocum Studio on e-commerce websites that we build for clients.

We could go on and on with our recommendations. One more that we should point out is called Beeketing for WooCommerce. We pay a lot of attention to marketing analytics and user experience. This plugin adds many features we find helpful for conversions. Such as:

• Recent order notifications help create the sense of a busy store.
• A sales countdown clock is a low-stock indicator to create urgency.
• Social proof shows how many people viewed the product.
• Coupon popup to motivate new visitors to make a purchase.
• The Mobile version adds a buy now button on top of the page.
• On the Mobile version: A full-screen image is used with the native gallery.

There are many more features and benefits with this plugin, too many to add. Some help increases average order value, and increase checkout rate and cart abandonment. One last cool feature we really like is the Chat with customers via Facebook Messenger right on the store! Is that cool or what?

What you should know when looking for the best WooCommerce plugins

Establish from the beginning what the purpose of the WooCommerce store is. Don’t be too concerned at the start that you don’t know all that is needed. What you should be concerned with is adding to your store plugins that make for a better user experience. Of course, focusing on conversions is important as well.

IT IS MODULAR

Like WordPress has thousands of plugins to help optimize your website, WooCommerce has the same functionality. Countless plugins can be used to customize and enhance your WooCommerce store.
A modular framework means that a community of people can keep creating new additions to help WooCommerce work better. It is a robust open-source community of people working to improve the product

IT CAN BE USED IN ANY STORE

1. No matter what kind of store you plan to start, you will be able to sell your products or service on WooCommerce. The plugin can be used for physical products, digital services, dropshipping, etc. You can also create memberships, subscription services, and appointments. 
2. While the goal of most online stores is to make sales, it doesn’t always mean accepting payments for your online products. Some store owners elect to build online store catalogs showcasing their products without allowing online purchases.

What is the purpose of catalogs?

• Creating hype around your brand: New products can show on their own page as a nice way to social share or send to a select client.
• An SEO boost: Building out unique pages for each product means lots of relevant keywords and descriptions for search engines to index.
• Provokes a contact: Your product may offer a solution that a customer is looking for. This may cause them to contact you, or ask for a quote.
• Product analytics: You may learn what products are being searched for the most. This is helpful for future reference.

What are some features of a catalog and who can benefit?

• You like customers to come to your physical location. We have a client who sells used bicycles and does not want to get involved with shipping. He told us people are more inclined to take the ride and check out the inventory. He said having one sales channel for used bikes allows him to better control inventory and pricing. Makes sense!
• Stores that sell items that require quotes. As an example- you may sell items that require additional packages or accessories. You may want to avoid the back and forth inquires.
• You may want to set up or you may already have a wholesale department. A good example might be a B2B jewelry company that supplies wholesalers and wants a private channel to discuss pricing.

A WooCommerce plugin you might like is called Catalog Visibility Options. It allows you to switch from an e-commerce store to a catalog site. But with a flick of the switch, you are back selling online! You have other options, like restricting it to users who are logged in. You can also configure messages to replace the price. So think about your store and the possible benefits of showcasing a catalog.

The value of great imagery

As the saying goes- if you’re going to do it do it right!

Not just good, but great images are needed in your online store. Uniform images of the same size and lighting are key. People buy based on their emotional connection with a product. The more they can visualize themselves using your product the better.

So no more crappily lite product shots! Hire a professional product photographer it will pay off. Below is a good example of a product gallery. Lighting is consistent, products are clearly labeled. This gallery is on an Astra theme website. Slocum Studio highly recommends Astra themes, we have been building on Astra Themes for some time now and we enjoy it. So do our clients. If you are a DIY do-it yourself we highly recommend that you do it with Astra.

Need help? Call us: tel: 857-400-8959

IT HAS A ROBUST DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

1. If you plan on starting an online business, you will want to know a bit about your customer’s behaviors and actions. WooCommerce, has you covered. The backend has a built-in analytics system that allows you to track sales and create customer profiles. While it provides its analytics, it is also easy to integrate with Google Analytics.

IT CAN HANDLE ANY SIZE OF BUSINESS

1. It does not matter if you have one product or a thousand products; WooCommerce will be able to get the job done. It is normal to have a small number of products and customers when you start, but you will want to see that grow in time. WooCommerce will scale with you to whatever size your business can reach, whether ten customers per day or hundreds of customers per second.

IT HAS A SECURE PAYMENT GATEWAY

1. One of the most critical parts of your online store is most certainly your payment gateway. You need your customers to be able to trust the payment process. You want peace of mind that your transactions will be safe and secure and done in a timely fashion.
2. WooCommerce integrates seamlessly with PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, and credit and debit cards and is available in over 100 currencies. It is a trusted brand that gives consumers confidence when making a purchase.

IS WOO-COMMERCE RIGHT FOR YOU?

Hopefully, you now know how WooCommerce works and see why it is such a popular plugin. WooCommerce is trusted by millions of users and continues to improve its product thanks to the open-source community. If you are interested in learning more or want to kickstart your new online business, check out Slocum Studio for all of your WordPress and WooCommerce solutions. You can reach us here on our contact form.

Would you rather make the call? 857.400.8959