Looking for an option to build an eCommerce store, WooCommerce is one of the best solutions on the market. In this post, I will give you WooCommerce reviews and why it is the most trusted solution. You’ll also learn how to get started, its benefits, drawbacks and how to improve them.
Table of Contents
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce platform based on WordPress. To put that into perspective, the WooCommerce plugin helps you to build an eCommerce store using WordPress. It takes the basic WordPress operating system and transforms it into a fully functioning eCommerce store.
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that was created by WooThemes. Mark Forrester, Magnus Jepson, and Adii Pienaar formed WooThemes, a premium WordPress theme firm.
WooCommerce was first released in 2011 and was purchased in 2015 by Automattic, the same company behind WordPress itself. Automattic has become the major developer of WooCommerce after acquiring this plugin.
It’s user-friendly. Woocommerce is simple to use for beginners, despite being extremely powerful and extensible. Anyone can set up and run a professional online store from their WordPress website. You don’t even need to know how to code.
WooCommerce has a wealth of useful features. You get to benefit from all the powerful features of WordPress as well.
Features and Functionalities
WooCommerce is pre-loaded with a wealth of useful features:
- You may sell whatever kind of product you desire, whether it’s physical, digital, or affiliate-based.
- You may add as many items as you want.
- To make products easier to identify and search, add categories, tags, and attributes – such as size or color – to them.
- Show product ratings and reviews on product pages, along with a mark that says “Verified Owner.”
- Customize the currency, language, and measurement units for your store.
- Customers can sort products by popularity, newness, rating, price, or characteristic using product sorting and filtering.
- Products can be embedded and checked out on any page.
- Customers’ addresses are automatically detected by geolocation, making shipping and tax computations easier.
- Choose how you want to handle payments: Use well-known payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, as well as credit cards, direct bank transfers, checks, and cash on delivery.
- Select shipping alternatives and limit them based on the customer’s location.
- With one-click refunds, customer accounts, and guest checkout, you can keep track of your orders and customers.
You’ll need hosting to get your WordPress website up and running. Therefore, we suggest for you the best WooCommerce hostings so you can pick the greatest partner for your business.
What Big Companies Use WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a popular eCommerce platform with a large user base. A large number of users are also active contributors to the plugin’s development. As a result, it has a community support structure that is both effective and responsive.
We’ve listed a number of the most big-name companies that use WooCommerce to run their websites.
Cisco Systems Inc
Cisco Systems is an IT and networking brand that specializes in switches, routers, cybersecurity, and IoT and whose logo seems to be on every office telephone or conference hardware.
Website: meraki.cisco.com
Location: United States
Trend Micro
Trend Micro is a global leader in providing cybersecurity solutions that help make the world safe for the exchange of digital information.
Website: blog.trendmicro.com
Location: United States
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is one of the major higher education institutions in the UK, and it is a member of the Russell Group of prestigious universities.
Website: gfal.leeds.ac.uk
Location: United Kingdom
Ryanair DAC
Ryanair is the largest low-cost airline in Europe.
Website: corporate.ryanair.com
Location: Ireland
Amazon.com Inc
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational technology company that specializes in cloud computing, digital streaming, artificial intelligence, and eCommerce. Along with Google, Apple, and Facebook, the corporation is regarded as one of the “Big Four” technology giants.
Website: pay.amazon.it
Location: United States
WooCommerce’s Competitors and its Market Share
One of the main reasons for Woocommerce popularity is because WordPress powers 43% of all the websites on the Internet. WordPress holds a dominant position compared to the interests of other popular content management systems. However, this is not a sufficient reason to choose it over alternative eCommerce platforms.
According to Builtwith (last updated 02nd Jan 2022), Woocommerce currently controls 29 percent of the eCommerce market, currently powers 5,980,958 websites, putting it ahead of rivals like Shopify and Magento. Of the Top 1 Million Sites on the Internet, WooCommerce is still the most popular solution. So, let’s have a look at what makes this plugin so popular with eCommerce.
WooCommerce Pros and Cons
Let’s take a look at the Woocommerce advantages and disadvantages of utilizing this platform, one of the top eCommerce plugins on the market.
WooCommerce Reviews Pros
- WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin. As a result, you get the value of WordPress CMS.
- It has the most extensive user base and open source community for troubleshooting problems. There is a wealth of documentation accessible for the user’s convenience.
- Easy to use. No technical or web development knowledge is needed.
- Aside from web hosting fees, shop setup is free.
- Low cost. Small enterprises find it appealing due to its competitive cost. There are several plugins available that are completely free of charge.
- Easy integration.
- It can integrate with Google Analytics via an extension.
- It’s ideal for websites that offer digital material such as eBooks, podcasts, etc.
- Until you have your SSL certificate, WooCommerce offers SSL functionality.
- There is a mobile app accessible to control the website from anywhere.
WooCommerce Reviews Cons
No matter how good Woocommerce is, you still need to consider these drawbacks if you want to take advantage of this eCommerce solution.
- Coding is inevitable. Although WooCommerce comes with a lot of wonderful functionality out of the box, you’ll need a team of developers to help you with your more unique requirements, updates, and maintenance.
- WordPress attachment. Because it is a WordPress plugin, you’ll need a good understanding of the platform to fully utilize all of WooCommerce’s features. Unlike Shopify or Magento, WordPress’ core feature isn’t designed for eCommerce; rather, it’s designed for versatility.
- Costing plugins. There’s a chance you won’t be able to run your store without an extension that provides the capabilities you require. To run a fully working online business, you’ll need plugins, which might cost anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars each month.
WooCommerce Pricing
WooCommerce is free to download and use, as well as alter and extend as needed because it is open-source software. This plugin does not include licensing fees, unlike other eCommerce platforms. As a result, you can use it to set up as many online stores and eCommerce websites as you like.
The business owners must pay payment processing commissions for the installed domain, hosting, security and extensions. They won’t cost much if you find the right provider and spend wisely. For instance, you can get these as low as:
- Domain: $10 – $20 per year
- Hosting: $35 – $50 per year
- Security: $0 – $300 per year
- Extension: $0 – $100 per year
Additional Costs:
- Shipment Tracking: 49$
- Subscriptions: 199$
- Bookings: 249$
- Memberships: 199$
- Product Add-Ons: 49$
- Product Search: 79$
- Checkout Add-Ons: 79$
- Google Analytics: free
- Cart Reports: 79$
- Cost of Goods: 79$
- AutomateWoo: 99$
- Smart Coupons: 99$
- Google Product Feed: 79$,…
WooCommerce Theme
According to Themeforest, there are over 1300 Woocommerce themes and templates to pick from in various categories. The prices range from $14 to $139. Furthermore, they are all WordPress-compatible and completely mobile responsive. These premium themes with pixel-perfect designs and a plethora of features will assist you in creating your professional, one-of-a-kind, and successful business.
WooCommerce is a flexible platform. When a plugin is simple to use, it may have limited functionality. The functionality of WooCommerce may be extended in a variety of ways, including themes, plugins, extensions, and – if you’re really ambitious – altering the plugin code itself. This means you can design a store that looks and performs whatever you want.
Not all WordPress themes come with pre-styled layouts and comprehensive WooCommerce functionality. If a theme doesn’t support WooCommerce, it won’t be able to use all of the addons and extensions that are available.
WordPress WooCommerce themes store, on the other hand, allows you to set up an online store and sell your goods. You can easily utilize WooCommerce extensions with these themes to create a great business store.
There are many WooCommerce themes available. Obviously, you’ll want the greatest design for your eCommerce site at all times. Suppose you are looking for a WooCommerce theme. In that case, we recommend the best WooCommerce themes that allow you to customize the user experience based on the nature of your business and your customers’ interests.
WooCommerce Extensions
The extensions are one of WooCommerce’s best features. WooCommerce extensions are add-on plugins that allow website owners to enhance their online store’s capabilities. There are hundreds of extensions available, making it simple to take a simple store and tenfold its capability. WooCommerce extensions enable website owners to transform a simple store into a sophisticated, multi-functional platform.
You can find WooCommerce extensions both on their official website and on various third-party extension repositories. There are over 744 extensions available on the Woocommerce website, pricing from $0 – $299.
While there are thousands of extensions and plugins to pick from, selecting the right ones will make setting up and managing your shop much more accessible. We’ve compiled a list of the best WooCommerce apps for beginners to help you choose the best one for your requirements.
WooCommerce Payments
WooCommerce Payments is a fully integrated solution that allows you to monitor charges, settle disputes, track deposits, and track recurring revenue all from inside your shop, freeing up your time to focus on developing your business.
Its streamlines the payment process for you and your customers by supporting all major credit and debit cards, subscriptions, and numerous currencies.
WooCommerce Payments now supports a wide range of common payment methods, allowing you to expand into new areas and provide greater freedom to your consumers. Now available: giropay, Sofort, iDeal, P24, SEPA, Bancontact
WooCommerce offers over 83 payment providers including Paypal, Amazon Pay, Square,… Take payments with the supplier that’s best for you – select from a wide choice of WooCommerce payment gateways.
WooCommerce SEO & Marketing
To reach the right audiences and promote your products in ways that matter to them, WooCommerce offers a range of marketing and SEO solutions.
WooCommerce’s Marketing optimizes your business for sales by providing more discount and coupon choices, integrating email and social media, and improving reporting.
It also has a range of plugins like Product Condition, E-commerce SEO by WordLift, SEO Product Filter to help you build your brand, engage your target customers, and rank your website in the Top 1.
WooCommerce Reporting and Analytics
WooCommerce Analytics is a new data and information analysis tool that will assist you in managing your WooCommerce store. The package includes:
- Additional reports
- Extensive filtering and segmentation options
- The ability to save all data to CSV
- A customizable dashboard to monitor all of your site’s vital metrics.
WooCommerce reports allow you to examine your store’s performance month after month through graphs and statistics. It is divided into four sections: Orders, Customers, Stock, and Taxes.
This plugin offers 15 Reporting and Analytics extensions to help you acquire additional insights and grow your business.
WooCommerce Multi-channel & Omnichannel
With the development of eCommerce today, customers can find the goods that their need via multi-channel. So, WooCommerce provides merchants with a total of channels including Facebook, Google, Amazon,…
Recognizing that more and more consumers are purchasing across numerous channels, omnichannel strategies have become a key focus and essential for retailers. To better understand how to build an omnichannel business with WooCommerce and Square, come to this blog and learn more.
WooCommerce omnichannel plugins would assist you in launching your online business and enhance your site with flexibility:
- ConnectPOS: Woocommerce Inventory, Order Management Tool
- Omnisend: Marketing tool for WooCommerce omnichannel plugins
- Yoast SEO: SEO tool for WooCommerce omnichannel plugins
- Multiparcels Shipping for WooCommerce: Shipping tool
WooCommerce Shipping & Fullfillment
Shipping products successfully is one of the most crucial aspects of the customer experience. WooCommerce shipping is the quickest and most effective method to print local and international shipping labels. You may fulfill orders from all around the world and those from close to home that keep customers happy with WooCommerce extensions.
WooCommerce Dropshipping
Nothing is more crucial to producers and sellers than selling a large number of items in a short time. Dropshipping is the quickest approach to increase sales since it is a commercial business strategy in which eCommerce merchants sell their items without carrying any inventory. WooCommerce dropshipping provides everything you need to start a profitable dropshipping business.
There are also a number of third-party extensions on the market as follow:
- AliDropship
- WooDropship
- Dropified
- Spocket
- DropshipMe
- WpAmazonShop
WooCommerce Dropshipping is a powerful dropshipping store management solution. You should use WooCommerce for dropshipping because of:
- Store customization capabilities
- Unlimited themes and plugins
- In-house development skills
- Long-term savings
Although there are several advantages of WooCommerce Dropshipping, Shopify Dropshipping is also a feasible alternative. Let us compare WooCommerce dropshipping vs. Shopify dropshipping to determine which tool is best for your company.
WooCommerce Integration
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that simply connects with your existing WordPress site, transforming it into a fully working WordPress eCommerce website with only a few clicks.
WooCommerce allows you to connect your WooCommerce website to thousands of the most popular apps, allowing you to automate your job and devote more time to what matters most. Integrations with WooCommerce can help you improve efficiency inventory, orders, customer data, and shipping information are all integrated between key business systems.
Moreover, connecting data between WooCommerce eCommerce Websites and ERP, CRM, POS, ACCOUNTING, and MARKETPLACES systems requires a lot of time, money, and resources. Therefore, start streamlining your WooCommerce eCommerce operations with our fully managed middleware platform- Hexasync. Our platform sits between WooCommerce and any operating systems, automating the data-sharing process and reducing the possibility of human error, allowing your company to focus on effectiveness and revenue.
WooCommerce Support & Community
WooCommerce is a well-known eCommerce platform with a large user base. A big number of users also contribute actively to the plugin’s development. As a result, it has an effective and responsive community support network.
There are three major ways to receive help with difficulties or queries you need to resolve:
- Contact WooCommerce Support if you have technical or sales queries and need help directly.
- Helping you yourself. You can learn how to set up, customize, and expand the functionality of your WooCommerce products with WooCommerce Documentation.
- Moreover, you also have access to WooCommerce Community to create topics, gather feedback, and work together to create solutions.
WooCommerce Alternatives
Because it is free, open-source, and extremely customizable, WooCommerce is an excellent choice for starting an online store. However, it may not be the best fit for your distinct business requirements. Is there anything better than WooCommerce?
There are common alternatives to WooCommerce such as Shopify and Magento.
Shopify
Shopify is a popular eCommerce platform that allows you to build an online retail website that connects with social media, publishes items, cart and payment tools, and order processing. This platform provides all of the business tools you want in one, familiar place.
Let’s have a comparison between Shopify WooCommerce to find the best platform for your business.
Magento
Magento is a well-known platform in the eCommerce industry. It is no accident that even though it was once owned by eBay and is now part of Adobe, countless significant and high-profile organizations have picked it to reign as the leader in their respective sectors.
Let figure out whether to start or expand your business with Magento vs WooCommerce.
The Best Suited Business to Use WooCommerce
This plugin is appropriate for all types of business owners of all sizes that wish to have a fully functional online store. WooCommerce is the perfect choice if you are just getting started or looking for an all-in-one eCommerce solution to expand your business. Furthermore, its policy provides a full refund within 30 days of your purchase date to guarantee that you are happy with the features provided by WooCommerce.
Conclusion
As you can see, WooCommerce provides all of the features you’d expect from an eCommerce platform. It is the obvious choice whether you want to sell from an existing WordPress site or you want to establish an online store from scratch. Still, there is no one-size-fits-all eCommerce solution for every consumer or situation. It’s best to go through an organized approach to figure out which eCommerce solution is right for you.
Hopefully, this “WooCommerce Reviews” article gives you an informative observation. If you’re still looking for more information on WooCommerce and Integration solutions, please let us know.
