WordPress and WooCommerce
WordPress is an open-source Content Management System (CMS). It is free to install, deploy, and upgrade. WordPress has thousands of plugins and templates of flexible and simple templates that reduce development costs and development time.
WooCommerce is a plugin that helps to build a customizable eCommerce platform on WordPress.It is the world’s largest and most famous eCommerce platform at present. It allows WooCommers users to create visually appealing and fully functional online storefronts right inside an existing WordPress-powered site.
Setting up an online store in WooCommerce
A person who wants to create an online store needs a platform capable of handling all the stages of retail transactions. Therefore they can set it up on WordPress using WooCommerce.
Firstly, the user needs to have a domain name, web hosting, and an SSL certificate. The domain name is the website’s (online store) address on the internet, web hosting is where your website lives on the internet, and an SSL certificate adds a special security layer on your website.
Then the user needs to install WordPress and WooCommerce plugin. The user can set up the WooCommerce store by selecting a theme and adding information such as currency, payments, products, shipping information, etc. Finally, the user can extend the online store with plugins. There are over 46 000 plugins in WordPress and users can use suitable plugins among them.
Pros and Cons of WooCommerce in WordPress
Pros of WooCommerce
- Free of cost
WooCommerce is cost-effective because the core software is free. People who want to start their own online business without a big investment can set up their online store on WooCommerce at no cost.
- Maximum control and 100% customizable
Users of WooCommerce can customize their online stores according to their business requirements. There are thousands of themes in this platform and users can customize the sessions such as headers, footers, product sheets with the aid of those themes. WooCommers allows users to freely access the CSS, HTML, and PHP style codes and users can create unique designs for their stores.
- Greater flexibility
Online shoppers can add a large number of product lists divided into different categories on their websites. Not only that, but WooCommerce can also be configured to sell physical, virtual, or downloadable products. It offers the ability to accept almost all sorts of payments.
- Large community
WooCommerce has a large community of users, developers, and contributors. In current society, WooCommerce users can find plenty of documentation, articles, and informative guides because of that large community. In case of technical or nontechnical problems, the store owners can receive help from a large community.
- Easy to use
There are plenty of WooCommers guides that can be found around the internet with prompts, Supports, Q&As. So, not only software experts but also beginners of WooCommerce can use it with the help of those guides.
- Integration with WordPress
WordPress software powers more than 1/3rd of the entire Internet. WordPress is popular and it has a huge community supporting it. WooCommerce benefits from all those three reasons because of WooCommerce’s origin as a plugin of WordPress.
- WordPress is fast
WooCommerce is combined with performance-optimized WooCommerce hosting. That performance-optimized WooCommerce hosting is specifically engineered to maximize performance. So, WooCommerce provides fast and responsive eCommerce for all of their online stores.
- WordPress grows with its businesses
In the beginning, a business can be small. But over time, as the business progresses, it can grow into a larger business. It’s better to think about the future of the store when choosing an eCommerce application for it.
WooCommerce supports its online stores ranging from the tiny to the immense. It can scale from a couple of items to a huge number, and from a bunch of customers to many customers.
Cons of WooCommerce
- Need to pay for extensions
The installation of WordPress, WooCommerce plugins, and most of its widgets are free, but the installation of some extensions may require a punctual payment or the hiring of plans with monthly fees. Online store owners don’t need to pay for launching their websites. The development of the business with the time, shop owners may need to expand the site. Therefore they need extensions and for them, the owners have to spend money.
- Plugins and plug-in can hamper the old excellent performance
Mostly this happened for the less experienced users. Installing too many plugins and extensions takes up a lot of memory. Then the downloading speed and overall performance may decrease.
- Technical maintenance
This disadvantage comes directly from the benefit of maximum control. That freedom comes with maximum responsibilities. The online store owner is responsible for maintaining the website successfully
- Can’t use without WordPress
WooCommerce is reliant on WordPress. If an online store user doesn’t use WordPress, he/she won’t be able to use WooCommerce.
- No customer service
Most of the online resources traditionally have customer service to help. WooCommerce doesn’t have traditional customer service. Even so, there are plenty of online resources to help set up the WooCommerce and troubleshoot any issues.
Conclusion
Although building online stores with WooCommerce has some cons, you can understand these cons are common for most plugins. Also, it’s clear that pros outweigh the cons by a big margin. That’s why WooCommerce powers most of the online stores on the internet. However, as your business grows, you will have to buy extensions. We will cover these extensions in a new article in the near future.
