With more and more options there’s more and more confusion between which e-commerce solution to choose. We talked about Shopify last time, which we determined was a good solution for online stores that want to remain small and don’t needmuch customization – so we need to take a look at another option, which allows for pretty much every customization.
From the list of modern e-commerce web development platforms that we will look at this time at WooCommerce. WooCommerce is considered one of the best choices for next-generationonline businesses, both B2B and B2C. Let’s see if this reputation holds up.
What Is WooCommerce Made of?
WooCommerce was created with the WordPress website population in mind. It is a free WordPress plugin enabling any WordPress website to become transactional website popularly called – eCommerce. There are thousands of plugins available to download, which extend WooCommerce functionality to satisfy the highest demands. WooCommerce is owned by Automattic, who are the WordPress experts, so you know that you’re getting something long withstanding.
Operating the platform after set up should be pretty simple, but if you do need assistance to set up, or after, then you can hire aWooCommerce Developer to ease your tasks.
What’s so special about WooCommerce?
WooCommerce was founded in 2011 and has grown to be a very popular platform. It’s the biggest e-commerce platform to date – over 42% of online stores worldwide, with a huge presence, especially in B2B.
WooCommerce is open source, so potentially thousands of developers worldwide working on improvements, securities, and new functionalities.
The main reason why it is so popular is the ability to customize it. The WooCommerce plugin is freely available to download, modify and use, as well as building on the core functionality.
Saying that, if you don’t know how to code, you can still effectively use WooCommerce. This usually makes it pretty effortless for beginners.
Selling physical and digital products, managing shipping and inventory, taking secure payment, is readily possible, and much more. However, nothing is perfect… WooCommerce has many great things to offer, but there are some not-so-great things and we will expose them too.
WooCommerce Advantages:
WooCommerce has become an incredibly popular eCommerce platformbetween website owners and developers, especially being free and accessible to all and fully customizable.
Starting a new web shop is easy with thousands of templates to choose from. Many are available with graphics ready to use by those, who don’t have their own art.
WordPress which itself was created initially for Blog posting and it’s the best platform for SEO work. WooCommerce, which sits on top of WordPress is only step away from being listed on page one of the Google Search! The platform is very easy to use and has pretty much all futures you can think of as Wholesaler, Retailer, or Trader. With over 60k plug-ins web development couldn’t be simpler, so many businesses choose WooCommerce to boost their online presence.
WooCommerce is by far one of the most impressive plugins that WordPress has to offer, supporting global eCommerce businesses to get in control of their digital futures. WooCommerce is one of the main reasons for WordPress’s market popularity.
One of many benefits from using WooCommerce is no transition fees, which is extremely important when you sell low margin products.
One of the biggest WooCommerce proswhich matter for established wholesale or trade businesses is ability to serve both B2B and B2C customers using one dedicated website.
There are many benefits of doing so and we will describe it in our next blog post.
WooCommerce Disadvantages:
The fact that WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin is something you need to be aware of. It does require WordPress installation, but it’s very simple since it comes with an installation wizard, and you just need to follow the simple steps.
Althoughopen-source and free to install the platform, certain features are to be paid for by the users. You have a choice of using free basic features or highly advanced paid versions. Alternatively, you can get a developer to create features for you, which does incur an initially higher cost, but might be worthwhile it in the long run.
Hundreds if not thousandsof pre-made premium themes are available to use with the WooCommerce, offering readymade e-commerce features,free or paid for; however, they are veryaffordable.
Since many costs are avoided with WooCommerce, this is often not such an issue.
Biggest disadvantage is updates, which needs to be run carefully to not affect shop functionality, but update process itself is so easy that 5 year old could run it.
Final Thoughts
It is possible, and can be beneficial, for small-scale businesses and low-budget start-ups to start their journey with WooCommerce themselves but wholesale, or medium to larger-scale online stores probably should get a professional developing company to make sure everything they want is implemented smoothly without wasting time.
So, after looking at the pros and cons, in a simple statement:
WooCommerce is easy to use and start a B2C (Retail) or B2B (Wholesale) business, it is cost-effective, though strongly advisable to hire a professional (like us!) to manage it for you if you want to make sure everything goes well and is scalable, especially if you already have your business up and running. We definitely recommend WooCommerce for the majority of eCommerce websites, especially B2B/Wholesale or 2 in 1 websites (B2B and B2C in one) for dynamic pricing changes depending on the customer type.
Stay tuned for our upcoming blogs about WooCommerce Features, BigCommerce, Magento, and check out our Shopify review to see if any of those will fit your needs better.
In the meantime, if you would like to chat with us to see what is best for you, feel free to email us at info@itoolsolution.co.uk or call on 0844 33 03 724 and we will be happy to let you know what we think about your personal needs.
