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WooCommerce Plugin Review : A Free e-Commerce Solution for WordPress

June 11, 2012 - Last Modified: June 11, 2012 by Brankica Underwood 5,569

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Rated 4.5 stars
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^$Free

WooCommerce Plugin
Reviewed by: Brankica Underwood
Published on: June 11, 2012
Last modified: June 11, 2012

There are more and more small businesses, store fronts and creative people realizing that getting online is going to give them a wider audience and more exposure. However, a lot of them get stuck on the price of setting up an e-commerce site, setting up products and sales funnels.

But what if it was as easy as writing a blog post? I am sure we would have more of those sites, which would be better for everyone – us customers would get lower prices caused by more competition and sellers would get bigger exposure for their products.

Well, it is almost as easy as writing a blog post. And it gets better – it is FREE!

Using WooCommerce free WordPress plugin will let you build a full blown e-commerce sites fast.

Let me go over some of the best characteristics of this plugin and show you how to use some of its features.

How to start with WooCommerce plugin?

You can install the plugin directly through your WordPress dashboard. Once installed, the plugin will ask you to install Pages. If you want everything done as fast and easy as possible, install it, it will all be done automatically.

This will add certain pages to your blog, like Cart, Checkout and Track your order, for example.

When the plugin is installed, you will have two new tabs on the left hand side of your WordPress dashboard.

The plugin has a lot of options which is its strong point and the best way to get yourself familiar with them, is clicking each link and seeing what is offered. That will also help you decide which options you will use, since you probably won’t need them all.

Here are just some of my favorite options this plugin includes, when it comes to “Settings” dashboard and the plugin possibilities:

#1 General

You can choose countries that you are selling the products to.
You can allow people to shop without registering for an account.
You can choose the plugin’s CSS, which makes your pages look even better.

#2 Catalog

Possibility to put the dimensions of the product.
Customizing how the pricing looks.

#3 Pages

Setting variety of (pre-written) pages that will serve the purpose of the sales funnel pages (cart, checkout, payment, thank-you, etc).

#4 Inventory

Let’s you choose if you want to show “low stock” message.

#5 Tax

Extremely useful feature considering that even States in America have different taxes, let alone countries of the world.

#6 Shipping

Again, very useful feature, since you can have very different shipping expenses for shipping your products to different countries and you probably want to make sure you get that money back.

#7 Payment gateways

You have a variety of payment options, and we all know, the more you have the better the chances are for people to purchase your products.

#8 Emails

Be notified of all the orders so you can deal with them fast.

#9 Integration

Easy integration with Google Analytics, all you have to do is add the ID from your GA account. Perfect for tracking traffic on your product pages.
Adding ShareThis is very easy and lets you have sharing buttons on your products.

As I said, these are only some of the features I really like in this plugin. There are many more!

Woo Extensions and Themes

If you installed the plugin, added some products and realized there is a feature you really need but don’t see, there is a solution for that as well.

WooCommerce has a lot of premium themes and extensions that make this free plugin even better. The best part is, if you only need a few features, you will still be paying less than another full e-commerce system.

WooCommerce Extensions

More WooCommerce Extensions

When it comes to extensions, you can add features like shipment tracking, display shipping prices from certain countries and companies (USPS, FedEx, Royal Mail), import products and their variations from a CSV file, implement a wide range of payment processors, allow previewing of video and audio files (if that is what you are selling), serve products through Amazon S3, convert currencies, bulk manage products, sales and more.

WooCommerce Themes

More WooCommerce Themes

Apart from these extensions I just mentioned, there are also themes available that will enhance your e-commerce site and make it look even better. These will turn your blog into a professional looking shopping site with different galleries and sliders to display your products.

What to do after you set it up

After you set up the plugin, it is time to add your products and start selling. When adding your products, make sure to write nice descriptions and use some of the keywords you want those products to be found for. Adding a nice image will enhance the product page. Here is a quick video to show you how easy it is to add a product:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdKVGetDwd4]

Once you have your products set up, all you have to do is promote them and see the money coming in!

Conclusion

As you can see, WooCommerce plugin is a must have for those who want to sell their products but can not invest in expensive e-commerce systems.

{ 15 Responses }

praneet thakur says:

That’s good news ? Great review! I had no idea about this plugin! It’s true that WordPress is very flexible, but I can’t believe that it’s so easy to create a platform like WooCommerce plugin to sell your own products! Thank you ?
Sakthi Ganesh says:

Woocommerce is the solid eCommerce solution ,promising and actively developed . So that i have switch over from wp-ecommerce to this. Thanks Brankica for this detailed review.
ibti says:

Great post Brankica. I 've been experimenting with Woocommerce for the past week. I love it but still don't have it completely figured out. I am trying to find a theme to install. Would you happen to know if I can use any Wordpress e commerce theme with the Woocommerce plugin? I found some that I like but I am afraid to spend money only to find out that I can't use it.
Marc Bell says:

Hi Brankica! I enjoyed your review. I recently started using woocommerce and the woo themes. So far I like everything and it's all running smoothly. Not to mention the Paypal Express Gateway is a handy plugin also. So I agree with you. The woocommerce is a must have for those who do not want to use an expensive ecommerce system. Thanks Again!
Matt Covey says:

I am in the process of setting up a woocommerce page on my site and it is great so far. There are a ton of options and it is fairly simple. We are mainly a dog training company that has started selling dog related products. This plugin is allowing us to customize the e commerce page with our existing website r to avoid the expense of starting a whole new site. You can't beat the low price of the plug-in, FREE.
Marcus George says:

Ebay can help a lot in money gaining. Sometimes you can earn more than your compensation from your regular job. It sure has a lot of advantages. It's not just the in thing these days. It's also the thing that can keep our money flowing.
Sara says:

That's good news :) Great review! I had no idea about this plugin! It's true that WordPress is very flexible, but I can't believe that it's so easy to create a platform like WooCommerce plugin to sell your own products! Thank you :)
- Brankica says:
  
  I agree with you, I know you can do a lot with WP but this just makes it so much better :)
Jack Sander says:

I really love Wordpress platform for its easy customization. Just by installing one of these great plug-ins, we could transform a regular blog in a eCommerce site, without having too much kprogramming knowledge.
Hendarto says:

What a great plugin for WP !! I believe this plugin could help some blogger who willing to sell their product as this plugin provided complete feature to support an online store. It's look so perfect as a free plugin. Thanks for sharing this valuable info !!
Aasma says:

That's an easy way to create your own ecommerce website on wordpress, without having much technical knowledge. No doubt ecommerce is on rise and every business like to utilize this feature to increase their leads.
- Ivin says:
  
  Hi Aasma. I've been using woo themes to build stores, shops, blogs, corporate sites etc .I recommend their stuff without hesitation.
Danijela says:

Wow, Brankica, I am so glad to see your post here again. Even thought I didn't think about using this plugin before, I have to admit that this one is really good idea. If I ever decide to add e-commerce pages on my blog, I will choose this one, that's for sure. There are so many features in a single plugin, plus, it's free. Amazing review, thanks. Have a great week! :)
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  Hey Danijela , I see you are doing some really good Coffee Reviews on your blog, why not give my Author hReview plugin a go? I am sure it will make a difference and make your reviews standout in search results! Good day!
  - Brankica says:
    
    Danijela, I think you would like it, you just have to figure out what you can sell ;) But I am turning my extra brain cells for you... Hesham is right, I can't believe I didn't think of telling you to add this plugin to your blog. It is perfect for the reviews! I can see you adding it tomorrow ;)

WooCommerce Plugin Review : A Free e-Commerce Solution for WordPress

How to start with WooCommerce plugin?