Everything You Need to Know About the Leading WordPress eCommerce Tool

There’s no denying that if you wish to monetize your web site or construct an eCommerce retailer with WordPress, WooCommerce is the way in which to go.

The highly effective, versatile plugin at the moment powers over 6.5 million active online stores, making it the worldwide chief on the planet of eCommerce software program platforms with a complete market share of 36.68%.

To place that into perspective, the second largest eCommerce platform, Squarespace On-line Shops, enjoys just below a 15% share of the identical market.

So what’s it about this platform that makes it so standard?

As you’ll learn on this complete WooCommerce information, the reply is mostly a mixture of issues:

1. It runs on WordPress, which itself powers a significant portion of all the websites on the Internet.

2. It’s very simple to arrange and use, which means you’ll be able to arrange a whole on-line retailer (see our Woocommerce Tutorial) with virtually no technical know-how required.

3. It presents a powerful checklist of options that may be prolonged by way of a wide range of prime WooCommerce add-ons and integrations, a lot of which we’ll share with you under. First, nevertheless, let’s discuss what precisely WooCommerce does, and how one can put it to work to construct your on-line retail enterprise.

What’s WooCommerce?

On the most elementary stage, WooCommerce is a plugin that transforms your commonplace WordPress web site right into a dynamic on-line retailer.

But to go away the outline at that will be to do a disservice to what a wealthy and intensive instrument WooCommerce actually is. Through its personal core options and lots of the third-party extensions that we’ll share with you later, this complete platform provides you all the things it’s worthwhile to run your on-line enterprise, dealing with all the things from gross sales, transport, and taxes to superior advertising and marketing campaigns, all with out rarely having to go away the WordPress surroundings.

WooCommerce Core Options:

Out of the field, WooCommerce presents the entire following:

• Fundamental reporting and analytics
• Customizable eCommerce themes
• Add merchandise to promote bodily, digital, or service-based gadgets
• Subscriptions
• Cost gateways
• Deserted cart instruments
• Handle orders
• Handle transport and taxes
• Handle prospects
• Advertising instruments.

The good factor is that when you discover any of WooCommerce’s in-built instruments don’t supply fairly the extent of performance you want, you’ll be able to all the time add one of many platform’s personal 800+ extensions or one of many hundreds of third-party add-ons on the market.

WooCommerce Analytics and Reporting

By default, WooCommerce presents a typical set of reporting and analytics instruments that present that information on issues corresponding to:

• Your greatest and worst-selling merchandise
• What number of prospects you’ve acquired
• Your stock ranges.

All of that is comparatively simple to entry and make sense of, which means it might be a superb possibility when you’re simply beginning off and solely have just a few orders. Nonetheless, you probably have numerous information and want extra high-level reporting options, the next three extensions are a greater possibility. 

1. Metorik

There are just a few key the explanation why we charge Metorik because the primary reporting and analytics instrument for WooCommerce.

First, the platform was developed by an ex-Automattic engineer who helped to construct WooCommerce within the first place which signifies that, of all of the third-party extensions on the market, few perceive WooCommerce and its customers higher than these at Metorik.

Second, it makes use of a horny, clear interface with intuitive navigation and a visible reporting type which makes it a lot simpler to grasp your information than the default WooCommerce reporting options.

Thirdly, it offers an in depth array of experiences on all the things from income generated and whole orders to how a lot tax you’re paying, to what extent refunds are hurting your backside line, and extra.

Study extra about this highly effective analytics instrument in our comprehensive Metorik review.

Pricing:

Plans begin from as little as simply $20 for as much as 100 orders per thirty days.

Try Metorik

2. Superior WooCommerce Reporting

When you’re pleased with the extent of information offered by WooCommerce however discover the lackluster structure doesn’t lend itself nicely to gaining fast, correct insights into your retailer efficiency, or in case your success is such that Metorik’s order-based pricing doesn’t fit your funds, strive Advanced WooCommerce Reporting as a substitute.

This standard plugin takes your core WooCommerce information, presents it in a way more easy-to-understand format, and offers you with each extra information factors and reporting choices.

Superior WooCommerce Reporting Price

Superior WooCommerce Reporting is out there for a one-time price of $45 for the standard Envato license.

Try Advanced WooCommerce Reporting

Don’t like all of those choices? See our information to the top 9 best WooCommerce reporting and analytics tools in your retailer.

WooCommerce Product Add-Ons

It’s arduous to criticize WooCommerce’s product pages. No matter your theme, you’ll have the ability to current prospects with all the knowledge they should make a buying resolution, together with dynamic product pictures, transport particulars, and extra.

Nonetheless, relying on the merchandise you’re providing, chances are you’ll need to go additional and permit prospects to personalize your merchandise, improve their purchases, or create their very own product bundles.

When you’re searching for the right answer to will let you do this, WooCommerce Product Add-Ons is the one for you.

This feature-rich extension provides prospects extra flexibility over their purchases by permitting you so as to add a variety of additional fields to your merchandise.

Elsewhere, it’s also possible to supply upsells, personalized product packages with the intention to promote personalised reward packing containers and even a worth calculator for extra advanced orders.

See our detailed WooCommerce Product Add-Ons guide to be taught extra.

Pricing:

$69 for a single-site license or $119 to be used on limitless websites.

Try WooCommerce Product Add-Ons

Managing Transport and Supply in WooCommerce

If you first set up WooCommerce, you’ll have the ability to supply prospects a number of transport choices with completely different charges and assign these choices to completely different areas.

It is a nice begin, however as with all the things eCommerce associated, you’ll be able to improve your transport course of with quite a few add-ons, together with:

1. WooCommerce Superior Transport

The WooCommerce Advanced Shipping plugin permits you to use desk charge transport to set a vast variety of transport choices that present higher worth in your prospects whereas preserving your personal transport prices down.

You may set these transport strategies primarily based on any mixture of 19 circumstances corresponding to:

• Product measurement and weight
• Consumer location (by nation, state, metropolis, or zip code)
• Consumer function (permitting you to supply transport reductions to registered members and many others.)
• Cart whole
• Order Amount
• Coupon utilization.

After all, there are a variety of different top tools for WooCommerce table rate shipping that you could be additionally need to contemplate.

Pricing:

$23, plus an non-obligatory $6.95 for prolonged help.

Try WooCommerce Advanced Shipping

2. Order Supply Date Professional

If you first arrange your transport strategies, you’ll have the ability to give prospects a timeframe for supply. For a lot of merchandise, that’s ok, however for sure varieties of companies, prospects want extra management over when their purchases are delivered.

When you’re working a meals service enterprise or a florist, for instance, your prospects will need to select the supply date and/or time.

Order Delivery Date Pro permits you to not solely supply that however to additionally set completely different transport charges relying on the time/date with the intention to cost extra for peak-time deliveries or rush transport

See this plugin in motion in our complete guide to Order Delivery Pro.

Alternatively, see our checklist of the top 11 order delivery date plugins if this one isn’t best for you.

Pricing:

Plans begin from $149.

Try Order Delivery Date Pro.

3. YITH WooCommerce Order Monitoring

Ranked primary in our information to this 12 months’s best WooCommerce shipping tracking tools, this convenient plugin makes it simpler for purchasers to observe their buy deliveries all the way in which from order processing to the estimated time of arrival.

YITH WooCommerce Order Tracking helps to extend buyer loyalty and even scale back customer support inquiries about order deliveries by giving these prospects the power to see precisely what’s taking place with their purchases.

Pricing:

$65 per 12 months, although a free model with restricted performance can be out there.

Try YITH WooCommerce Order Tracking

Find out how to Deal with Tax With WooCommerce

There’s no must get the calculator out and work out the tax proportion of each sale nor do it’s worthwhile to endure any additional complications come tax return season as there’s a plethora of excellent WooCommerce tax plugins that you should utilize to do all of the arduous give you the results you want.

1. WooCommerce Tax

WooCommerce has its personal official tax plugin which routinely calculates tax prices on the checkout relying on the consumer’s location.

That is greater than sufficient for many enterprise homeowners because it does an efficient job of simplifying your gross sales taxes. Nonetheless, the plugin does require Jetpack to work, and whereas that instrument has a lot of its own benefits, it’s additionally recognized to trigger efficiency points which can desire to make use of one of many two alternate options under.

Pricing:

Free.

Try WooCommerce Tax

2. TaxJar  

Nearly as good as WooCommerce Tax may be, it’s really powered by one other platform known as TaxJar, but doesn’t supply all of that platform’s options.

Rated extremely in our information to the best WooCommerce tax plugins, TaxJar’s primary spotlight is that it doesn’t simply calculate and apply your gross sales taxes, it at additionally calculates your tax returns too, providing you with the exact determine you owe in every relevant area and permitting you to routinely submit your returns.

TaxJar Price

$19 per thirty days for as much as 200 orders with further plans primarily based on order totals.

Try TaxJar

3. Alvara

Alvara is an official WooCommerce companion and is the model’s advisable premium different to their very own free plugin.

This highly effective platform presents real-time calculations for gross sales tax, customs duties, and import tax at a world, regional, and native stage and might even calculate your tax returns for you.

Pricing:

Alvara presents customized pricing on a volume-based stage. You may speak to their sales team to request a quote.

Try Alvara

WooCommerce Checkout Add-Ons

WooCommerce’s commonplace checkout course of could also be safe, however it’s not precisely environment friendly, and that may have a serious affect in your conversion and deserted cart charges.

That’s why we advocate the next instruments to optimize the method and ship a greater checkout expertise in your prospects.

1. WooCommerce Direct Checkout

As we talked about in our Direct Checkout for WooCommerce review, the spotlight of this plugin is that it permits prospects to skip the procuring cart and go straight from the product web page to checkout in a single click on.

One other characteristic we actually like about WooCommerce Direct Checkout is that it additionally permits you to customise your cart and checkout pages to make issues easier and higher designed with conversions in thoughts.

Pricing:

$49 one-off cost.

Try WooCommerce Direct Checkout

2. PeachPay

The best WooCommerce checkout plugin round, PeachPay is as simple to make use of for you as it’s in your prospects.

The platform presents one-click checkout for returning prospects and an categorical checkout for visitors, serving to them to buy faster and serving to you to spice up these conversions.

Discover out extra in our PeachPay review.

Pricing:

Free.

Try PeachPay

3. MyCryptoCheckout

WooCommerce doesn’t at the moment settle for cryptocurrency as a cost possibility, but when your corporation does, MyCryptoCheckout is the instrument to make use of.

The instrument makes it simple to simply accept over 30 cryptocurrencies and a complete plethora of different digital foreign money tokens.

Uncover extra advantages in our MyCryptoCheckout review.

Pricing:

Payment for as much as 5 gross sales per thirty days. Limitless transactions price $59 per 12 months.

Try MyCryptoCheckout

Different Instruments to Scale back Deserted Carts With WooCommerce

Optimizing the checkout course of is a good begin relating to lowering deserted carts, however when you actually need to make sure you get as many accomplished gross sales as doable, you’ll additionally discover the next instruments invaluable:

1. Retainful

Retainful re-engages prospects within the procuring course of by sending well timed, automated deserted cart emails and single-use next-order coupons to entice them to complete their purchases.

See the way it works in our Retainful overview.

Pricing:

Retainful is free for as much as 300 contacts. Premium plans for extra contacts begin at $19 p/m.

Try Retainful

2. CartBoss

CartBoss’s method to lowering deserted cart charges includes sending SMS messages to prospects, both with a primary reminder of their deliberate purchases, or with quite a few particular presents together with fixed-rate reductions, coupon codes, or free transport.

Pricing:

CartBoss costs per message. The present charge is lower than $0.01 per message in the US.

For different methods to scale back your deserted carts, see our guide to the leading WooCommerce abandoned cart plugins.

TRY CARTBOSS

Find out how to Use WooCommerce Coupons to Increase Gross sales

WooCommerce has its personal built-in coupons characteristic that allows you to supply one-time proportion of fixed-fee reductions, sign-up reductions, and repeat buy reductions.

Nonetheless, it’s pretty restricted by way of performance. To actually use coupons successfully, you should utilize add-ons corresponding to:

1. Superior Coupons

The main WooCommerce coupons plugin, Advanced Coupons permits you to increase gross sales by providing a variety of reductions together with:

• Purchase-One-Get-One (BOGO) offers
• Retailer Credit score
• Transport coupons
• Bulk buying reductions
• Reward playing cards
• Retailer credit score.

You may uncover much more low cost choices in our Advanced Coupons review.

Pricing:

$59 per 12 months.

Try Advanced Coupons

2. Good Coupons

Smart Coupons is an official WordPress product, so you already know that it’s going to work flawlessly inside your on-line retailer.

Prolonged the options of the free plugin, this one affords you extra coupon issuance circumstances, extra restrictions, and a greater technique to monitor how coupons are affecting your income.

Pricing:

$99 per 12 months.

Try Smart Coupons.

Try more top WooCommerce coupon plugins here.

Find out how to Enhance Product Import/Exports With WooCommerce Add-Ons

WooCommerce has a primary product import/export characteristic that permits you to add or obtain your catalog as a .CSV file, however it doesn’t help customized information nor does it will let you switch merchandise from different on-line platforms.

To do this, use the next instruments:

1. Superior Product Importer

With Advanced Product Importer, you’ll be able to take merchandise from greater than 100 standard market web sites together with Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and extra, after which add them to your WooCommerce retailer both as your personal merchandise or as an Amazon Associates affiliate companion.

Pricing:

The plugin is out there for an annual price of $169.

Try Advanced Product Importer

2. Import Export Suite for WooCommerce

Import Export Suite for WooCommerce expands on the fundamental product import/export choices to will let you embody customized fields and metadata in addition to importing or exporting product evaluations, orders, buyer and coupon information, and extra.

Pricing:

The Import Export Suite prices $129 per 12 months.

Try IMPORT EXPORT SUITE FOR WOOCOMMERCE

Enhance Order Administration With WooCommerce

WooCommerce wouldn’t be the world chief in eCommerce software program if it didn’t supply stellar order administration instruments.

Nonetheless, as with all the things, it may possibly all the time be improved. To do that, we advocate the next extensions:

1. WooCommerce After The Order

WooCommerce After The Order is a top-rated plugin that streamlines the order administration course of in order that each your prospects and crew members can keep knowledgeable of order standing, everybody in your crew can keep knowledgeable, observe order standing, counsel upsells, and scale back the time it takes to get merchandise to prospects.

Pricing:

$59 per 12 months.

Try WooCommerce After The Order

2. YITH WooCommerce Customized Order Standing

With YITH WooCommerce Custom Order Status, you could have all of the limitless flexibility and management it’s worthwhile to create any variety of order statuses distinctive to your services or products in addition to handle all the things from buy confirmations to remaining supply.

Pricing:

$79 per 12 months.

Try YITH WooCommerce Custom Order Status

WooCommerce Advertising Integrations

Among the best issues about WooCommerce is that it integrates with a wealth of prime digital advertising and marketing platforms that can assist you develop your on-line enterprise.

Among the many better of the bunch, chances are you’ll need to strive:

1. Mailchimp for WooCommerce

With the official Mailchimp WooCommerce extension, you’ll be able to put the facility of electronic mail advertising and marketing to work on driving gross sales, partaking audiences, and boosting model loyalty.

When you’re a fan of Mailchimp however not their plugin, here are some other top Mailchimp plugins for WordPress.

And when you don’t like Mailchimp? Here’s 8 top email marketing alternatives.

Pricing:

Free.

Try Mailchimp for WooCommerce.

2. Growmatik

When you learn our latest review of this smart omnichannel marketing platform, you’ll know that we love Growmatik as a result of it makes it extremely simple to create conversion-boosting automated advertising and marketing campaigns utilizing a mixture of product pages, electronic mail advertising and marketing, and popups.

Pricing:

From $12.

Try Growmatik

WooCommerce Subscriptions

Earlier than we end, it’s price a reminder that WooCommerce isn’t restricted to one-off gross sales. You can even use it to generate recurring earnings by means of subscriptions.

Together with the in-built Subscriptions module, you may additionally discover the next instruments useful:

1. WooCommerce Subscriptions

WooCommerce Subscriptions enhances the aforementioned in-house module to will let you set any variety of completely different billing schedules, set handbook renewals and computerized rebilling on failed funds, and, most significantly, give your prospects all the facility they should handle their very own plan with out the necessity to contact customer support.

Pricing:

$199 per 12 months.

Try WooCommerce Subscriptions

2. Paid Member Subscriptions

Paid Member Subscriptions is without doubt one of the best WordPress subscription plugins in the marketplace.

Together with managing billing schedules, funds, and buyer controls, among the best causes to make use of that is to create premium Members-Solely sections of your web sites by which prospects can subscribe for reductions, pre-launch entry to merchandise, or no matter perks you resolve to supply.

Pricing:

$69 for a single web site license or $149 to be used on limitless websites.

Try Paid Member Subscriptions

A Last Phrase on the High WooCommerce Add-Ons and Integrations

The 20+ WooCommerce add-ons we’ve detailed above are only a small number of the hundreds out there.

The perfect half is that you just’re not simply restricted to WooCommerce-specific instruments both. The platform presents integrations with a complete host of prime platforms to optimize all the things from Customer Relationship Management to advertising and marketing and running ad campaigns on providers corresponding to Google and Fb, all the way in which to creating customized automations by way of the favored service Zapier.

To actually benefit from the platform, you may additionally need to try our information to the best WooCommerce hosting options and the best eCommerce-optimized WordPress themes in your on-line retailer.