What is WooCommerce? (Best WooCommerce 101 for Beginners 2023)

Updated: Jun 06, 2023 By: Dessign Team

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What is WooCommerce? WooCommerce is free open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It is designed for small to large-sized online websites using WordPress. Launched on September 27, 2011, the plugin quickly became popular for its simplicity it developed to turn your WordPress website into a fully operations online eCommerce.

WooCommerce free plugin

WooCommerce plugin for WordPress is 100% free to use on your website, with easy to follow setup wizard, anyone can install and setup your online store in just few minutes. WooCommerce is the world’s most popular open-source eCommerce solution with over 28% market share. From small to large online businesses are using WooCommerce to power their stores.

Whether you’re launching a business, taking brick-and-mortar retail online, or developing sites for clients, use WooCommerce for a store that powerfully blends content and commerce.

How with the introduction of Woo Express all in one platform anyone can open online store without any technical knowledge.

What Is WooCommerce? and What Does WooCommerce do?

free WooCommerce Plugin

WooCommerce is simply a plugin which you install on your current WordPress website to add eCommerce functionality to your site. With just few click you can turn any WordPress website into a fully operational site to sell physical or digital good. Currently WooCommerce is own by Automattic which is company behind WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Currently WooCommerce plugin has over 5+ million active installs and it requires WordPress Version: 5.3 or higher and PHP Version: 8.0 or higher. Since the introduction of WordPress page Builder Gutenberg WooCommerce Blocks were introduced to help you get familiar with the simple add-ons to your WordPress site. WooCommerce Blocks are the easiest, most flexible way to display your products on posts and pages!

There are WooCommerce Meetups in locations around the world that you can attend for free and even get involved in running. These events are a great way to learn from others, share your expertise, and connect with like-minded folks. If you have specific questions about WooCommerce you can join the WooCommerce Facebook group page to help you solve any issues you might have it.

What is WooCommerce Video Overview for Beginners

WooCommerce is developed and supported by Automattic, the creators of WordPress.com and Jetpack. WooCommerce plugin also have hundreds of independent contributors, and there’s always room for more. Head to the WooCommerce GitHub Repository to find out how you can pitch in.

WooCommerce provides basic to advanced store eCommerce functions where you can easily install and setup your own online store. You can follow the easy to install wizard step by step instructions to help you see and understand all the basic store setup info.

WooCommerce wizard install

Is it easy to install WooCommerce Plugin? Yes, it's easy as installing any other WordPress plugin. The best thing about WooCommerce is that the simple to follow wizard will guide you through the process to Store setup to payment, recommendations and then activate your store online. We have simple to follow tutorial on how to build online store with WooCommerce and WordPress, best easy to follow for beginners guide. Once you decide that you want to open your store using WooCommerce and WordPress, we have list of the best WooCommerce hosting providers to help you decide which one is the right choice for you.

We mentioned before that WooCommerce plugin powers over 28% of the websites. WooCommerce is so popular because its easy to setup and install and also because of the popularity of WordPress itself as over 35% of all the websites are running on WordPress CMS. WooCommerce also got very popular because of the free WooCommerce plugins or extensions you can download for free that will improve or add more features to your store. Because WordPress is so popular some of the best free WooCommerce themes are available for free or premium WooCommerce themes if you looking for better features and support. Make sure to install some of the best WooCommerce plugins to help you grow your store.

woocommerce chart popularity

Is WooCommerce for Beginners? and How do I start?

Yes, WooCommerce is for beginners and anyone who wants to open online store with simple to use interface and easily sell physical or digital goods. You can open a WooCommerce powered store with one product or hundreds of thousands products. Anyone can setup and install WooCommerce plugin in only 5 easy steps you can have your store ready to sell worldwide.

  1. Choose Hosting
  2. Install WordPress
  3. Activate and Install WooCommerce Plugin
  4. Pick a WooCommerce Compatible Theme
  5. Add Extensions to you store
WooCommerce extension store products

WooCommerce extension store is very popular and know for their extensions, which will help you make your store better and more specific to your needs. There are hundreds of extensions that WooCommerce offers, some are free and some are paid ones.

Payments

Take payments with the provider that’s right for you – choose from 100+ payment gateways for WooCommerce. Stripe, Amazon Pay, Square, Paypal, Payfast, eWay.. See all the Payments extensions available.

Shipping

Make selling physical products easier by offering shipping options, showing live rates from shipping carriers or adding inventory and fulfillment solutions. ShipStation, WooCommerce Shipping, USPS shipping, UPS shipping, FedEx Shipping, Canada Post.. See all the Shipping extensions available..

Marketing

Optimize your store for sales by giving yourself more discount and coupon options, adding in email and social integrations or powering up your reporting. Google Analytics, WooCommerce follow ups, Automate Woo, Review for discount, Sale flash pro.. See all the Marketing extensions available..

Store Management

Manage the nuts-and-bolts of a store, including accounting, tax and point of sale, with these handy extensions. QuickBooks, EU Vat Number, Zapier, LiveChat, TaxJar, Tab Manager.. See all the Store Management extension available..

What can I sell with WooCommerce?

You can sell almost everything with WooCommerce. There is no limit that you can't sell, as long as you want to sell legal stuff WooCommerce has no limit on what you can sell. From physical to digital products. You can sell ebook, downloadable icons, themes, templates, online courses, video, video games. Selling t-shirts is super easy with WooCommerce, you can setup online store within minutes and sell your own T-shirts or add WooCommerce dropshipping and sell affiliate related products.

Is WooCommerce Safe?

Yes, WooCommerce is safe, but it all will depend on your WordPress website being safe as well. Make sure you have install SSL certificate, use a good hosting provider, enable 2 factor authentication (2FA). You can read a full seven steps to make your WooCommerce safe. Here is also a great comment from WooCommerce expert.. Set aside a time each month, every two weeks, or even each week to review your updates, make backups, test them, and deploy to your site. Put an appointment on your calendar if you need to — just make time for the process.

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