eCommerce websites using WooCommerce
WordPress websites using WooCommerce
WooCommerce connects a WordPress website to the world of eCommerce online shopping. This gives you options to sell anything from products, services to events and online courses. Furthermore, you have options to sell digital products and subscription based models.
One of the key points with WooCommerce is that you have hundreds of free or premium extensions at your fingertips. When using WordPress it is vital to have flexibility, extensions give you a whole array of solutions. For instance, you may want to set a minimum and maximum quantity required to checkout or set a minimum and maximum cost (of cart items) required to checkout.
There are endless options and extensions to choose from, here’s a link to have a look at the official WooCommerce extensions here
Is it easy to create an eCommerce website?
Creating a eCommerce website with WooCommerce can be surprisingly simple. I’ll go through a quick summary. If you need any help or advice feel free to email us at info@webfitdesign.co.uk.
Domain & hosting provider
If you haven’t already got a domain name or a hosting provider you can buy them together. When looking for a hosting company you need to do some research on what the fastest hosting providers are, what the uptime is like and additional options included. Take a look at this article from Tech Radar.
After you’ve decided what domain and hosting provider you are using, you’ll need to install WordPress. This can be done via FTP but more often then not there’ll be an option to download it directly from your hosting provider.
Themes to use for your WooCommerce website
Searching for a theme can be a lengthy process especially if you’re a beginner in website development or if you want to minimise the workload.
My suggestion would be to research a number of websites in your niche, work out what kind of design you like and choose the theme that suits you. Furthermore, make sure to choose a theme built around WooCommerce to make it easier for you.
It’s easy to jump into getting any theme without second thought, so don’t make that mistake. My suggestion is to use a website called ThemeForest.
Installing WooCommerce
Before setting up your eCommerce website you will need to install WooCommerce first. Click on plugins, add new and search for WooCommerce and click install.
Adding your first product step by step
1. Add new product, title and desctiption
Firstly, add a new product by clicking products and add new. This is where you start customising your product by adding a title and description as shown in the screenshot.
2. Selecting a product type
- Simple product – A simple product is the default choice in WooCommerce. It’s there to create a stand-alone physical product without variations such as different colours or sizes for example.
- Grouped product – A grouped product allows the store owner, to add additional products to another product. For instance, a pack of 5 jumpers.
- External/Affiliate product – External/Affiliate products are perfect for dropshipping businesses. For example, this could be a product that links to another site and you receive a commission.
- Variable product – The variable product type gives you options to add multiple colours and sizes. For instance, you could be selling t-shirts in red, white and yellow with the sizes small, medium and large.
- Virtual – The virtual type is an example of a digital product, without the need to deliver it physically.
- Downloadable – The perfect example of this is an eBook or an online course you can directly download.
3. Product data including pricing and stock
General tab
To add the cost to your product, go over to the general tab. You’ll see regular price and the sale price fields. Furthermore, you can add if your product is taxable just below.
Inventory tab
Do your products require stock management? This is where you can add the amount of sitck you have for a specific product. You can also give your product an SKU number too.
Shipping tab
On the shipping tab you can enter the price of delivery, enter the dimensions and the weight of your product.
There are more tab options to choose from but this is perfect for beginners as I’ve chosen to highlight the key points in order to get your products online as soon as possible.
4. Set up payment gateways
You will need to set up a payment gateway such as Stripe or Paypal. To do this, head over to WooCommerce > settings > payments. You’ll also need to login to your payment gateway account to access your publishable and secret keys.
5. Publish your WooCommerce product
Once all of the correct details have been entered you can publish your product to the world wide web. If you need any help with your eCommerce website feel free to contact us
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