Wondering “what is WooCommerce?” and whether it’s something you should use?
Here’s the quick answer, though we’ll go more in-depth:
WooCommerce helps you build an eCommerce store using WordPress.
WordPress is like your website’s operating system, and WordPress is also by far the most popular way to make a website.
WooCommerce takes that basic WordPress operating system and turns it into a fully-functioning eCommerce store
More than that, WooCommerce is the most popular way to build an eCommerce store for successful sites. It powers 25% – a plurality – of the eCommerce stores in the top 1 million sites worldwide
| Popular eCommerce platforms | Usage |
|---|---|
| WooCommerce | 0.25 |
| Shopify | 0.2 |
| Magento | 0.1 |
| Other Platforms | 0.45 |
Why is WooCommerce so popular?
There are a bunch of reasons why WooCommerce is such a popular way to build an eCommerce store:
- 💸 WooCommerce is free, and the underlying WordPress software is also free.
- 👋 WooCommerce is open source. Anyone can go in and audit, modify, or extend the code.
- 👐 WooCommerce is regular person friendly. You don’t need to be an expert developer to launch a store.
- 🔌 WooCommerce is extensible. Using something called “plugins”, you can add all kinds of new functionality to your store without the need for any technical knowledge.
- 📱 WooCommerce works on all devices. More and more people shop on smartphones, and WooCommerce is ready to serve those people.
- 🎨 WooCommerce looks how you want it to. Using something called “themes”, you can control exactly how your store looks without the need for any technical knowledge.
- 🔒 WooCommerce is secure. Beyond being open source, WooCommerce comes from Automattic, a billion dollar company with the resources to secure your store.
So what is WooCommerce? It’s your way to build a secure, flexible eCommerce store using the most popular tool to make a website (that’s WordPress!).
What can you sell with WooCommerce?
WooCommerce lets you sell pretty much anything. 💰
The most popular use is to sell physical products, like t-shirts, jewelry…anything. These are the types of stores you’re familiar with – think Amazon.
But you can also use WooCommerce to sell digital products, or charge for appointments, reservations, services, etc.
For example, if you had a vacation rental by the beach, you could use WooCommerce to let people reserve your house and pay the booking fee.
Basically, if you want to sell “something” and accept payment for it, WooCommerce can help you do it.
