With each passing day, the number of people entering e-commerce is increasing both in Turkey and across the world. New online sellers face many options when it comes to choosing a platform.

Here, there is Shopify’s subscription model as well as open-source structures like Magento and WooCommerce. Among these, should you choose the simplest possible solution or the method that is scalable in the future?

More than 2.3 million e-commerce sites worldwide are powered by WooCommerce. The main reason for this is that it offers suitable options for users who are just starting out in e-commerce. For long-term plans, however, it might create a disadvantage in the future. So, is WooCommerce enough for you too? Keep reading to find out.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It is designed to make it easy for small and medium-sized online sellers to sell their products and services on their websites.

With WooCommerce, you can set up a virtual store, manage it, process payments, and track shipping processes. It is a popular choice for creating online stores because of its user-friendliness and easy integration with WordPress, a widely used content management system (CMS).

Now that you know what WooCommerce is, let's take a look at its origins. In 2011, two developers, Mike Jolley and James Koster, released WooCommerce after working on a derivative of the e-commerce plugin Jigoshop.

In 2015, WooCommerce and its sister plugin WooThemes were acquired by Automattic, the parent company of WordPress. When WordPress and WooCommerce joined forces, the growth and spread of WooCommerce computer accelerated even further. Today, Automattic continues to be the active developer for WooCommerce, competing with its rivals in the market by improving the plugin day by day.

What Does WooCommerce Do?

WooCommerce includes and integrates all the needs required for an online business. It offers suitable options for all your needs, from taking orders to shipping the product and managing the return process.

With over 30 million downloads by users so far, WooCommerce powers millions of stores on the internet. The main reason it is preferred so much is that WooCommerce has an easy setup and usability. For this reason, it is one of the first choices for beginners in e-commerce.

WooCommerce allows you to convert a WordPress website into an e-commerce store in minutes. Since it works compatibly with all the components required for e-commerce, it can automatically handle many question marks such as shopping carts and payment methods.

How Much Does a WooCommerce Installation Cost?

WooCommerce does not have any installation costs. Since it is a completely free application within WordPress, you only need a WordPress installation. At its core, WordPress is also a free CMS, but you have to pay a fee for hosting and a custom domain name. These prices vary according to the hosting packages and the type of domain name you want to purchase.

What Are the Advantages of WooCommerce?

There are many advantages to using WooCommerce. We can list these advantages as follows:

Cost

WooCommerce is a completely free plugin and continues to receive regular updates. Therefore, when considered in terms of cost, it offers businesses the opportunity to create an e-commerce site without any additional spending.

WooCommerce Plugin and Theme Variety

Since WooCommerce operates on the WordPress infrastructure, you can use thousands of paid or free plugins operating on WordPress to customize your site. For example, using payment processing plugins like iyzico or payTR, you can start receiving payments seamlessly and securely. In addition, there are thousands of paid or free themes developed for website design. You can easily edit and publish your site by choosing the one that suits you.

Analytical Structure

You must certainly wonder which products your customers are interested in. By using plugins like Google Analytics, Yandex Metrica, etc. with WooCommerce, you can analyze your site in detail and create a growth strategy based on the data you obtain.

Ease of Installation

Setting up WooCommerce does not require any coding knowledge. By simply following specific steps, you can complete the installation easily. I will be explaining WordPress WooCommerce installation in detail later in this article.

WooCommerce Community

WooCommerce is a free and open-source plugin originally made by WooThemes and developed by Automattic. Free and open-source structures are supported by communities. WooCommerce also has a large international community. Therefore, if you experience any issues, there are thousands of people who can support you. You can resolve your problems by communicating with thousands of people through WooCommerce forums or Facebook groups.

What Are the Disadvantages of WooCommerce?

While WooCommerce offers a range of advantages, there are also some disadvantages to using this popular e-commerce platform. These disadvantages include limited customization options, lack of customer support, and lack of scalability. We can list them in detail as follows:

Limited customization options

One of the main disadvantages of WooCommerce is its limited customization options. Although you can find a range of plugins and themes to change the look and feel of your store, there are still limitations on what you can do. If you have competitors with serious innovations, you may experience various shortcomings in this regard.

No customer support

Another disadvantage of WooCommerce is the lack of customer support offered by the company. If you encounter any issues with your store, you will need to get help from the community or hire someone to help you solve the problem.

Lack of scalability

WooCommerce can be a great platform for small and medium-sized businesses, but some issues arise when growth picks up speed in the future. If your business starts to grow rapidly, you may need to look for a more robust e-commerce platform that can handle the increased traffic and sales.

How to Install WooCommerce?

1. Create a WordPress Account.

We mentioned at the beginning of the article that WooCommerce is actually a WordPress plugin. For this reason, you must first create a WordPress account. Then, you can immediately start setting up your store by installing the plugin onto the WordPress account you created.

2. Install WooCommerce.

After opening the WordPress account and installing it on your device, you will see the "Plugins" tab in the menu on the left side of your dashboard. When you click on it, you need to find WooCommerce in the app store, click "Install Now," and then follow the "Activate Now" steps.

3. Create Your Store.

After running the setup wizard, you must first fill in the page where you will enter your store details. Subsequently, WooCommerce will ask you for industry, product, and business information, directing you to the relevant page to choose the theme that will be the appearance of your store. Once you choose the most suitable theme for your business, congratulations, you have completed the setup!

4. Start Selling.

Finally, to make your store fully operational, WooCommerce will display a to-do list for you. When you follow the required steps, your store will be completely ready for your customers to visit and purchase your products.

5. Connect to Navlungo International Shipping Integration

Install the Navlungo international shipping integration for free and ship your products worldwide at the best shipping rates.

How to Make WooCommerce Navlungo Integration?

With WooCommerce, one of our marketplace integration family, you can now easily manage your international shipments through the Navlungo platform and get comparison quotes within seconds. While your orders are automatically uploaded to our system, you can dedicate the time you save to your trade!

You can follow the steps below to integrate your WooCommerce store into the Navlungo dashboard:

• Enter the Navlungo digital logistics platform and click on the "My Integrations" heading.

• To connect the WooCommerce marketplace, click "Add New Marketplace" and then click on WooCommerce, which will appear among the marketplace options, and add the requested Store URL and Store Name to connect your store immediately.

• Accept the store connection confirmation requested by WooCommerce.

• Select billing details or add new ones, then click "Add Marketplace."

Congratulations, your store is connected!

What Are the Main Features of WooCommerce?

Although WordPress stood out mainly for producing blog content when it was first established, it has become increasingly important over time for many entrepreneurs' online stores as e-commerce trends increased.

In the WooCommerce infrastructure, you can integrate other services required for e-commerce, making it easier to manage your commercial processes such as payment, shipping, and member analysis. With numerous plugins, you can design your website as you wish, sell as many of any product as you want, and add payment, shipping, and language options.

We can list the features of WooCommerce, which has more than 400 official plugins and is developed by more than 2,000 programmers, as follows:

• Powered by WordPress: WooCommerce software is built on WordPress, one of the best content management systems in the world.

• Superior protection: It is regularly audited by Sucuri, one of the industry's most recognized companies in security.

• User-friendly dashboard: WooCommerce has a dashboard that features countless options that members can easily use.

• You can sell any product you wish: On WooCommerce, you can sell everything from physical products to digital products, software, plugins, and subscriptions. There are also various plugins for sales models such as dropshipping.

• Unlimited product and variation options: You can add unlimited products to your WooCommerce-based e-commerce site, and if these products have different models, you can also add unlimited variation options. Many infrastructures have limited product variations.

• Language and currency options: Language and currency options are also available based on your location. You can add your desired language, currency, and units of measurement to your website. In addition, you can turn your website into a multi-currency and multi-language supporting site by purchasing extra plugins.

• Countless themes: WooCommerce is designed to work seamlessly with known and loved themes, including WordPress themes and many popular themes on the internet. You can choose any of these countless themes and customize it according to your needs.

• Reliable payment systems: WooCommerce supports many online payment systems. By setting up virtual POS and bank agreements, you can start receiving online payments in seconds.

• Order management: WooCommerce controls the stock levels of your e-commerce site. It retains stock for canceled orders, notifies you of low and out-of-stock items, and removes out-of-stock items from sale. It also handles order management and tracking.

• Different email templates: You can choose pre-made templates for emails sent to customers, for example, after they make a purchase or when their orders are completed.

• Free shipping option: With plugins you can get for your sales on WooCommerce, you can offer free shipping benefits for orders above a specified limit. Multi-carrier options are also among the plugins. At this point, for entrepreneurs heading abroad, you can send cargo all over the world with the Navlungo WooCommerce plugin and manage the process through a single panel.

• Search engine optimization: WooCommerce is one of the best platforms for SEO practices. You can increase your organic sales with SEO.

• Discount coupons: You can create coupons for special offers and campaigns for your customers, such as a fixed discount, a specific discount rate, or free shipping.

• Store performance reporting: You can view your sales, refunds, and coupons over time, and analyze the best-selling products and categories in your store.

• Tax options: It automatically calculates taxes based on your country and the product category you sell.

What is a WooCommerce Theme?

A WooCommerce theme is a general name given to WordPress themes that have been prepared specifically for e-commerce. WooCommerce themes are products used by those who want to make sales.

You can find many themes on external websites, and there are also many themes you can review directly on WooCommerce. The best part of WooCommerce themes is that they can be easily customized. Therefore, you can select and customize the theme that is close to your business goals and imagination.

How to Choose a WooCommerce Theme?

It is possible to come across hundreds of WooCommerce themes on the WordPress dashboard or on external websites. So, how do you choose a WooCommerce theme? You should pay attention to the following when choosing a theme:

• Defining Priority

Before starting to choose the right WooCommerce theme, the purpose of the website must be clarified. Here, adopting a style that is appropriate for your industry will provide convenience for your users. For example, themes where images dominate are more suitable for a clothing store.

• Responsive

While having a responsive design used to be just an option, it has now become a necessity. The theme you select must be usable on different devices and screen sizes, such as desktop, mobile, and tablets. It is difficult to predict which platform your users will choose to interact with you, so you must target them all.

To check if the theme is responsive, you can also use a Responsive Design Checker.

• Compatibility with plugins

A plugin is a piece of software that can integrate with your site. By adding new functions or extending existing ones, it allows you to build almost any type of website, from e-commerce to portfolios and directory sites. If you are planning a long-term game, be sure to pay attention to its compatibility with plugins when choosing a theme.

• Browser compatibility

When you develop a website, you want as many people as possible to visit it. Visitors use various browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge, and Safari. Check if the theme is compatible with these browsers. If not specified, try conducting a manual test to get the best results. You can use PowerMapper to check different types of browser compatibility.

• SEO Friendly

The key to increasing traffic to your website is SEO. This section utilizes the sum of coding techniques. If you know how to read code, you can look at the source code to see if it is optimized for SEO. You can select SEO-friendly WordPress themes to better optimize in the future.

• Site Loading Time

If a page takes more than three seconds to load, 53% of mobile site users will leave the page. The figures show that we must always pay attention to the load speed of the site. We must keep this in mind when choosing a theme. You might consider evaluating the theme's load time to keep users engaged and continuously on the page. You should lean towards those optimized to speed up your site.

• Regular Updates

WordPress is constantly updated, and it is important that your chosen theme is updated from time to time as well. Without a continuously updated theme, you might miss out on many new features that could provide a better user experience.

What Are the Differences Between WooCommerce and Shopify?

While Shopify sets the pricing, WooCommerce is more flexible. Shopify prices range from $29 to $299 per month. As you upgrade, you unlock more advanced features, such as professional reports. WooCommerce is free, but it comes with additional costs, including hosting, a domain name, and security.

Shopify's set pricing plans make it easy to track your spending. On the other hand, WooCommerce is open-source software that makes setup free. However, you must pay for:

• Hosting ($35 – $50/month)

• Security ($0 – $200/year)

• Domain Name ($10 – £20/year)

• Extension fees ($0 – $100/month)

It is worth noting that all the above fees are included in your Shopify plan.

Who Should Use Shopify? Who Should Use WooCommerce? Those who want stylish templates that are easy to customize Those who want to create a passion project that require a lot of customization Everyone who needs a website, it is easy to set up a site with limited technical know-how Those who want to create a large-scale online store selling in multiple regions Those who want 24/7 customer support Those who are technically competent and want more control over the site design and hosting

Is WooCommerce Free?

Although the WooCommerce plugin is free, the domain name and hosting required for setting up your WordPress-based website are subject to a fee. This fee is shaped according to the details of the services you will use.