In today’s guide, we will show you how to setup WooCommerce in WordPress. Setting up WooCommerce is easy and in next to no time you will be selling your first product.
WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce platform on WordPress and the plugin itself is completely free. It will allow you to begin selling a range of physical and digital goods in next to no time with no additional overheads. It’s often referred to as the world’s most customisable shopping cart, giving you more power to create something totally unique.
While the WooCommerce plugin is free due to its open source nature, it doesn’t mean the website will be free of cost. You will need to pay for a domain name, website hosting, payment gateway fees, premium extensions and theme as well as support if you need it. While these costs can add up, the overall cost of WooCommerce is significantly cheaper than other platforms and offers a level of ownership very few platforms can offer. In fact, all of those reasons are why you’ve come to learn how to setup WooCommerce in WordPress.
When it comes to shopping carts WooCommerce is one of the most popular choices around the world. According to BuiltWith statistics, WooCommerce accounts for 21% market share of the top 1 million websites. How does that compare to other platforms? Surprisingly well. Shopify comes in second at 18% and Magento is third at 14%. Once we move beyond the top 1 million websites the gap widens with WooCommerce expanding the lead to 28% and Shopify dropping to third position at 11%, as shown in this comparison.
As it currently stands, at the time of writing, WooCommerce has over 5 million active installs around the world. WordPress appears to stop counting active installs at 5 million, so the actual figure is probably much higher as is evident in the above statistics. Aside from a vast number of active installs, it also contains quality code and superb support, which must be commended for a free plugin. It has an overall rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars in the WordPress.org plugin repository.
Enough of the chat and singing its praise. I’m sure you’re here to learn how to setup WooCommerce in WordPress. Read on. It’s surprisingly simple and uncomplicated.
To use WooCommerce you need to install the WooCommerce plugin. Begin by installing WooCommerce in your WordPress website by going to Plugins >> Add New. You can read our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin here. Once you have installed and activated the plugin come back here as it will take you to the onboarding screen
When you activate WooCommerce the first time it will automatically load the onboarding screen. The onboarding screen is designed to walk you through the process and set most of it up for you. You can launch the onboarding screen again at any time by clicking on the help icon in the top right followed by Setup wizard tab, setup wizard button.
You will be greeted with the following screen when the plugin is activated. Begin by clicking get started
You can opt into their tracking if you want to help them improve WooCommerce. This is an opt-in. By default you are opted out of tracking
The next screen will show the progress of WooCommerce installing a new plugin called WooCommercr services. This additional plugin will automate things like taxes to save you a massive headache and hours of work. When it has finished installing it will show an activate and continue button
The next screen will ask you for your store details. Simply enter the details required then click continue
The next screen will ask you which industry your store operates from. If your store industry isn’t in the list select other then continue
The next screen will ask you to select the type of products that will be listed. Select all that apply then click continue. Some of the product types will require the use of a premium WooCommerce extension.
After clicking continue it will open to another page asking you for some more details. It will ask you how many products you plan to sell and if you are currently selling elsewhere. Select the options that apply to you.
After making your selections more options will appear below the select fields. If you select yes, on another platform, it will ask you which one.
It will now ask you if you want to use any of the following services to help sell. Facebook, Mailchimp and Google Shopping. By default, each option is enabled, but you can disable any if you don’t want to use them. Once done click continue.
Remember, it’s asking you for this information to help you set up the store
Next, you’ll get to select a theme to use. It will display a list on already installed themes as well as some other free and premium ones from WooCommerce.
You can click the Continue with my active theme button, upload another theme (premium one from ThemeForest etc) or skip this step at the very bottom. For now click Continue with my active theme
If you selected any premium themes or plugins you will receive a prompt asking you to pay and install them. You can skip this process if you like or proceed to WooCommerce to make your purchase.
Once done you’ll be taken back to your dashboard and WooCommerce will be ready to begin adding products to.
This experience related to the old onboarding process which may still be present on many websites. At the time of writing this is still the default method with the option to use the new onboarding process shown above.
As with the above onboarding experience, once you have activated the WooCommerce plugin for the first time it will take you to the onboarding screen. The onboarding process is designed to smoothly lead you through the required steps to set up your store. In this example, we will click on Continue with the old setup wizard
On the next screen it will ask you for some details about your store. Begin by entering your store address, currency, what types of products you will be selling and if you plan to sell in person too. Once done click Let’s Go
Once again a popup will appear asking you if you wish to allow WooCommerce to monitor usage tracking. This is an opt-in option and you can decline it if you wish. Once you make your decision click continue
The next page helps you setup payments for your WooCommerce store. There will be some localisation options present in this list which may vary from the image below. Select which gateways you want to use, add the email address you intend to use with them and click continue. Ensure you use an active email that you are using. For example, enter your PayPal receiving email address in the field to receive PayPal payments to that email address. You can add additional gateway options such as afterPay, Square or Braintree later.
If you accept offline payments you can select the ones you accept and enter the details (bank deposit etc)
The next page takes you to the shipping section. On this page you have the option to enable ShipStation which will allow you to print shipping labels for couriers from your website. You will also set the unit of measure you use on your store.
Once done click continue
Next you can allow the onboarding system automatically set your tax rates, install Facebook and Mailchimp. Facebook will install the Facebook Pixel which will allow you to run Facebook ads as well as connect your store products to your Facebook page shop. Mailchimp will allow you to run email marketing campaigns.
Once you have selected the options you wish to use click continue
The final screen will ask you if you want to opt-in to marketing and news emails, which is optional. Other options, which will all take you back to the dashboard include, add a product. This will take you to the add new product screen. Import products. This will take you to the mass import option. Visit dashboard. This will take you to the main website dashboard. Review settings. This button will take you to the general settings page of WooCommerce found at WooCommerce>>settings. View and customise. This button will take you to the customiser page where you can customise the theme
That’s how to setup WooCommerce in WordPress. Both methods work but the new version offers more options and a smoother experience. Eventually, the old version will be made obsolete and will not be available to use.
Now that the installation is complete you can begin adding products to get your first order
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