Thinking about eCommerce? 5 Reasons to consider WordPress and WooCommerce

As a business owner, getting up and online can be a bit of a minefield. Where do you start? What do you need? How do you update your products? How will customers find your store and how will you process payments?

There are many eCommerce platforms out there, but here at Ascendancy, we are big fans of WordPress and WooCommerce. In fact, we like it so much, we thought we’d write a blog about it!

WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system. It allows us to build beautiful, responsive websites that are easy to manage and update. WordPress is now used on approximately 30% of all websites out there on the web today.

WooCommerce is a plugin that works within WordPress and allows users to set-up and manage an online store directly from within WordPress itself. It is the most popular eCommerce solution in the world, powering 42% of all online stores to date (and that number is likely to keep rising).

So now you know what WooCommerce is, why should you use it for your eCommerce business?

Reason 1 – Simplicity

WordPress and WooCommerce are simple to use. This doesn’t mean they’re feeble or underpowered – it just means they’re designed with business owners, not tech geeks in mind. Adding products, fulfilling orders and updating your store is all done in an easy, obvious manner following an intuitive graphical user interface. If you don’t want to go to night school for a PHD in eCommerce, but just want to sell online, WooCommerce is a good place to start.

Reason 2 – Security

You don’t become the biggest CMS and eCommerce platform in the world if your sites are constantly being hacked. The teams behind WordPress and WooCommerce have an excellent reputation for security and they are constantly making sure their platforms are up-to-date. Our team run regular software updates on our clients’ websites to keep them as safe as possible.

Reason 3 – You can grow… and grow… and grow

We mentioned WooCommerce was simple, but that doesn’t stop it from being extremely powerful. As your business grows online, so too can your WooCommerce setup, with APIs and extensions that allow you to do much more than simply sell. If, for example, you wanted to start shipping products to Australia, WooCommerce will allow you to link your site to a preferred shipping company and pull in costs directly to the site. These extensions allow businesses to keep expanding without having to start again at a later date.

Reason 4 – Data

Obviously, the aim of any online store is to generate sales and brand awareness. WooCommerce has built in sales reporting tools that allow you to see how your site is performing. Data such as total sales, sale dates, average totals and individual customer statistics mean you can see where you’re performing well and where you need to improve. Very handy! It can also be integrated with Google Analytics ecommerce tracking.

Reason 5 – Cost

Did we mention WooCommerce is actually FREE to use? Yep. No lie. You can download WooCommerce for free right now! Oh, and WordPress is FREE too! #Bargain!

So, in conclusion, if you’re thinking of setting up an eCommerce store, you’d not go too far wrong using WordPress and WooCommerce to do so. If you’re looking for an expert agency to design and build a site for you, then we are here to help. Get in touch online or via the good old telephone and let’s have a chat about your project.