WooCommerce

"An Easy to Use Ecommerce website builder"

Opmerkingen: I used Woocommerce to build my ecommerce website. It was easy to do unlike starting from scratch to build the website. Also I didn't have to pay website developers to build the website for me. It could have costed me a whole lot of money had I outsourced it to website developers.

Pluspunten: Woocommerce is an ecommerce plugin built for WordPress. To be able to use Woocommerce one must install WordPress first. Just like the parent software (WordPress), Woocommerce is very commendable. The things I like about Woocommerce include the following: 1. Free to use: Just like WordPress, Woocommerce is free to use, though one may need to purchase some premium plugins to add some features that may not be available in free plugins. Cost was a major factor for me when I was making the choice of a platform to use for my ecommerce website, and Woocommerce was the best fit for me. 2. Support network: Woocommerce have a huge user base. There are online and offline communities where one can easily get solution to problems. 3. Ease Of Us: Woocommerce is very easy to use compared to some other ecommerce website builders I've checked out. One only have to install compatible themes and plugins to get started. It is a drag and drop ecommerce website builder, and need no technical skills to get started. 4. Security: Woocommerce websites are secure. The plugin witnesses regular updates to keep it secured. 5. Dedicated Dashboard: Woocommerce have a dedicated dashboard where one can see the performance of the website, like the number of sales, and the amount of sales. This is beautiful as I get to see how my business is going without much ado.

Minpunten: One of the issues I had with Woocommerce was the learning curve. Though it's easy to use after one is done learning it, but the learning curve wasn't very easy for me. After the initial stage of learning though, it became very easy to use. Also with Woocommerce, I had to be updating the server myself unlike with Shopify. Shopify maintains the server. Shopify handles the technicalities. Another issue was the need to buy an SSL encryption. With Shopify, this wasn't an issue for me, as Shopify takes care of that.

"A Powerhouse eCommerce Platform for WordPress"

Opmerkingen: Started developing eCommerce websites back in 1998 and things have come on a long way. I'm not sure why it took me so long to try Woocommerce although it is a pleasure to use. Simple to set up a store and filled with features that will make your online store have all the bells and whistle. A must for eCommerce in my opinion.

Pluspunten: Simple to install and a doddle to use. Beautifully crafted piece of software that anyone can get there heads around. Excellent documentation, tutorials and how-to guides all over the web. The people behind Woocommerce care.

Minpunten: Woocomerce have loads of plugins that they charge some hefty prices for, although this is probably understandable as the main platform is totally free. I still feel they might be able to do something on their pricing or offer membership packages.

"Good, but with flaws"

Opmerkingen: We use WooCommerce as the default web shop for all websites we make for our customers. As it is simple to set up we do not waste time creating custom products for smaller companies that only need a simple, cheap solution. It is also very easy to use so we have very little to do with those web shops once they are set up. It is a great plugin, and if parts of it weren't hidden behind high-price plugins, it would be perfect.

Pluspunten: WooCommerce is a complete out-of-the-box solution. You install it, and it has basic functionality good enough to run a web shop. I also love the fact most professional themes come with WooCommerce support so it is very easy to create a visually attractive website with just a few clicks.

Minpunten: There are extensions upon extensions of functionality that are paid for. There are some functions that should be a part of WooCommerce itself that are locked behind extension paywalls. Some of them seem like a cash grab - like the ability to import or export products properly, or add product inquiry options. I ended up creating snippets of code that I use to circumvent those overly expensive plugins.

"Too difficult for novices; not enough in-box customizations for the savvy"

Pluspunten: I like that it is widely integrated into Wordpress themes. I like that it's connected to Stripe and PayPal. It's automated emails are nice, as well. Plug-ins are nice (but they are expensive and often are required for things you would expect out of the box). It can be customized to some degree, which was helpful for us...in some other ways, it is a bit rigid and not quite what you would want if you are trying to replicate a retail experience.

Minpunten: I would never recommend this to anyone who wasn't very, very, very tech savvy. It is absolutely not an option for people who don't have a lot of web development experience. It tries to be a system on its own, but we have found you really have to simply take the purchase data out of Woocommerce and put it into your own CRM system. We have decided to stop using it for our purposes of registering students for classes. We may still use it for the sale of items, but probably not.

"WooCommerce - Great system! Not perfect! But is anything really perfect?"

Opmerkingen: I personally believe the 'pros' outweigh the 'cons' when considering WooCommerce as an E-commerce platform. I've built multiple sites using WooCommerce that would have $cost tens of thousands of dollars had a Developer been required to code all of these functions. My advice would always be - find a high quality / low-cost Developer (using one of the online labour aggregator sites e.g. Upwork) who has a wealth of recent WooCommerce experience (particularly with the functionality you are looking to achieve) and accept that not everything will work perfectly (or even be compatible) straight 'out of the box'. At the end of the day, if you priced all of the code that has been contributed to make WooCommerce what it is today - it would probably cost $billions to rebuild. So the next time you're criticising 'free' - remember that nothing is ever free.

Pluspunten: There are too many pro's to mention with WooCommerce, but i love the fact that it is Open Source which ensures thousands of plugins are available to extend the functionality of WooCommerce. And this is Woocommerce's biggest strength - It can quite feasibly allow a micro-size company to operate like an Enterprise (e-biz), including building end-to-end workflow automation across an entire business operation. Remarkably, this business panacea (end-2-end) can conceivably be achieved free of charge, or for only a few hundred dollars (plus A LOT of Developer and Administrator time).

Minpunten: WooCommerce doesn't come without Con's, and it's vitally important to recognise them. The main 'con' for me is the fact that because you have an 'infrastructure' that allows you to 'act' like an Enterprise - the temptation is to do so. This is where cost, resources, licences, etc can start to rack up. WooCommerce DOES NOT provide everything out of the box, but rather through a series of Modules (1st & 3rd party) that come at a cost. If you purchase from WooCommerce (Automattic) you pay a premium for each module (but you get support). If you purchase from 3rd party devs you typically pay a lower cost for the module (but the support is often questionable, as are the 'upgrades', 'compatibility roadmap', etc). So, although WooCommerce is an incredible toolset for building an Enterprise-style e-commerce platform, it is not always plain sailing.