As you know, we have been talking about the benefits of choosing WooCommerce for the development of eCommerce websites in some of our previous posts. Today, I am going to show you in steps, how you can develop your online store by using WooCommerce on your existing or new WordPress website.
Yes, you can set up your basic online store without the help of any eCommerce developer.
Step #1 Install WooCommerce
In order to install WooCommerce, you need to log into your WordPress installation, click on the Plugins item which shows on the left side of your dashboard, and then click on the Add New option.
Type “WooCommerce” in the search bar and the WooCommerce plugin should show up as the first result that has 1+ million active installs. Click the Install Now button. This will automatically download and install the plugin files. The process should take less than a minute.
Step #2 Page Setup
once you activate and install the WooCommerce plugin, it will show you a welcome message with the option to continue with the setup (the button that says Let’s Go!, click this button in order to proceed.
This screen of setup will ask if you want WooCommerce to automatically create your important pages for eg. the main shop, shopping cart, checkout, and a default customer account page. So, just click Continue because you definitely want these pages.
Step #3 Store Locale
In this step, you will be required to set up your store location, currency format, and units of measure. This is important for every eCommerce website because your online shop must specify the currency and location of your store for eg. Singapore & Singapore Dollars. Also, you must define the units of measure for eg. Lb, KG, etc.
Step #4 Shipping & Tax
In this step, you will be required to check/uncheck the options for shipping and taxes. If you are selling physical goods, then you definitely end up checking the shipping option however if you sell digital goods, you can skip this option. Similarly, if your products are taxable, you may like to check the option of tax.
Step #5 Payments
Here, you will be required to enter your PayPal email ID. WooCommerce provides a PayPal option by default. Later you may install some plugins that facilitate other payment gateways too.
Correction: Now WooCommerce provides a Stripe payment option too.
This screen also shows you the options of cash on delivery and checks. These settings depend upon the payment policies of your eCommerce business.
That’s about it. You saw how simple it is to set up an online store on any WordPress website using WooCommerce.