If you’re intending to launch a new online store there is a wide range of eCommerce to choose from. The best and leading options include Magento, Shopify, Bigcommerce, and more. And yet WooCommerce is arguably the platform leading business across the globe in their bids for world (or at least industry) domination.
Considering which eCommerce platform is the best choice for you, however, can get quite confusing. Should you choose a self-hosted solution, like Magento, or a hosted option like Shopify?
Results and statistics from all the choices don’t exactly clarify matters. It’s no wonder so many budding entrepreneurs and startup directors struggle to select the right eCommerce platform for their business model. If you’re considering WooCommerce, it’s a fine choice. Here’s how it beats out the competition…
Why WooCommerce is a great eStore builder
WooCommerce has a lot going for it when compared to other eCommerce platforms on the market. Boasting an SEO-friendly setup, responsive design, and some advanced features, it’s hardly surprising it’s the world’s most popular option. With over 26% [woocommerce-stats] of leading eCommerce sites choosing WooCommerce, it’s a system with built-in features that are tried, tested, and proven to offer a stress-free customer experience.
The flexibility of Woocommerce enables sellers to easily modify and customise everything from the appearance of their storefront to individual product placements. Offering a cost-effective solution that’s compatible with WordPress – the world leader when it comes to CMS platforms – in many respects, choosing WooCommerce is a no-brainer.
WooCommerce offers a lot of built-in, pre-installed, advanced features, including geolocation support, payment gateway, simple tax collection, advanced inventory management, and lots more.
Business owners have become quite confused when comparing the ever-increasing number of eCommerce platforms available. Yet WooCommerce truly stands out as the most flexible option thanks to a highly advanced, well-designed, well-developed platform that can produce quantifiable results.
Enjoy a hassle-free selling experience with WooCommerce
The goal of every online store is maximising sales, and the built-in features that come with WooCommerce give you so much functionality in this regard. A flawless buyer journey is easily crafted thanks to advanced e-store management options, plus a seductive storefront service.
Some of the highlights include:
A pre-installed payment gateway.
A user-friendly dashboard for updating product details.
Excellent geolocation support.
Customisable shipping options for users.
Advanced shipping rate options.
Automation of your taxes.
Enhance UX and manage your online orders
Not every user buying from your store will want to create an account in order to checkout. Giving people the option to checkout as guests is easily done in WooCommerce, and makes your store accessible to everyone.
This isn’t the only way WooCommerce enhances your user experience. With a once-click return feature available that enables users to instantly ask for refunds, you take a lot of the leg work out of ensuring quality service.
Another great feature on offer is the inventory management system. Business owners tend to spend a lot of money on stock management. Yet with WooCommerce you have access to a popular and unique inventory system allowing you to track and update stock levels following purchases and refunds. The system sends you notifications when you’re running low on items or something is out of stock. Meanwhile, out of stock products are automatically hidden from the store to prevent customer disappointment.
There are also great order management options that allow you to track every detail in the purchase journey, from receiving the order to dispatch and delivery. You can easily add notes, manually edit your stock, and mark items as shipped or orders as fulfilled.
You can also use WooCommerce to send email notifications to customers in relation to their recently purchased products. This built-in feature enables eShots to go out with details of shipping and delivery. Your customers are kept permanently in-the-loop with zero effort on your part.
Creating a conversion-centric website
With so many advanced, integrated features and plugins available for WooCommerce, it’s so easy to effectively connect with your audience. The optimisation of your eStore ensures a hassle-free experience for both buyer and seller. Here are a few ways you can make your website more conversion-friendly:
While WooCommerce is only compatible with WordPress, as a CMS platform, WordPress is not only an industry leader it’s also considered to be the best platform when it comes to SEO. As a result, there are a lot of handy tools available to help you improve your on-site SEO without a great deal of extra effort, and get your business ranking higher on those SERPs.
One of the keys to a highly successful eCommerce website is the prominent (but non-invasive) display of related products. Putting other stuff your customers might be interested in front-and-centre encourages them to not only purchase that one item they came online for, but also get a few other things while they’re at it.
In a similar line of thought, you can also easily recommend your best-performing products, as well as show customers items they have recently viewed (to remind them they need to buy them!), and products you currently have on sale. All of these features increase the likelihood of a single purchase turning into multiple purchases and repeat business.
The advanced features on WooCommerce also enable you to create detailed reports on your sales, returns, and coupons. This gives you a simple, effective way of assessing how your store is performing directly from your dashboard.
Tips to create a stunning eStore
When it comes to converting visitors to your store into paying customers, it’s vital that you have the most enticing website possible. Your sales process starts the second people land on your site, and many companies lose valuable customers simply because they have an appealing storefront and a poorly optimised site. By combining the use of WooCommerce and WordPress you can easily avoid these pitfalls and create an attractive, revenue-generating business. Here are a few tips to get you started:
Choose a persuasive design
Having an attractive design that is engaging and encourages your audience to explore more of your site is key. With WordPress we can practically do ant kind of design you require that is fully compatible with WooCommerce. We can design you a look that will be the best performing design for your company and maximise conversions!
Create a customised storefront
By editing the features of your WooCommerce store you can very easily create a completely custom experience. While we design every website as custom and unique, nobody else’s will look quite like yours. WooCommerce allows you to edit everything, from a custom homepage layout to stand-out Buy Now buttons and other quirks that incorporate your branding and make you stand out.
Highlight the value of your products
Giving the customer the information they need to understand how important and valuable your products are will help them to make that all-important purchase decision. With a built-in blog you can publish high quality, high-value content easily and encourage more sales, all while cross-linking and cross-promoting your products (great for SEO and UX!).
Make the most of short-code and product links
While you’re blogging, boost your sales even further by sending people directly to the products you’re discussing using easy product links and short-codes.
Overall, WooCommerce has a great deal to offer as a platform for selling your products. It’s functional, adaptable, has a lot of great automated options, and is specifically designed to enhance both the user journey and the seller experience as much as possible.