WooCommerce online store – the main components

In short: A WooCommerce online store is built on product management, payments, delivery and customer accounts, supplemented by coupons, analytics and security settings. Some features are available in the WooCommerce core plugin, while others, such as specific payment gateways or bookings, are added with extensions.

WooCommerce is one of the most widely used e-commerce platforms, letting you build and manage online stores using WordPress. It is used by both small and large companies, because a store can start with the core features and be extended when needed.

In this article we look at the main components of WooCommerce and how they have been used in stores developed by CREATING.LV.

WooCommerce lets you add, edit and categorise products. Product types:

• Simple products: a product with one price, stock and images.
• Variable products: products with variations, such as size, colour or another option.
• Virtual and downloadable products: a setting for services, software, e-books or other digital products.
• Grouped products: several related products in one offer.
• External (affiliate) products: a product whose buy button leads to another site.

Properties such as weight, dimensions and attributes, by which buyers can filter the catalogue, can also be added to products. If the standard product types are not enough, you can build your own logic — for example, in the Toptrail store, a product configurator is integrated into the WooCommerce product logic, and the final price is visible during configuration.

The WooCommerce core plugin includes bank transfer, cheque payment and cash on delivery (COD). Other payment methods are added with plugins:

• PayPal and Stripe (with separate WooCommerce plugins);
• Baltic payment gateways with card and online banking payments;
• other third-party payment integrations.

The gateways available in Latvia are compared in the article The most popular WooCommerce payment integrations in Latvia. For example, in the pet shop online store, buyers can pay by card, via online banking, with leasing or with PayPal.

WooCommerce shipping zones let you set different delivery methods and prices for different countries or regions. The core plugin includes:

• Flat rate: one delivery price or a price per number of items.
• Free shipping: for example, from a certain order amount or with a coupon.
• Local pickup: the buyer collects the item from the shop or warehouse.

Extensions add delivery prices by weight or dimensions, courier and parcel locker integrations — in Latvia, for example, Omniva, DPD or Venipak — and rates from international couriers (UPS, DHL, FedEx). Examples: the pet shop online store with delivery to parcel lockers across Latvia, and a B2B online store in which shipping costs are calculated from the order’s dimensions and weight.

WooCommerce has a built-in coupon system. You can create:

• percentage discounts (for example, 10% off the order total);
• fixed discounts;
• free shipping coupons;
• coupons only for certain products or categories.

Coupon use can be restricted, for example by an expiry date, a minimum order amount, the number of uses or the buyer’s email address.

WooCommerce lets customers create accounts. In their account, buyers save delivery information, follow the order status and see previous orders, while the store owner sees the customer’s order history. Examples: the customer account in the pet shop online store and in the Iemalko.lv store.

An account can also be used for access rules — in the B2B online store, prices are visible only to registered customers approved by an administrator.

WooCommerce has built-in reports on how the store is performing. You can track:

• total sales;
• the number of orders;
• the most popular products;
• coupons used and customers.

In addition, WooCommerce can be connected to external analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, to see where visitors come from and how they move around the store.

WooCommerce functionality is extended with plugins and extensions. The most commonly used:

• Subscriptions: recurring products or services.
• Bookings: booking time slots or services, for example with WooCommerce Bookings.
• Additional payment gateways: local and international payment service providers.
• Integrations with other systems: warehouse, accounting or point-of-sale systems.

Examples: in the Boards You SUP rental store, buyers book and pay for rentals online, with prices depending on the rental duration (site: boardsyou.lv); the Hannu-pro store is integrated with Erply; Iemalko.lv checks the buyer’s identity with eParaksts, eParaksts mobile or Smart-ID before purchase (site: iemalko.lv).

Every additional plugin has to be maintained and updated, so only the necessary ones are chosen during development.

A store’s security depends on regular WordPress, WooCommerce and plugin updates, secure hosting, backups and managing access rights. Customer data during checkout has to be protected by a secure HTTPS connection — the SSL certificate is installed at hosting or server level, and most payment gateways require it. Updates and monitoring can be handed over as maintenance — see Website and online store maintenance.

WooCommerce is made up of core features — products, payments, delivery, coupons, customer accounts and reports — and extensions that adapt the store to a specific business. Which components are needed is determined by the products, the buyers and the sales process.

If you are planning a WooCommerce store, the development scope and packages are on the page WooCommerce online store development, and the online stores CREATING.LV has built are in the portfolio section.

Related: What is WooCommerce and how does it extend WordPress? · Online store development.