Have you ever dreamed of starting your own online shop? Maybe you have a passion for crafting, a love for fashion, or you have found gold in a niche market.
Whatever the reason, taking that first step of, literally, “opening shop” can be daunting. But fear not, because I have a solution that will make the process of starting an online shop easier than ever before. ?
Let me tell you a little story… A few years ago, a friend of mine wanted to start an online shop to sell her cupcakes. She was eager to share her creations with the world (or at least make it easier for her coworkers to put in an order!).
She spent countless hours researching e-commerce platforms, trying to find one that was affordable, easy to use, and had all the features she needed (because Google overwhelm is a real thing).
I asked if she had looked at Woocommerce and later that day she said that looked like the perfect solution, and it didn’t hurt that she had a web designer friend to give her some pointers.
Woocommerce is a free e-commerce plugin for WordPress, which Showit uses when we have a blog like the one you’re reading right now, that makes it easy to start and manage an online shop.
What’s great about Woocommerce is that it integrates seamlessly with Showit, a website builder that allows you to create beautiful and professional-looking websites without any coding skills.
Using Woocommerce to start your online shop in Showit has a lot of benefits.
I’m not kidding, adding products is quite like adding a new blog post, so it feels “natural”.
You don’t need any technical skills or coding knowledge to get started (hello friendly start wizard). You can set up your shop and customize it to your liking with just a few page templates.
Including the ability to create custom checkout pages, set up different payment options, and adjust shipping rates, among other things — but YOU decide what to add, which I think that’s the true beauty of it.
(Don’t you hate when a software has a million features you never use? Me too.)
It allows you to design your online shop exactly the way you want it with a little code magic here and there, but it’s not needed to work out of the box and start making money.
Thirdly, Woocommerce is cost-effective. It’s completely free to use, which is great news for those just starting out with their shop. You only pay for additional extensions or plugins if you need them, making it an affordable option for small businesses and individuals.
These are just a few of the benefits of using Woocommerce to start your online shop in Showit. Keep reading to learn more about why this e-commerce platform is the perfect solution for your business if you use Showit and are thinking of opening a shop!
One of the greatest selling points of using Woocommerce to start your online shop in my opinion is that it is quite easy to use with Showit. Curious? Check this post with a step-by-step overview.
As I mentioned earlier, you don’t need any technical skills or coding knowledge to get started with Woocommerce. The platform has a user-friendly interface that allows you to set up your shop quickly and easily.
Almost everything will have a wizard to walk you through it.
And this might be my nerdy brain, but their documentation is really incredible! It has almost everything in super detailed steps. Lots of reading required, but there’s a shortcut I will share with you in a bit.
Woocommerce makes it easy to add product descriptions, images, and prices.
You can even set up different product variations (hello ease of shopping for your users!), such as sizes and colors, and manage your inventory.
Showit’s drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to design your website without having to touch a single line of code, and Woocommerce will actually use your design settings, just like the blog, and look quite branded out of the box.
You can simply add the Woocommerce plugin to your Showit blog back end (as long as you have an Advanced Blog subscription!) and start adding products right away.
The integration also allows you to use Showit’s built-in features, such as SEO optimization and responsive design, to enhance your online shop ?
Using Woocommerce to start your online shop in Showit is an excellent choice if you’re looking for an easy-to-use e-commerce platform for a shop that will continue to grow and expand, or if you want to include more complex features like upsells, bump offers, affiliate marketing, etc.
Another great benefit of using Woocommerce to start your online shop in Showit is its flexibility.
The platform offers a wide range of design and functionality options, allowing you to create a unique and personalized online shopping experience for your customers.
One of the ways in which Woocommerce is flexible is through its custom checkout pages. With Woocommerce, you can create custom checkout pages that match your brand’s look and feel (which is key to a better user experience!).
This can help create a seamless shopping experience for your customers, leading to higher conversion rates and sales.
Woocommerce also allows you to set up different payment options for your customers.
You can accept credit card payments, PayPal, Apple Pay, and others. I’m personally an Apple Pay lover… that ease of simply not having to grab my card? Scary, but oh so good.
Woocommerce makes it easy to set up shipping rates for your online shop.
You can create different shipping zones and set different shipping rates for each zone. You can also set up free shipping for certain products or orders over a certain amount.
There are plugins for email marketing, social media integrations, and more. Plus, the flexibility of Woocommerce is kinda evergrowing since we are using the WordPress plugin database ?
So if you’re using something like Convertkit, Mailerllite, Drip…etc, you are covered and can continue to nurture your shoppers. I particularly like to add currency switchers for those that have international shops.
This is one of the things that get people started (and happy) to use Woocommerce to start their shop in Showit is that it is cost-effective. As in, FREE. That cost-effective.
Unlike other e-commerce platforms that charge a monthly fee or take a percentage of your sales, Woocommerce is completely free to use. This is great news for those just starting out and on a tight budget. ?
In addition to being free to simply download and start using, Woocommerce is also open-source software. This means that there are also many third-party developers who create extensions and themes for Woocommerce, allowing you to add more functionality to your online shop.
But a word of advice: Check how their support runs. If you get plugins make sure it’s from an active development team who will continue to push updates!
While some plugins do come at an additional cost, they are still generally more affordable than those offered by other e-commerce platforms.
Plus, you only pay for the features you need, making it a cost-effective option for small businesses like us!
Another way in which Woocommerce can save you money is through its integration with Showit. That way you don’t pay for a separate hosting or shop platform!
Its free and open-source nature, combined with its available plugins makes it an ideal choice for small businesses and individuals. Plus, its integration with Showit is the cherry on top.
Want to save this post?
Just add your name + email and I’ll send it straight to your inbox ?.
Plus, you’ll also receive a weekly moneymaking move, just like this one.
Woocommerce is packed with features that make it easy to manage your online shop and provide an excellent shopping experience for your customers. Let me point out a couple of the ones I appreciate the most:
With Woocommerce, you can view and manage all of your orders in one place. You can see order details, track shipping (with a plugin), and manage returns and refunds. This makes it easy to keep track of your sales and ensure that your customers are satisfied with their purchases.
With Woocommerce, you can track your inventory levels and receive alerts when products are running low. This can help you avoid overselling and ensure that you always have the right products in stock.
With digital products, you can just leave them to be purchasable forever with no stock to check, but it’s definitely a useful little feature for those who need to sell limited quantities of a particular product, whether physical or digital!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, you can accept credit card payments, PayPal, Apple Pay, and more. You can even offer customers the option to pay by check or money order (I don’t know anyone who allows that, but hey, it’s an option). And speaking of financials: Woo has no processing fees added! So it’s only the standard fees from your payment gateway, which is a huge positive in my book!
I’m not a numbers person but I love data that allow you to give a better service to your customer.
With Woocommerce, you can view and manage customer details, such as their contact information and order history. ?
This can help you better understand your customers’ needs and preferences, allowing you to provide a more personalized shopping experience (If you’ve known me for a while or have my Offer Synergy course, you know I am a BIG fan of a well-built customer journey)
Another great benefit of using Woocommerce to start your online shop in Showit is its scalability.
Woocommerce can accommodate businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises (really, this is on of the most popular shop platforms, with over 36% of the market share! Source.).
Whether you’re just starting out or you’re an established business looking to expand your online presence, Woocommerce can grow with you. Future-proofing at it’s finest.
Woocommerce is built to handle large numbers of customers and orders, ensuring that your online shop can handle even the busiest of shopping seasons.
Whether you need more payment options, shipping methods, or product variations, Woocommerce can accommodate your needs.
As your business grows and your needs change, you can easily add new plugins to your online shop to keep up with the demands of your customers (yay for growth!).
I consider Woocommerce a scalable option in terms of cost too. Since it’s free to use, you don’t have to worry about paying a monthly fee that increases as your business grows. Instead, you can invest in the plugins that you need as you need them, keeping your costs manageable and allowing you to scale up at your own pace. ?
I really believe the scalability of Woocommerce is one of its biggest strengths!
On top of all the benefits, I’ve already detailed, one of the key advantages of using Woocommerce to start your online shop in Showit is its SEO-friendliness.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engines like Google.
This is important because the higher your website ranks, the more likely people are to find and visit it.
With Woocommerce, you can optimize your metadata, URLs, and content to ensure that your online shop is easily discoverable by search engines. ?
I’m going to get a bit nerdy here but hear me out. The platform uses clean, optimized code that search engines can easily crawl and index.
This means that your online shop will be more visible to search engines, making it more likely to appear in search results. ?
This can help search engines understand what your online shop is about and rank it higher in search results.
You can add blog posts linking to your products to help them become more visible, but focusing on great optimized product descriptions can help drive more traffic to your shop and improve your search engine rankings over time!
Using Woocommerce to start your online shop in Showit is an excellent choice (if I do say so myself) for anyone looking to add a successful shop.
I offer done-for-you full Showit Shop design services, check those out HERE.
Or if you’re in a DIY stage of your business and want a shortcut, check out my Showit x Woocommerce 101 course! Students love it and have launched some pretty amazing shops! Learn more about the Showit x Woocommerce 101 course HERE.
Start earning serious passive income and enjoy unlimited growth potential. Get ready to take advantage of the automated integration. Showit x Woocommerce 101 will give you the tools and resources you need to launch your shop asap.
filed under:
@penguindesigning
I'm Ingrid, welcome! I'm a branding designer + Showit Design Partner, doggy mamma, and tea drinker.
get to know me »
Ready to turn your website into a powerhouse lead generator even on a saturated market?
My free guide, "5 High Converting Website Tricks", gives you key strategies to create a website that showcases your brand, attracts your ideal clients, and is ready to convert them into paying customers.
Download now for free!
I’m a designer with a magic touch for monetizing websites. I’m also a tea-lover, dog momma, Ravenclaw, INFP and 2w3 (for all you personality-test nerds like me).
I’ve also been called a Showit website expert (been with them since 2013), and a sucker for understanding customer journeys, brand psychology, and consumer and sales psychology. My clients have some pretty cool results after working together, things like doubled shop conversions, booked-out services in weeks, and increased monthly revenue, among other cheer-worthy celebrations.
Get to know me
