Woocommerce

WooCommerce provides entrepreneurs with a sleek and completely customisable E-commerce shop for their websites, allowing them to earn money by selling both digital and physical products. WooCommerce aims to be the top Wordpress toolkit provider, allowing everyone from beginners and to professionals to integrate commerce into websites. 

How WooCommerce was born

WooCommerce all started when three Wordpress fans, Mark, Magnus and Adii, began combining their talents and ideas back in 2008 to create Wordpress themes. The themes grew in popularity quickly. The guys released their 100th theme in August 2011 and the following month WooCommerce was launched. In June 2013, WooCommerce reached one million downloads and it has continued to grow exponentially ever since - now more than 30% of online stores are powered by WooCommerce. 

WooCommerce's famous fans

There are some big names using WooCommerce right now. Former British Olympian Glen Smith quoted WooCommerce's flexibility and open-source base as the reason why he chose WooCommerce to launch his popular project, Your Fitness App. And did you know that New Zealand Rugby Union's All Blacks shop is powered by WooCommerce? In fact, it only took 4 weeks to get the shop up and running due to the ease with which WooCommenrce can be integrated into a website. Other happy customers you might have heard of include Yoast,Pro4mance and EM Golf UK. 

So what's so good about WooCommerce (and are there any drawbacks)?

Firstly, it's free! When you're building your business you're often on a tight budget so this is a huge benefit. It's easy to use and your shop will look really professional right from the beginning. WooCommerce comes with loads of analytic tools which you can use to calculate your sales and the success of each product so that you can continue to grow your business. The main drawback to using WooCommerce is that you'll need some Wordpress know-how and you'll have to keep up with the frequent updates. 

Should you choose WooCommerce to power your online shop?

The numbers don't lie, with WooCommerce powering almost a third of all online shops on the internet, you'll be in good company if you choose WooCommerce. It's affordable as you can choose exactly which modules you need, and you won't need to worry about security thanks to regular audits. And because it's open source, you really can customise your shop to get it just how you want it. There are no limits to the products you can sell or how many orders you take - music to the ears of a motivated entrepreneur!