Advantages and disadvantages of WooCommerce

Advantages and disadvantages of WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source, fully customizable eCommerce platform built on WordPress that includes a variety of premium and free plugins to assist entrepreneurs in setting up an online store. It can provide customers with a seamless experience when purchasing through customised stores. 

Nowadays, millions of websites use this popular WordPress plugin. If you are looking for a platform that best suits you for launching an online store, then learning more about WooCommerce’s advantages and disadvantages will help you make a better decision. Read more to learn more in detail. 

Benefits you should know

Here are some of the benefits of the platform that you should be aware of so that you can create an online store that meets your requirements. Check out the following reasons why the platform stands out in the crowd. 

• Excellent adaptability
• High scalability
• Numerous customisation possibilities
• Absolute security
• An engaging community

1. Excellent adaptability

Creating an online store that sells any type of product, regardless of its niche, is one of the plugin’s benefits. It is one of the factors contributing to its appeal to business owners. You can market physical goods like couches or hair products, digital goods like books or comics, affiliate products like those from Amazon, invitations to training sessions or webinars, etc. So the plugin has great flexibility and adaptability to cater to the users’ needs.  

2. High scalability

The scalability of the platform, which enables companies of all shapes and sizes to establish an online store, is another benefit that will attract business owners. As a result, you won’t need to be concerned about your company growing beyond what the plugin can handle. 

It is best suited for small and medium-sized businesses that independently manage their shop and online presence on a tight budget. 

3. Numerous customisation possibilities

The platform gives users limitless customization options to design a store unique to the kinds of goods they sell. Along with paid versions on WooCommerce.com and Codecanyon, the WordPress Plugin Directory offers an almost infinite number of free plugins, which is very impressive. 

• You can choose any of them that comes close to meeting your needs and customise each of its sections, down to the very last detail, even if you cannot find one that is perfect for you.
• It can be set up quickly using the WooCommerce wizard.
• You don’t necessarily need to be tech-savvy to take advantage of the plugins and customization options, as the platform enables users without any experience with CSS or HTML to do so. Otherwise, you will have to approach a company that can help you.

4. Absolute security

Every online platform must protect user information and offer safe payment methods like PayPal and Stripe. WooCommerce is a popular platform that hackers frequently target, so developers are constantly working to keep it up-to-date to prevent cyberattacks. In case an attack is successful, the plugin does not feature backups.

You can keep your customers’ information confidential by adding a backup that stores it encrypted. Besides adding a security plugin, WordPress allows you to scan your website for malware regularly. It is an additional measure to prevent hackers from accessing your site.

5. An engaging community

There are a large number of active websites that use WooCommerce. As a result, the popular platform has a large user base that shares guides and articles on configurations that have worked for them in various forums. The platform will remain relevant in the industry as long as it is used. The variety of forums earlier mentioned where the international WooCommerce community can share includes:

• WordPress support forum
• Facebook group “WooCommerce Help & Share”
• Facebook group ” Advanced WooCommerce”

Drawbacks you should know

Despite the fact that WooCommerce is a fantastic platform with lots of features and flexibility, there are some restrictions to be aware of when using it for your eCommerce site. Sadly, here are some of them that you need to be aware of. It includes the following; check them out. 

• Focused only on WordPress
• No assistance for customers
• Many other expenses

1. Focused only on WordPress

As mentioned, it is built on WordPress. So it cannot be used on sites that WP does not host. As a result, even though they want to use the platform, established businesses find it challenging because doing so would require them to redesign their current websites. It is one of the disadvantages of the platform. 

2. No assistance for customers

It does not offer customer support itself, which is another downside. You’ll need help from the community if you run into any problems with your store, or you’ll need to hire someone. There are many interactive communities out there to solve the problem of not having customer support. They are capable of solving problems by providing the users with guides and articles with information on solving the issues. 

3. Many other expenses

Yes, it is free to download and install, but in order for your site to perform at its best, you’ll need to purchase some extensions. This is its biggest flaw because it gives the impression that there are additional expenses for business owners. 

Using a payment gateway other than PayPal will cost you. Several of the extensions will also require yearly subscription fees. The price will change based on how sophisticated you want your store to be. 

As you can see, WooCommerce is very versatile. Check out how the features it has to offer will benefit your company rather than relying solely on its popularity. 

Like any other e-commerce platform, it has some drawbacks. However, there are some benefits that might outweigh the drawbacks. So carefully consider the features, advantages, and disadvantages before making your choice. 

Interesting Links:

WooCommerce vs. Shopify: At a Glance

More information about WooCommerce

Pictures: Canva

The author: Sascha Thattil works at Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.