When managing an online store it can become tempting to focus solely on selling. But while it is important to sell products, you have to tell compelling stories through great content in order to “sell” someone on your product. You’ll need a useful, efficient, and cost effective platform in order to host your online sales and motivate digital engagement.

Of the many programs I’ve researched and worked with, I’ve settled on WooCommerce as our e-commerce platform of choice, and here’s a list of features that helped it win over my heart.

1. It’s Free

There are no ongoing costs of running the program; it’s near impossible to argue with that! Granted you can pay for additional plugins that give you advanced options, but at its core WooCommerce is free.

2. It’s Familiar

WooCommerce is designed to work with WordPress, one of the most popular web and blog development programs, so most won’t have to face the nightmare of switching platforms. This also allows store management and blogging opportunities to be controlled from one admin area, making web management quick and convenient.

3. It’s Compatible

Having the ability to sync with popular accounting and sales services like Quickbooks and Salesforce, on top of its easy integration with WordPress, makes WooCommerce one of the most compatible e-commerce toolkits available.

4. It’s Secure

Due to its tie to WordPress and the popularity of that platform, WooCommerce is updated regularly to fix any bugs and eliminate security vulnerabilities. And with over seven million users and WooCommerce now powering over 25% of all online stores, this active user-base isn’t going away anytime soon.

5. It’s Professional

In addition to offering a variety of professional cosmetic options for your website, WooCommerce allows a very robust collection of native features to help control budgets.

6. It’s Analytical

With a built-in system that can be integrated with other WordPress features and Google Analytics, WooCommerce can provide extensive statistics to help in strategizing for your website’s marketing and sales strategy.

7. It’s Customizable

Your online store won’t have to look like everybody else’s. WooCommerce provides an extensive library of available themes they’ve created as well as allowing users the freedom to create or customize their own. Take a look at http://porterandyork.com/ and http://pickybars.com/ for customized examples. Both utilize WooCommerce, yet have unique themes and layouts.

Below is a snapshot of a couple WooCommerce templates available; all are customizable.

8. It’s Technical

For my web savvy friends out there, here’s a list of various technical features that WooCommerce offers that allow you to think “out of the box” for your customer buying experience.

• Basic shipping and payment options can be changed and expanded
• Powerful product and advanced ordering editing features
• Native/default functionality
  • Detailed order tracking
  • Customer engagement tools
    • Customers can look at past orders and get updates on delivery status
  • Different shipping options
  • Tax settings
  • Coupon codes
• Extension availability to help with future marketing tactics
  • Email marketing
  • Facebook stores
  • Offer content for paying customers only
  • Smart coupons
  • Dynamic pricing— “Buy 2 get 1 free” or “20% off to customers with first purchase”
  • Shopping cart deals
• Advances SEO to help achieve high search rankings (because of WordPress)
• ONE dashboard for both website content and store management

Convinced yet?

Get more information and download WooCommerce if you see it as a perfect fit for your company. If you’re unsure if WooCommerce is right for your e-commerce site, our team is ready to help you make those decisions. We can help you market yourself with the most effective methods, from shopping cart to checkout.