Item: WooCommerce
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use WooCommerce on my client's website. They sell products that are available for local delivery only. They do not have a storefront; their website is the only way for customers to find them and order from them. Therefore it solves the most basic problem: it allows them to have a business. They previously used a third-party site to list their products but that site closed, so now they have complete control over their online presence.

Pros and Cons

Easy to add/edit products.
Easy to update stock status.
Integrates nicely with WordPress.

Reports are VERY basic -- it requires additional plugins.
Search is VERY basic -- it requires additional plugins.
Putting products on sale/offering a discount is VERY basic -- it's better if you have special plugins.

Return on Investment

100% ROI; my client couldn't run their business without their website.
Increased efficiency for the team that adds products to the site.
Increased sales since they now have their own site instead of a third-party site so they control everything and can add more product information and supplemental information.

Alternatives Considered

Shopify, BigCommerce and Magento Open Source

We were pretty sure we wanted a WordPress site so that we had more control over the site itself, having been burned by third-party vendor sites before. The fact that WooCommerce integrates so well with WordPress was a big selling point for us. Magento would have been too heavy of a lift for our small dev team and we didn't want to rely on Shopify or BigCommerce (though all of those products could have their merits for other projects or clients).

Key Insights

Do you think WooCommerce delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with WooCommerce's feature set?

Yes

Did WooCommerce live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of WooCommerce go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy WooCommerce again?

Yes

Other Software Used

WordPress, Yoast Wordpress SEO Plugins, GoDaddy

Likelihood to Recommend

WooCommerce is well-suited for businesses that want to get up and running quickly and who do not need/want a lot of customizations to the out-of-the-box software. If you do want customizations, there are loads of plugins to choose from so probably whatever you want to do is possible, but be prepared for you (or a developer) to spend some time trying them out and configuring them. And even with special plugins, you might still need a developer to further customize them and/or adjust the styles so that the plugin functionality matches your site. I think it's probably quite powerful for larger sites with lots of products and lots of special features but I don't have as much experience with that so I can't say for sure (my client has 100-200 active products on their site at any given time).

WooCommerce is great for small-to-medium sized businesses who want to get up and running quickly and want more control over their software.

Overall Satisfaction with WooCommerce