WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that powers millions of active websites and this makes it one of the world’s most popular solutions for e-commerce stores. It is often said that WordPress powers an overwhelming majority of the internet and, in turn, WooCommerce powers a good chunk of the internet’s online stores. Founded and developed in 2011, it has grown exponentially since this time.
It is so popular because WooCommerce offers everything. From inventory management to performance evaluation, it is an all-in-one solution that can be used for any e-commerce purpose. Whether you have a store that sells a physical product, or you are an online services provider, WooCommerce is an ideal solution.
Thinking of Migrating to WooCommerce?
Luckily, migrating your current e-commerce store to WooCommerce is a very simple task that is not as difficult as it may sound. Even if you have lots of existing store and product data that requires advanced migration, it is still nothing to sweat over.
We do, however, encourage you to consult a WooCommerce Designer or WooCommerce Developer if you are sure you want to go ahead. This helps to ensure the best possible results.
Installing WooCommerce
Before you go ahead and look at migrating your existing store’s data to WooCommerce, you need to actually install the plugin to your WordPress site. If you are not already using WordPress for your store’s site, you will need to set this up first and then install WooCommerce.
At this stage since you are not going live instantly, you don’t need to worry too much about securing an advanced hosting package and the right theme—this will all come in time.
Once you have set up WordPress, installed WooCommerce, and you are sure that it is all working, it is time to begin migrating your data from your existing store over to WooCommerce.
If you currently don’t use WordPress to power your site, we recommend consulting WordPress designers in Toronto to get off to the best start possible.
If you are currently using WordPress to operate your store, carry on reading.
Migrating Your Store’s Data to WooCommerce
If you have a large number of products on your store, migrating them to WooCommerce could present a challenge. The more product types, images, custom fields, and variations you have, the more difficult it could be for you.
This isn’t made any easier by the obvious importance of making sure that all the data you do migrate is done cleanly.
Luckily, migrating your store’s data can be as simple as using a plugin that creates a CSV or XML file that you can then use to import your data to WooCommerce. Whether it is a CSV or XML file will depend entirely on which plugin you use to get the job done. Some of these plugins and tools include—
- The native WordPress Export Tool
- WooCommerce Product CSV Importer-Exporter
- Third-party WordPress developer plugins
- Migration tools that require a subscription
Unsurprisingly, it is WooCommerce’s own import and export tool that is, in our opinion, the best for the job. While their older tool was only of any use for WooCommerce-to-WooCommerce migrations, it is now available for different types of migration.
WooCommerce offers an extensive guide on using its tool that we recommend you consult. Again, this is something that a WordPress Toronto agency can handle on your behalf.
Why Use WooCommerce?
There is a reason why WooCommerce is one of the internet’s biggest and best e-commerce solutions—because it is good!
1. It was designed for WordPress
If you are already using WordPress for your online store, there is no reason to not use WooCommerce. It is a purpose-built plugin that is only available for deployment on WordPress-powered sites; it was developed by WordPress developers for WordPress itself.
This alone puts WooCommerce users at a major advantage. By having both a site and store both using WordPress, this enables cohesion between them and makes it more likely that you will increase your conversion rate.
2. It is completely free
WooCommerce is a free and open source piece of software. It is the fact that it is free and open source that makes it so versatile and powerful and this, in turn, has made it immensely popular.
For small businesses that are just starting out and need to make savings wherever possible, the fact that it is free is also ideal. All you need to do is visit WordPress, install the software, and then install WooCommerce to get going.
3. It is a professional and fully customizable solution
While lots of free plugins and solutions turn out to not be so great, this is not true for WooCommerce. It was designed to be a high-quality solution that any business would be happy to turn to, and the fact that companies such as Disney and educational institutions such as Harvard use WooCommerce speaks volumes.
Fully customizable, its design can adapt to any brand or industry.
4. It can be scaled up or down on demand
WooCommerce is used by brands and companies both big and small the world over. APIs can be used by WooCommerce developers to add on extensions, change templates, and expand what is on offer to your customers as and when you need to.
If circumstances change, it can be scaled back down to suit the needs of your current operations.
5. It is community-driven
Since it is so popular and open source, WooCommerce has a large community that surrounds it. This community can be utilized for help, support, and advice. Additionally, bugs and other shortcomings are very quickly fixed and deployed to the wider community.
No other platform can boast the fixing of bugs within 24 hours of discovery.
Migrate to WordPress Today
If you are thinking of moving to WooCommerce, our advice would be to just go for it… especially if you are using WordPress already. We are the providers of leading WordPress web design in Toronto—if you would like to learn more about the process, contact us to find out how we can help.
