WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress site into a full online store — products, a shopping cart, checkout, and payments. It's the most popular way to sell online with WordPress.
Also known as: woo commerce · wordpress store · wordpress ecommerce
In plain English
WooCommerce adds a complete shop to a WordPress site. With it, you can list products, take orders, handle a shopping cart, process payments, and manage shipping and taxes — all inside the WordPress you already know. It's free to start, deeply customizable, and runs a huge share of the online stores on the web.
Why it matters for your business
WooCommerce gives you a real online store while keeping ownership and flexibility (unlike a rented platform). The trade-off is that a store is the most complex thing a website can do — payments, inventory, and checkout all have to keep working perfectly. When a WooCommerce checkout breaks after an update, every hour it's down is direct lost revenue, which is why store sites need closer attention than a simple brochure site.
What to keep an eye on
A store is only as healthy as its slowest, least-updated part. Speed (a slow store loses sales) and rock-solid checkout are the two things worth watching most — both are very fixable with the right care.
Common questions
- Is WooCommerce free?
- The core WooCommerce plugin is free, and it runs a complete store. You'll pay for things around it — payment processing fees, premium extensions, and hosting that can handle a shop — but there's no monthly fee for WooCommerce itself.
- Can WooCommerce handle a busy store?
- Yes, with the right hosting and upkeep. A store works your site harder than a brochure site, so speed and reliable checkout need closer attention — but WooCommerce powers everything from tiny shops to very large ones.
Related terms
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