Selling Online With WordPress Is Only Going To Get Better And Better…

It is clear that internet users have truly gone mobile and that a large proportion of people are now comfortable with buying products and services online on a regular basis. This combination of these two things has created an explosion in e-commerce in recent years, which is set only to continue.

Now, internet users are increasingly beginning to investigate goods and services on a mobile device while on the move and then making purchases. When this takes too much time or effort, consumers then frequently follow up with a purchase at home or in the office- either on a mobile device or computer. The introduction of Apple pay, WeChat wallet and similar systems means that actually getting your credit card out will soon become a thing of the past.

If you’re a serious business owner, then keeping an eye on how online payments and software can boost your sales and cut costs is a must. If you’re not ahead of the game, then you’re falling behind.

E-Commerce For Small Businesses

Now is the perfect time for smaller businesses to start taking advantage of the climate by maximising on the potential of e-commerce.

If you already have a WordPress website for your business, then it is very easy to adapt your existing site to take payments for you. One system has now risen above all others to convert your WordPress site into a selling machine.

It’s called WooCommerce, and here’s why it’s such a great thing for your business…

Why WooCommerce?

WooCommerce has been around for a few years now and has grown to become the default option for integrating payments into WordPress.

The biggest benefit for you as a WordPress site owner, is that you and your staff will be working in exactly the same way as before using the WordPress interface, with the added benefit that you’ll also be able to sell products or services without having to completely rebuild your website. 

What Are The Costs?

WooCommerce is a free plug-in so there is no software fee to start selling on your WordPress site. WooCommerce does charge for plug-ins with advanced features, but the good news is that you can bolt them on as you go, so  it’s really good for learning how to develop your online sales step-by-step- no paying for features that you don’t need. As you develop your online selling you can adapt WooCommerce to give you more options to improve your customer experience once your business has decided how best to develop your offerings.

How Can I  Use E-Commerce For My Business?

E-commerce has now gone beyond the buying of physical products and sending them to customers. Businesses now are harnessing the power of the online payment to take bookings and payments via the web to cut costs and save customers time. We’re all familiar with phone orders for fast food. This idea is now moving over to e-commerce for all kinds of businesses. “Click and collect” is now a common term for a process where you order and pay via website or app, and then you simply take in your buyers code to a point of sale for immediate collection. Starbucks is currently pushing this service aggressively with its new app to cut queuing time in its coffee shops. Leading UK supermarket Tesco gives large discounts to customers who use click and collect. Sales go up. Customer waiting times go down. This is good for business.

The Future Of WooCommerce

So why is the future so bright for WooCommerce? Well, WooCommerce has recently been taken over by Automattic who are the creators of WordPress. What does this mean? Well, the company that got WordPress adopted by over 20% of websites has just taken WooCommerce under its wing and will be developing it to it’s full potential. We can expect WooCommerce to be developed and improved a lot in the coming years.

If you are considering making a start  in the e-commerce world then check out WooCommerce for yourself, especially if you are already a WordPress site owner. If you are unsure how you could make use of online payments for your business, then get in touch. We’ve set up plenty of e-commerce solutions here and we’re not stopping anytime soon. Leave us your questions and we’ll reply to them via the blog. Happy selling!

If you want an overview of why WordPress is such a solid choice for your business, check our short but comprehensive guide “How Long does It take To Learn WordPress”.