As a small business owner, adapting to your customers’ needs is key to success. The current economic climate is a perfect example — companies have shifted the way they offer services, deliver products, and interact with shoppers practically overnight.

If you sell physical products or food, it’s important to deliver them in a way that’s safe and healthy for you, your employees, and your customers, which may mean modifying your current processes. WooCommerce provides two simple ways to get your products safely into buyers’ hands: USPS package pickup and local pickup.

Shipping products successfully is one of the most important parts of the customer experience. Shoppers expect to pay as little as possible for shipping, receive their order quickly, and find all their products in perfect condition.

While there are a lot of moving pieces, shipping doesn’t have to be complicated. Let’s take a step back and define some common shipping terms: carriers, methods, and fulfillment solutions.

Whether you sell products and services online or have a physical location, you’re likely looking for ways to increase revenue. People are currently staying home and looking for new hobbies or ways to improve themselves. One smart way to make money while you also stay safely at home is by selling online courses.

Online courses are a great solution for any business that can teach a new skill: cooking, exercising, painting, playing an instrument, writing, meal prepping, and more. Since courses don’t require physical product development or shipping, they’re affordable, fast to create, and can generate passive income for years to come. 

But how do you sell online courses and make sure that they’re the right fit for your business?

With COVID-19 causing many food businesses to close their doors, some are quickly adapting to support their employees, generate income, and deliver quality products and services to customers. It may seem overwhelming to suddenly move business models and operations online, but WooCommerce makes it doable for companies of any size.

Let’s take a look at how four small businesses used WooCommerce and WordPress to quickly and successfully shift to respond to the changing market.

With many businesses unable to operate offline, it’s more important than ever to have an online presence. You need a way to update loyal customers, bring in additional revenue (especially if your storefront is closed), and offer new options like virtual services or pickup scheduling. And you don’t have a lot of time — or money — to do it.

WooCommerce is a no-cost, fully-customizable Ecommerce tool for WordPress, the free website-building platform. It was designed to meet the needs of store owners regardless of technical expertise, so anyone can get a store up and running. And if you do run into any questions, there’s extensive documentation available along with a stellar support team.

Let’s take a look at how to create an online store in five steps.

It’s always important to truly understand your customers. What do their day-to-day lives look like? What problems does your product or service solve for them? Why did they choose you over a competitor? 

This is especially true during periods of rapid change or uncertainty in the market and around the world. Your customers’ lives may look very different than they did even a few months ago. Knowing this about your customers will allow your store to adapt to changing needs and enjoy continued success.

Food isn’t just sustenance, it’s an experience. The word “foodie” started trending on Google in 2004 and, less than two decades later, food is everywhere. People love talking about food, watching videos of food, taking pictures of food, and learning about food. It’s no wonder that the US online grocery market is the fastest-growing eCommerce product category.

It’s also crowded. How do you compete in that market and share the food you’re passionate about with the people who want to eat it?

If you’re thinking about starting an online store, you may be considering selling subscriptions. It’s a smart move: the subscription eCommerce market is growing by more than 100% a year, with companies selling everything from wine to crafts to toys. 

The lifetime value of a subscriber is much higher than the average shopper because subscribers generate reliable, recurring revenue. What business doesn’t want to make money every month without having to find new customers?

To be successful, put the right measures in place. Let’s take a look at six key steps for starting a subscription business with WooCommerce.

You have a beautifully crafted store, people are finding your website, and sales are trickling in. What’s next? You could wait and hope that sales keep increasing, or you could be proactive: track your conversion rate and take steps to improve it. 

Pop-ups are one of the most effective ways to do this and, with the Convertiply extension, you can create beautiful, effective designs that engage your customers.

Magento recently announced that they’re discontinuing support for Magento 1 and requiring all sites to take on the difficult task of migrating to Magento 2. If you choose not to go through the challenging migration process, your website will no longer be secure, and if you experience any bugs, support won’t be available to help you fix them.

Whether you’re a long-time Magento customer or a new store owner, you might be considering a move to a platform that’s more user-friendly and affordable — and with the Magento migration looming, now’s the perfect time to consider WooCommerce. 

If you’re a designer, photographer, or developer, Creative Market is a great way to start selling digital products online. You have a ready-to-go marketplace with little barrier to entry. But as you grow your store and expand your product lines, you’ll want to consider a more customizable eCommerce option that doesn’t take a significant share of your sales revenue.

While Creative Market does provide benefits like a built-in audience and brand recognition, WooCommerce offers endless flexibility and functionality without taking a percentage of your hard-earned money.

Read on to learn why WooCommerce is the best Creative Market alternative, how to sell digital products with WooCommerce, and what a few store owners have done to succeed online.

People are spending more time on their phones than ever before. We use them for almost everything — banking, investing, checking the weather, monitoring workouts, listening to music, navigating, and, of course, shopping. 

Nearly 55% of website traffic comes from mobile devices, and 60% of online shoppers use their phone to find a product first. If your store doesn’t provide a seamless user experience on mobile, you risk losing a big chunk of your potential customers.

But how can you optimize your online store to increase mobile conversions?

Every time someone makes a purchase online, there are a wealth of psychological factors that come into play. So understanding how the human brain works, and more specifically, how people decide to buy, can contribute to the success of your online store.

Utilizing buyer psychology is about more than just making sales. It helps you provide a better user experience, connect on a personal level with your buyers, and offer the best solution for your customers. 

Consider how you can use the following psychology principles to improve your store experience.

Are you considering moving your store from Shopify to WooCommerce?

Changing eCommerce platforms might seem like a big hurdle to overcome, but it is easier than you might think to move your products, customers, and orders to WooCommerce. 

In fact, there is a solution that’s virtually hands-off and ensures a worry-free migration process. There’s no need for any technical knowledge; just connect the two platforms and you’re ready to go!

Below, you’ll learn why WooCommerce is a great choice for your online store and how to seamlessly move from Shopify to WooCommerce.

While it’s always important to ship orders quickly and securely, it’s even more critical during the busy holiday season. After all, presents need to arrive early enough to be put under the tree, handed out at holiday parties, or shipped to loved ones.

Last holiday season, almost 16 billion pieces of mail and packages were delivered, which is more than a 4% increase over 2017. And, between UPS and Fedex alone, 8% of those were delayed. 

There are many factors that affect delivery time, some of which are outside of your control. Keep reading to learn how to prepare for holiday shipping, set up shipping rates with WooCommerce, and ensure that your packages arrive on time.

If you’re a service provider, selling online can save you a lot of time, money, and hassle. It can also be more convenient for your clients, who may prefer to book appointments, conduct business, and make payments at the time and location of their choosing. But it can be difficult to figure out the best ways to list your offerings, collect payments from your clients, market to the right audience, and integrate with your existing tools.

WooCommerce provides the solution for all of those concerns with one platform. Even though you may envision online stores selling physical or digital products, there are many companies using WooCommerce to sell services, rent accommodations, and book appointments.

WooCommerce is a great fit for service-based businesses. Continue reading to learn how to sell services with WooCommerce and how to expand the functionality of your store to best reach your clients.