I am sure you must be well-acquainted with the terms WordPress and WooCommerce. For those who have no idea, especially the non-techies, WordPress is a platform that is highly recommended for creating blogs, eCommerce sites, portals and so more whereas Woocommerce is just a plugin but an important one that enables developers to add more and more robust capabilities to WordPress.
With WooCommerce, the world is your oyster. You just have to put the hours in and you can create solutions like never before. The following post emphasizes some of the best practices to conduct a successful WooCommerce development project. Before we directly jump into that, let us brush through the basics.
Introducing Woocommerce
I am sure you must have heard about the fact that WordPress is no longer considered just another blogging platform. Right from blogging websites to creating an online store, enterprise sites, portfolio, podcasts, online marketplace, and directory, WordPress can be used anywhere and everywhere. In the present times, eCommerce ventures are pretty much in vogue. Several businesses irrespective of their size and industry verticals are found jumping in the bandwagon to gain the most out of the profit-spinning. In the present times, a plethora of eCommerce businesses are being launched year after year and the numbers are not going to slow down anytime soon. Now if you are developing an eCommerce development project for the first time you might be confused about whether you should consider Magento or WooCommerce or Shopify. Well, each one of these is of a kind but still picking any platform at random can cost you an arm and a leg.
Since in the following post, we will only be talking about Woocommerce, it may quite interest you to know that WooCommerce is used across 6.7 million eCommerce stores due to its wide range of features and functionalities. So what is WooCommerce? Well, as mentioned earlier it is a crucial plugin of WordPress that is highly recommendable for creating as well as managing an online store seamlessly and with high-end flexibility. Also, several features of eCommerce such as inventory, tracking orders, tax management, engaging customers, delivery status update, securing different payments, and shipping integration can be well taken care of. And above it, it is pretty easy to use or get started with. No wonder the plugin has the potential to power almost all kinds of WordPress stores across the globe.
Still not convinced, further below I would like to mention certain benefits of considering Woocommerce for your online store.
Cost-effective
Price may not be the only factor but still, it somehow remains one of the crucial factors to take into account. When any retailer tends to choose an eCommerce platform, of course, he or she will definitely consider the price. After all, eCommerce development is just one of the projects and not the entire thing your business will depend on. Now as soon as you enter the eCommerce realm, you will find a wide pool of apps featuring from free to several thousand of dollars per year. And speaking of WooCommerce, it is pretty free to use.
Now being free to use doesn’t mean that WooCommerce is not competitive enough. Yes, WooCommerce offers tons of capabilities that can be easily taken advantage of without even considering support contracts or proprietary software licenses.
Easy to use
Another crucial factor that makes WooCommerce a cut above is in comparison to other available WooCommerce is way more simple and easy to use. You see we are not tech-savvy geeks or programmers or well-versed in the coding realm, so for us having a solution at hand that is pretty easy to consider and manage is pure bliss. WooCommerce comes in pretty much handy. Right from installing to configuring, managing different procedures can be well taken care of. In addition to all this, the user experience here is pretty well-thought and can make it highly intuitive for the least experienced user. WooCommerce on and all is pretty versatile and can enable you to sell anything and everything.
Continuous evolvement
The next reason for considering WooCommerce could be its constant evolution and innovation. As mentioned earlier, WooCommerce is quite an open source in terms of nature. So the plugin keeps on evolving and changing at regular intervals. Also, it may quite interest you to know that WooCommerce is shaped by thousands of different users and a dedicated bunch of contributors every now and then so there is huge scope for improvement. With every updated version, the platform keeps on getting better.
I can simply go on and on with the benefits offered by WooCommerce but since we don’t have much time, let’s hope that by now you are well-convinced with the concept of choosing WooCommerce for your upcoming eCommerce development project. Moving on, further, I would like to focus on some of the best practices to take into account for conducting WooCommerce development projects.
Best WooCommerce Development Practices to Take into Account
Now I would like to highlight some of the best and top-rated and of course, tried and tested practices that can be considered for developing a high-caliber WooCommerce solution. You can either hire a dedicated developer or make it in-house. You see, knowledge could be never harmful.
1 Using Hooks
One of the best yet much-tried practices in the WooCommerce development realm is to use WooCommerce hooks whenever and wherever possible. WordPress hooks ensure that developers can seamlessly manipulate or override code that is written somewhere else in the platform. This functionality in particular comes in pretty handy and it is not restricted to any specific kind of theme or plugin. Here developing customized output is quite easy and a doable job also without the requirement to hack into the core code. Now, what exactly happens to these hooks? Well, they are further divided into actions and filters where actions assist well in carrying out any type of custom functionality whereas filters all tend to do is modify the existing content.
WooCommerce offers great help by making generous use of custom hooks. These hooks are well taken care of because they can seamlessly modify the output by using different types of themes and plugins. And this is done across multiple unique installations. So in other words, actions and filters can be considered as the core ingredients here. Using this WooCommerce practice makes WooCommerce development way easier than you think.
2 Get well-acquainted with numerous WooCommerce APIs
The next amazing and wonderful approach for developing the best WooCommerce-based solution is to get started with different WooCommerce APIs. If you are a techie then you must be knowing that WooCommerce comprises lots and lots of moving parts which means a wide range of APIs can be used to customize and enhance different elements. In fact, the plugin in particular is fully integrated with WordPress REST API. In other words, The functionality is not limited to one such platform; it can be compatible with other platforms and solutions, coding languages and more. What benefits REST API?
Decoupling content
Syndicating content and data
Synchronizing data
Offering site interaction such as purchases, by using mobile applications
Some of the best WooCommerce APIs comprise Settings API, Shipping Method API, and Payment Gateway API. So whether you accept this or not, WooCommerce is way more dominating the eCommerce world.
3 The Core Development Team
Last but not the least, the best practice to take into account for your upcoming WooCommerce development project is to keep yourself in the loop with the WooCommerce core development team. WooCommerce is one of the best open-source plugins and it has a wide and active community featuring developers of all expertise and experiences, be it whether he is just a newbie or mid-level expertise professional and of course the veterans who are happy to help whenever in need. So in case, if the developer gets stuck in between then you don’t have to worry much because you can receive assistance within no time. Also, if you want to have a pulse on what’s going on and off in the WooCommerce realm then this is it. It’s all about being aware of all the changes made with each and every version. In fact, you can even be a core part of the community.
Conclusion
And this is all for now! I hope all the aforementioned pointers are worth considering especially when you are taking up a Woocommerce development project. In case, if you have any further doubts or queries, it is advisable to consider a reliable WooCommerce development company that can offer you the best possible solutions from their space. So that’s all for now! Time to get started with your eCommerce development project right away. The lucrative field can be your best bet to date.
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Original Source: HERE