21 Must have WooCommerce plugins

WooCommerce plugin what it is?

Today we are going to learn about the WooCommerce plugin. Those who are planning on opening the internet store definitely need to learn about this plugin. Recently WooCommerce became one of the most popular WordPress plugins for eCommerce, besides it powers over 28% of all online stores. That makes it the most popular WordPress eCommerce platform on the web.

How does the WooCommerce plugin work?

If you plan to open an online store, you need a stable platform. This platform must be capable of handling all stages of the retail transaction. Unlike other eCommerce plugins, WooCommerce does not require monthly payments, provides a storefront with full functionality. Users have full control over the functionality and look of their site. WooCommerce and similar plugins unlike Shopify are free, customizable, and flexible. They eliminate the fees and third-party control over major aspects of an online store. Furthermore like other plugins, it is free and compatible with all WordPress websites. It integrates with the existing theme and runs smoothly with other already installed plugins.

How to set up WooCommerce plugin

Firstly you need to have a working WordPress website. Next, you need to go to a plugin directory, type WooCommerce in search, install it, and activate. Once installed and activated, the tools to manage WooCommerce will appear at the WordPress site dashboards. From the WooCommerce dashboard, you can access various analytics and reports that show data on websites’ traffic and performance. You can also manage the store’s appearance and list the products.

How to add products in WooCommerce plugin

Adding items in WooCommerce is pretty simple. From the dashboard, click ‘Products’ then ‘Add Product’. It will open a standard WordPress editor that also includes WooCommerce tools like adding images and product information such as color, price, size, etc.

Managing Payments With WooCommerce plugin

WooCommerce provides solutions for a wide range of payment and shipping functions. WooCommerce extensions allow users to customize these options for world currencies, collecting taxes, and calculating shipping rates, and users can choose from more than 120 free and paid payment gateway applications such as PayPal, Stripe, or Square to install on the checkout page. Also, you can calculate shipping costs to destinations around the world or specific locations only. Extensions can add functions such as tracking orders and creating PDF invoices, packing slips, and shipping labels.

WooCommerce plugin extensions

To use WooCommerce to its fullest you can download extensions. Search the WordPress plugin directory of free WooCommerce extensions, or purchase and install extensions created by third-party developers from around the world. When no longer needed, extensions can be deleted or replaced to meet changing needs.

1. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the most powerful conversion optimization software in the market. It helps you convert abandoning website visitors into subscribers and customers.

You can use it on your eCommerce website to reduce cart abandonment, increase sales conversion, grow your email list, show targeted website messages, onsite retargeting, and more.

Visit OptinMonster

2. YITH WooCommerce Wishlist

YITH WooCommerce’s wishlist plugin allows your customers to save products to their wishlist. They can use the wishlist to make the purchase later or share their wishlist with friends and family. This is a perfect addon for your online store during busy holiday seasons when people are making their shopping lists and purchasing gifts.

Visit YITH WooCommerce Wishlist

3. WooCommerce Multilingual

Non-English WordPress websites surpassed the English WordPress websites in 2014. Since then more WooCommerce stores are created in languages other than English. WooCommerce Multilingual adds the compatibility layer with the popular WPML WordPress multilingual plugin. This allows you to translate your product and other WooCommerce pages into multiple languages. Your customers can choose to browse your website in their preferred language.

Visit Multilingual

4. WooCommerce Products Slider

WooCommerce Products Slider allows you to easily create beautiful product sliders and carousels and add them anywhere on your WooCommerce store.

Visit Product Slider

5. WooCommerce Customizer

WooCommerce Customizer provides an easy user-interface to use built-in WooCommerce filters. These filters allow you to customize things like button text, labels, fields, and much more. Normally, you would have to write PHP code to use these filters. With WooCommerce customizer, you can easily use those filters from a simple settings page (no coding necessary).

Visit Customizer

6. WooCommerce EU VAT Compliance

As the name suggests, this simple plugin makes your WooCommerce shop compliant with the new EU VAT. It will automatically detect your customer’s location and will display prices with the correct VAT from the first page.

Visit VAT Compliance

7. Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce

This plugin allows users to choose a delivery date for products during the checkout. WooCommerce store owners can see the desired delivery date on their orders page in the admin area.

Visit Order Delivery Date

8. YITH WooCommerce Quick View

WooCommerce Quick View allows your customers to peek into product details by simply taking their mouse over a button. This enables customers to quickly get the product information without leaving the product listings or shop page.

Users will be able to see a larger product image, product description, and an add to cart button in a lightbox popup.

Visit YITH WooCommerce Quick View

9. WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips

This nifty plugin allows you to send PDF invoices and packing slips to customers via email. Users can also download their invoices and slips from their accounts area. As a site admin, you can also bulk generate invoices, download them, and email them to users from an admin area.

Visit PDF invoices

10. YITH WooCommerce Compare

As the name suggests, this plugin allows your customers to compare two or more WooCommerce products side by side. You can choose which fields users will see in the comparison table and reorder them as needed.

Visit YITH WooCommerce Compare

11. WooCommerce Menu Bar Cart

Normally, your WooCommerce theme would prominently display a cart button at the top. However, if your theme doesn’t show a cart button, or you don’t like its placement, then WooCommerce Menu Cart will fix this for you. It allows you to add the cart button into your WordPress navigation menu. It works with any WordPress theme and will display a cart icon, items, and price in your navigation menu.

Visit WooCommerce Menu Bar Cart

12. YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search

Speed is crucial for the success of any website, particularly for online stores. A single second delay in page load can significantly increase cart abandonment and lower user engagement. YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search offers a powerful search feature to instantly display products as users start typing. It uses Ajax to fetch the results which means your users can search without leaving the page they are currently viewing.

Visit YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search

13. MailChimp for WooCommerce

MailChimp is one of the top email marketing services in the world. It is their official WooCommerce extensions that integrate email marketing into your eCommerce website.

Visit MailChimp

14. WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor

Do you want to add custom fields to the WooCommerce checkout page? The WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor plugin allows you to easily add, customize, and rearrange fields on the checkout page of your online store. This allows you to customize the whole checkout experience for your customers and use the data to grow your business.

Visit Checkout Field Editor

15. Minimum Purchase for WooCommerce

Minimum Purchase for WooCommerce allows you to set up minimum purchase rules for your products. You can add rules for a single product or create rules for a product group. The plugin also allows you to apply rules on minimum purchase amount or quantity, set different rules based on user role, and set up custom messages to display when rules are not matched.

Visit Minimum Purchase

16. WooCommerce Gift Cards

Gift cards for WooCommerce allow you to add gift cards to your online store. Your customers will be able to purchase gift cards of different amounts and give them to their friends and family who then apply for the gift card when shopping at your store. You can set up gift cards of different pricing and sell them as virtual products. When a customer applies for the gift card on a purchase, the equivalent amount is deducted from their bill.

Visit WooCommerce Gift Cards

17. WooCommerce Currency Switcher

As the name suggests, this plugin allows your customers to easily switch currencies and get real-time conversion rates in their local currency. You can add the currency switcher by using the shortcode or a sidebar widget.

Visit WooCommerce Currency Switcher

18. WooCommerce Colors

WooCommerce Colors adds a WooCommerce section to the theme customizer where you can change the color of buttons and other WooCommerce elements. It is simple and highly useful if you want to customize WooCommerce elements without adding any custom CSS.

Visit WooCommerce Colors

19. WooCommerce Products Filter

WooCommerce Products Filter allows your site customers to filter products by categories, attributes, product tags, product custom taxonomies, and price. You can add the filter anywhere using the shortcode or the sidebar widget.

Visit WooCommerce Products Filter

20. WooCommerce Shortcodes

WooCommerce comes with a bunch of shortcodes that you can use throughout your website to add products, buttons, and more. The WooCommerce Shortcodes plugin adds a drop-down in your WordPress visual editor, allowing you to easily select and insert shortcodes in content areas like post, page, or products.

Visit WooCommerce Shortcodes

21. Booster for WooCommerce

Booster for WooCommerce allows you to add several useful features to your WooCommerce website that allows you to run your online store more efficiently. It uses a modular approach similar to Jetpack and acts as a plugin suite with tons of features.

Visit Booster for WooCommerce

Payment gateways in WooCommerce

Since WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, designed to be installed into an existing WordPress site – but plugins can also have their own plugins, and that’s how WooCommerce can offer multiple payment gateways into a single online store. To add a payment gateway to your WooCommerce store, browse the available plugins in the official WordPress directory, or from the WooCommerce home site. Amazon and Stripe are among the most popular and widely used of these. The WooCommerce site also offers many other gateways, including some for foreign currencies and cyber-currencies, if you choose to accept payments in that form.

To make your WordPress website and installed plugins work safely it is advised to install an SSL certificate on your WordPress site and to add an explicit notice that your site complies with the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation designed to protect the personal data of EU citizens everywhere in the world.

Using WooCommerce isn’t for everyone. Popular eCommerce hosting platforms like Shopify and Magento can offer users a wide range of e-store services with the convenience of third-party management – for a price. But for online business owners who want flexibility, scalability, and complete control over their digital storefront, WooCommerce offers all the tools for creating a fully functioning online enterprise – completely for free.