Get started with the Commerce plan

The Commerce plan gives you everything needed to create a profitable online store. In this guide, you will learn how to set up and customize your WooCommerce-powered store.

After purchasing the Commerce plan, work through a checklist to begin building your store. To access this checklist, follow these steps:

1. Go to your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to WooCommerce → Home on the left side.
3. Click each checklist item to complete the task, or
4. Click the ellipses (⋮) and select “Hide setup list” to hide the checklist.

Take control of your store’s appearance with WordPress’s customization features. To personalize your store, follow these steps:

Themes provide ready-to-use design layouts for your website without requiring coding knowledge.

1. Click the “Start customizing” button in the checklist, or
2. Navigate to Appearance → Themes in your dashboard.
3. Browse themes in the Store category for designs optimized for WooCommerce.

After choosing a theme, update the sample content with your own text and images. To begin editing:

1. Navigate to Appearance → Editor to access the Site Editor.
2. Replace sample content with your own text and images.
3. Click the + block inserter to add new blocks to your pages.

For online stores, use WooCommerce blocks to display your products attractively. Take time to explore the WordPress editor before adding products.

To add your first product to your WooCommerce-powered store, follow these steps:

1. Go to your site’s dashboard.
2. Click Products in the left sidebar.
3. Review the sample products to see how they’re set up.
4. Click “Add New” to create your own product from scratch.
5. For bulk imports, click Import to upload a CSV file. See the Product CSV Importer guide for details.

WooCommerce supports these standard product types:

• Simple products: Standard items with a single price and description.
• Variable products: Items with options like size and color, each with its own price, stock, and SKU.
• Virtual products: Services or items that don’t require shipping.
• Downloadable products: Digital files like PDFs, audio, or video.
• Affiliate/external products: Links to products sold on external sites.

Your Commerce plan includes these additional product options:

• Product bundles: Group existing products together. Learn more in the Product Bundles documentation.
• Products with custom options: Add personalization options. See the Product Add-ons documentation.
• Products with quantity rules: Add minimum or maximum purchase requirements. Check the Min/Max Quantities documentation.
• Gift cards: See the Gift Cards guide for setup instructions.

For more details, visit the Adding and Managing Products guide.

WooCommerce Payments enables credit card, debit card, Google Pay, and Apple Pay acceptance. International buyers can also shop in their local currency and use region-specific payment methods.

To set up WooCommerce Payments, follow these steps:

1. Go to your site’s dashboard.
2. Click Payments in the left sidebar.
3. Click Finish setup to complete the required information.

WooCommerce Payments uses a pay-as-you-go model and is available in 18 countries. For more details, see the WooPayments Startup Guide.

WooCommerce offers several options for managing taxes on your store. Choose the method that works best for your business needs.

To enable automated tax calculations using WooCommerce Shipping and Tax, follow these steps:

1. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → General.
2. Enter your complete store address.
3. Check the box next to “Enable tax rates and calculations”
4. Click the “Save changes” button at the bottom of the screen.
5. Click the Tax tab that appears after you save your changes.
6. Select “Enable automated taxes” and click “Save changes“.

Learn more about automated taxes here.

You can manually configure tax rates for different locations. Follow this guide to set tax-inclusive pricing and location-specific tax rates.

For more advanced tax calculations, TaxJar and AvaTax are included with the Commerce plan. Review which one works better for your specific tax requirements, and activate it through Plugins → Installed Plugins.

Before accepting orders, configure your shipping options to define where and how you’ll ship products.

A Shipping Zone is a geographical area where you deliver products. To create shipping zones, follow these steps:

1. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping.
2. Create zones based on your delivery regions.
3. Add shipping methods to each zone.

For detailed instructions, see the Setting up Shipping Zones guide.

WooCommerce includes three default shipping methods:

• Flat rate: Fixed shipping cost.
• Local pickup: Customer collects from your location.
• Free shipping: No shipping cost, can be triggered by coupons or minimum order amounts.

Your Commerce plan includes carrier-specific shipping options. To activate these extensions:

1. Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.
2. Find the shipping extension you want to use (UPS, USPS, Canada Post, Royal Mail, or Australia Post).
3. Click Activate if needed.

Once you’ve set up your products, payments, and shipping, you’re ready to launch. To make your store public, follow these steps:

1. Go to your site’s dashboard.
2. In the Getting Started Checklist, click “Launch your store“.
3. Click the Launch button.

You can adjust your privacy settings at any time if you need to make your store private temporarily.

When customers place orders, they appear in the Orders section of your dashboard. You can also create manual orders for offline sales, send invoices, or assign orders to customer accounts.

Learn more about managing WooCommerce orders.

WooCommerce Analytics provides insights into your store’s performance with reports on products, orders, customers, coupons, stock, and taxes.

Your Commerce plan includes the WooCommerce Google Analytics extension for more detailed tracking of traffic and sales.

The Commerce plan includes several marketing tools to promote your store. To increase sales, try these options:

• Create coupon codes with specific conditions and restrictions.
• Sell e-gift cards to attract new customers and increase loyalty.
• Use Google Listings & Ads to advertise across Google’s network.
• Connect with social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Visit the Marketing section in your dashboard for more promotional tools.

Your Commerce plan includes a wide range of pre-installed extensions. For additional functionality, browse the WooCommerce marketplace for extensions that add features like subscriptions, bookings, memberships, and advanced inventory management.

Explore this curated list of extension collections to enhance your store.