WooCommerce: How to Set Up a Multi Vendor / Marketplace Website

Are you looking to build a marketplace where multiple vendors advertise and sell their own products?

Would you like to build the next eBay, or perhaps Etsy, while earning commissions or fees for each vendor or marketplace transaction?

In this article we’ll take a look at the main features, challenges and advantages of building a multivendor platform based on WooCommerce. 

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WooCommerce: Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) Discounts

Since… today, Business Bloomer online courses are affordable for everyone.

It’s unfortunate that digital products (such as our WooCommerce online courses) are priced in USD dollars but there is no adjustment for less privileged countries.

This is a pity because content should be accessible to ALL WooCommerce developers around the world, no matter their income level. I receive dozens of emails per month from amazing people who can’t really afford a USD 397 course because they make that amount of money in 4 months if they’re lucky.

So, let’s change this. Here comes Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) to the rescue.

PPP is a special metric that tells us the real “purchasing power” of a given country. Take a basket of identical goods, pay in your local currency in your own country; purchase the same items in USD in the United States. Compare that difference to the actual exchange rate. Now you really have an idea of how much a country can afford to pay for that basket of goods.

Let’s talk in plain English. Are you from India? You may get up to 75% off our online courses. Are you from South Africa? Maybe a 59% discount! Are you from Argentina? 61% off on average. Are you from Norway? No discount, sorry (it seems you do better than the US). And so on…

In this post, I’ll go through a quick PPP math example to give you some context, and then I’ll tell you how I implemented PPP discounts in this same WooCommerce website.

Want to help me test the PPP discount functionality which is currently in beta? Add a course to cart e.g. CustomizeWoo PRO, select your billing country at checkout, and leave a comment below with the discount you got, if any.

Enjoy!

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WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce: Which Ecommerce Platform is Better?

Do you intend to create an online store? Cannot pick between self-hosted WooCommerce and cloud-powered BigCommerce? Don’t worry, you are not on your own. 

The only way to truly determine which of these two eCommerce solutions is more suitable, is to compare them side by side – we will take a look at their features, price, convenience of use, cost, support, security, customization, and many other factors.

In this article, we’ll help you determine which ecommerce solution more appropriate for your business requirements. Self-hosted or cloud? Subscription or free in theory? Customization or integrations? Huge or small community? There are lots of questions you may have.

So, are you ready for the battle of WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce? Let’s get started.

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WooCommerce: How to Send Newsletters to Your Customers

Sending emails (newsletters, broadcasts or similar) to customers is an integral part of a WooCommerce marketing strategy. Email marketing is an outstanding tool that allows you to connect with your customers, keep them informed about your products, services, or discounts, get them to return to your site, and drive new sales. 

Unlike other popular channels, like social media – emails provide a personal touch and let you reach your target consumers directly in their inboxes. Statistics suggest that while 87% of B2B marketers leverage email as a distribution channel – 79% of B2C marketers use emails to promote their new blog posts and articles. 

And one such critical email marketing solution is email newsletters. They are extremely beneficial to stay in touch and build trustworthy relationships with existing and potential customers. 

So, if you’re looking for solutions to send automated newsletters to your WooCommerce customers – you’re at the right place. But first, let’s learn more about the benefits of actually sending newsletters. 

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WooCommerce: File Upload Plugins For Order Personalization

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a WooCommerce store owner is offering limited product customization abilities. Product personalization is a critical component of online shopping that helps provide a better customer experience and results in a high retention rate.

75% of customers appreciate businesses that offer personalized offerings, and a Deloitte consumer review suggests that 1 in every 5 customers are willing to pay 20% more for a custom-designed and personalized product. 

A great way to do this is by offering an image upload solution for products for your customers to improve customer satisfaction and generate more revenue for your store. 

This article shows the top solutions that make uploading images for products for customers a breeze and enhance their customization abilities. But before we get into them, let’s look at more benefits of offering this capability in your store and how it affects your business bottom line. 

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WooCommerce: How To Enable Stripe Payments

Providing payment options on your WooCommerce store that your customers trust and meet their needs is the key to ensuring a satisfied customer journey and eliminating cart abandonments. 

According to the Baymard Institute’s research, the average cart abandonment rate amongst buyers is 69.8%, and 6 out of 10 times, it’s because of issues related to payments. 

While some shoppers abandon carts because of long checkout processes and the lack of simple payment options, others don’t find the payment site legitimate enough to provide their credit card information. Thus, the payment method plays a huge role in customers’ buying decisions. 

Stripe is a great option. It’s simple-to-use, flexible, and one of the most popular payment solutions for WooCommerce. It makes accepting and processing credit card payments a breeze and leaves your customers with a fast checkout process. 

This article takes you through some of the best free and premium WooCommerce Stripe plugins for your store. But first, let’s learn more about the advantages of using Stripe as a payment option for WooCommerce. 

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WooCommerce: 10 Crucial Issues That Should Be Fixed Right Now

I just spent the last 3 days in Porto with another 2,300 WordPressers at the first in-person WordCamp Europe since Berlin 2019. I had a blast, held a nice (yet long) workshop, spoke to many, but got tired too soon.

Later on, I realized that that tiredness was something more serious – in fact I tested positive against COVID for the first time in my life, and I’m now in self-isolation hoping it won’t last long… Another 7 days without my kid – send help!

Anyhow, what really struck me at WCEU 2022, and based on various chats and some data that I’ll share below, is that the WooCommerce ecosystem is in trouble.

A nicer way to put that? WooCommerce is not moving forward as fast as it should, and unless some key issues are addressed right now, in a few years time we all may pay the consequences.

Please note, this is not a rant. It’s a proper analysis, full of actionable information.

@ WooCommerce team - if you're reading this - my plan is to give you constructive feedback and tell you what the community (really) thinks, needs and wants, so that you can get a better picture of the current situation. I know you've already started working on this, so this is just a recap/reminder and a way to get the whole community realigned. 

In this post, I will share my worries, my fears, the current WooCommerce issues, some data I collected at WCEU 2022 and then a list of actionable solutions that may be implemented in order to clear the backlog and get back on track – asap. Enjoy!

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WooCommerce: 10 Most Popular Free Plugins

WooCommerce is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms that allows you to launch your online business, build high-functionality online stores for your clients, or take your brick-and-mortar store online.  

Powering over 28.19% of all online stores, WooCommerce’s versatility and open-source nature allow businesses to build their dream store, add unlimited products and consumers, take orders, and increase sales.

The core WooCommerce plugin holds 68% of the usage distribution – the highest on the internet. However, despite its popularity, the official WooCommerce plugin lacks several features you might need for your eCommerce store. But to make up for that, it offers several plugins that allow you to enhance your store’s functionality and improve customer experience. 

But choosing from over 4228 WooCommerce plugins from WordPress.org can get overwhelming. So, to make your job easier, we’ve hand-picked the best free WooCommerce plugins you can use on your store to take it to the next level. Let’s dive in!

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WooCommerce: How to Enable WooCommerce Payments

Payments on your eCommerce store are the most important touchpoint between your customers and business sales. Hence, an optimum payment solution that’s seamless, quick, and secure plays a critical role in ensuring a quality customer experience.

Over 17% of customers abandon their carts because of concerns with payment security, and 13% abandon them because the price is in a foreign currency. Thus, it’s vital to choose a payment method that accepts global currencies and ensures a secure checkout – while making the checkout process easy for your customers. 

However, from including digital wallets to third-party payment solutions and managing transactions – choosing a suitable payment solution that facilitates this process for your WooCommerce store can get challenging. This is where WooCommerce Payments comes into the picture. 

In early May 2020, WooCommerce released its new version WooCommerce 4.1, with two new features – including WooCommerce Payments, which provides a simplified way to accept and manage payments in your store. 

This article shares more about WooCommerce Payments, their pros and cons, and an easy way to enable them on your WooCommerce store. 

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WooCommerce: How to Split Variable Products Into Simple Products

If you sell simple products with no variations like books or software – the standard WooCommerce product page is enough and an ideal solution for your WooCommerce store. However, it isn’t the best solution for stores that sell variable products with multiple product variations. 

A variable product comes in different variations. A simple example is clothing items, including a shirt – with multiple variation attributes like size, color, and pattern. So, if a shirt is a variable product – a medium-sized shirt, small-sized yellow shirt, or large-sized printed shirt are its product variations.  

Thus, a product variation is the final product choice of the customer once they select multiple attributes belonging to a variable product. 

By default, WooCommerce displays all your variable products as just that – products with multiple different variations on its shop page. However, you might need a way to display each product variation as an individual product on your WooCommerce shop page to improve customer experience, search functionality and increase overall sales. 

So, in this article, we’ll see different ways through which you can split your variable products to show them as a single variation product on your WooCommerce store. But first, let’s see how this process can help your store’s bottom line. 

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WooCommerce: Why Use A Product Configurator Instead of Variations

One of the biggest marketing trends in recent years is the increasing shift towards delivering customized and personalized product experiences to customers. 

Customers are increasingly looking for online and eCommerce stores that provide order customization options for gifting purposes and the ability to add their personal and unique touch to their orders. While 90% of the U.S. customers find the idea of personalization appealing – impersonal shopping experiences frustrate 71% of customers

Thus, as a WooCommerce store owner – it’s important to strive and meet the increasing consumer demands to prevent dissatisfaction, improve their shopping experiences and increase the overall sales.  

This article will see some easy yet impactful ways to deliver a personalized customer experience and order customization. But first, let’s see how it can benefit your WooCommerce store. 

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WooCommerce: Enable Advanced Coupon Features

While as a WooCommerce store owner, you keep looking for ways to increase your store’s sales and revenue – the same way, your customers also consistently look for opportunities to save money when purchasing online.  

And in this situation, offering coupons and discounts acts as a win-win for your business and customers. 

Statistics suggest that 51% of U.S. buyers search for coupons online before making an online purchase, and over 80% of millennials use coupon codes when shopping online. 

Every online shopper loves a good deal. You can tap into this consumer behavior to attract buyers and increase sales through coupons on your WooCommerce store. 

So, in this article, we see the top WooCommerce coupon plugins you can use. But first, let’s learn more about the benefits of offering coupons to your customers. 

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WooCommerce: Top Product Filter Plugins For Your Store

As your WooCommerce store grows – so do its product variants. On average, a WooCommerce store owns hundreds of inventory items and product variants for sale. 

While your goal might be to offer maximum product options to your visitors, with such a wide range of product variations – it can get challenging for your customers to find the exact product they’re looking for. 

This is where product filters come into play. Statista suggests that 61% of buyers consider the ease of finding products the most important aspect of an online shopping experience.  

No one has time to browse through the long product listings as it’s easier for customers to switch to another store that facilitates product discovery. Thus, product filter options enable your customers to browse through products of their preferences – positively impacting the user experience and increasing the chances of sales. 

This article shares the top product filter solutions for your WooCommerce store. But first, let’s learn more about their benefits and how this simple option can affect your store’s bottom line. 

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WooCommerce: How To Set Up Complex Shipping Rules

WooCommerce inbuilt shipping settings are quite simple – too simple, sometimes.

WooCommerce merchant often require a complex shipping setup, depending on the industry or the (very expensive) courier fees.

But shipping is much more: conditional logic, marketing, user experience.

Setting shipping costs with a handy “table rate” plugin, combining them with cart-based marketing actions and guiding your customers through the buying process can help you sell more and reduce your return rate. 

Explaining to your customers why they can’t buy a certain product, or encouraging them to add another one to the cart to get a discount, or blocking certain shipping rates so that your courier doesn’t overcharge you… there are so many needs for a more advanced shipping setup.

In this article, we’ll tale a look at the importance of shipping costs, why conditional logic is a game changer and why customers love to get free shipping. Enjoy!

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WooCommerce: How to Add Custom Fields to Variations

When selling products on your WooCommerce store – you want to provide as much product information as possible to your customers. This is especially because, unlike a physical shop or a brick and mortar store – your online customers cannot physically touch or experience the products before buying them. 

Hence, providing additional information and keeping customers informed about the multiple facets of your products is essential. And an effective way to enhance customer experience is by adding custom fields for product variations. 

Product variations are product attributes – including the product’s size, color, pattern, texture, and style. On the other hand, WooCommerce custom fields allow you to add additional data for individual products – to display on a single product page. 

Custom field variations let you add data unique to an individual product – which can include anything from the product’s ISBN, additional product specifications, radio buttons, and checkboxes. Thus, custom fields for product variations could either mean: 

  • Fields to display additional product variation’s information, or 
  • Fields to accept customer input to customize the product variation through dropdowns or radio buttons. 

So, in this article, we share simple yet efficient ways to add custom fields to product variations. But, first – let’s see how adding fields for product variations help your WooCommerce store. 

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WooCommerce: How To Enable “Buy Now Pay Later”

Several eCommerce businesses are increasingly adopting flexible payment solutions – understanding customer needs and demands. Because in today’s digital world of Apple Pay and UPI solutions – a rigid approach toward payment solutions costs businesses a huge deal of sales, customers, and lost revenue.  

48% of customers prefer online stores that accept multiple payment methods. In addition, Sezzle’s report suggests that the product’s over-cost is the primary reason behind 55% of abandoned carts. Hence, a flexible payment solution can help reduce cart abandonment and improve your store’s sales in these situations. 

And one such highly flexible and customer-friendly payment solution that allows your customers on a tight budget to buy the products they want is – Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). 

BNPL is a perfect payment solution that seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce and doesn’t require customers to pass a credit check or pay interest.  

So, in this article, we share the top BNPL solutions to integrate with your WooCommerce store. A growing number of BNPL options, including some of those appearing in this list, can easily be configured through PeachPay, a one-stop-shop checkout & payment solution for WooCommerce stores.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s learn more about this type of payment option and its benefits for your store’s sales and overall growth. 

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WordPress: The Biggest Web Agency Summit

Atarim is set to launch its biggest annual event in the WordPress space for web agencies and freelancers. Its third annual Web Agency Summit kicks off from April 26th to April 29th, 2022, aimed at helping businesses grow substantially in 2022.

Freelancing is consistently growing worldwide – as individuals realize the flexibility and benefits that lay beyond a successful freelance career. Currently, at 58 million and counting – Upwork Press Release suggests freelancing to become the majority workforce in the U.S. by 2027. This number signifies the growing awareness and adoption of freelancing as a preferable career choice amongst individuals.  

However, running a freelance business and web agency isn’t as easy and requires heavy legwork despite its benefits and profitable returns. 

So, whether you’re a thriving freelancer or struggling to keep up with your agency – the Atarim Web Agency Summit is the perfect opportunity to invest your time in and learn about the uncertainties of running your own business, how best to deal with them, manage stress, and grow your agency to the next level. And this year, Business Bloomer is proud to be one of their media partners to support the Atarim summit in the WordPress space. 

So, if you’re curious about scaling your freelance business or digital web agency, or even about how to start one – here’s all you need to know about the biggest Web Agency Summit and what to expect from it this year.

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WooCommerce: How to Enhance the Product Gallery

Product featured and gallery images are important components of your online WooCommerce store – because most online shoppers base their product purchase decisions on product images. 

Don’t take our word for it. According to Etsy, 90% of online customers say the product image quality is a decisive factor in an online sale. Thus, it becomes imperative to improve your product images and the visual appearance of your online store to boost clicks, maximize conversions, and increase sales. 

Unfortunately, the standard WooCommerce product gallery provides a basic interface – making it difficult to boost your product images. So, if you want to turn your simple WooCommerce product gallery into a responsive and stunning carousel slider – this article is for you.

We share the top plugins you can use to customize your WooCommerce product gallery and create appealing product images that drive sales. But first, let’s see how improving gallery images can help your online store. 

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WooCommerce: How to Add Breadcrumbs

Ensuring a positive customer experience has become the top priority of eCommerce businesses in 2022 – even overtaking product price and quality as a key brand differentiator according to some analysts.

And one of the most important factors that ensure a positive customer experience is intuitive and seamless website navigation. According to Top Design Firm’s 2021 findings, 38% of customers look for the page’s navigational links and layout when visiting the site for the first time.   

So, if your WooCommerce store has a confusing layout or difficult-to-find navigation links and menus, visitors may abandon your store even if you have exactly what they are looking for.

This is when breadcrumbs come into play. Breadcrumbs are website navigational links that appear at the top of your WooCommerce store, product pages, and blog posts. Enabling breadcrumbs makes it easier and quicker for your customers to move around and navigate through your WooCommerce store and find the page or products they’re looking for. 

This article shares how you can add breadcrumbs to your WooCommerce store. But before getting into it, let’s see how your store can benefit by adding breadcrumbs. 

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WooCommerce: How To Set Up Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) Offers

It’s no secret that the global eCommerce market size is increasing rapidly. Only a couple of years ago, online sales amounted to 17.8% of total sales. That share is supposed to rise to 21% by the end of 2022 and further still to 24.5% by 2025.

As competition heats up, with more players entering the market, customers have more options to choose from. So, how do you thrive in this fiercely competitive atmosphere and maintain your sales growth, while ensuring customer satisfaction? 

eCommerce businesses adopt many strategies to entice customers and improve conversion rates. One such effective strategy is offering the Buy One Get One (BOGO) offer and discounts, which helps acquire new customers and turn them into repeat buyers. 

Before we explore how you can add BOGO offers to your store to offer discounts to your customers and improve sales, let’s see how exactly such an initiative helps your store’s bottom line. 

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