1. Install and Activate WooCommerce 
2. Follow Setup Wizard
3. Add Products
4. Setup Shipping and Tax
5. Setup Payments

Now that you have your domain and WordPress website setup, it’s time to get started on your e-commerce platform: WooCommerce. If you haven’t started on getting your domain and setting up your WordPress website yet, check out our article: How To Get Started Your WordPress Website.

STEP 1: Install and Activate WooCommerce

Search for the WooCommerce plugin from within your website

• Go to your website
• Go to: Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Search Plugins
• Search for “WooCommerce”
• Install
• Activate

STEP 2: Following the WooCommerce Setup Wizard

This part is fairly straightforward. Just fill out the following steps and you're golden. 

WooCommerce Setup Wizard: Where is your store based? 

In this step, you provide the location details of your store. If you don’t have a physical store, the address where you are shipping from will be fine.

WooCommerce Setup Wizard: In which industry does your store operate? 

Here, you can select in which industry or industries your store operates. If you select “Other” you’re able to identify a different industry.

WooCommerce Setup Wizard: What type of products will be listed?

Here, you select the type of products you plan to sell in your store. Tip* If you are selling a service, you can select “Downloads” as that would make the product virtual. 

WooCommerce Setup Wizard: Tell us about your business

In this section, you can provide more information about your business, which will help us tailor the WooCommerce experience according to your needs. At the bottom, it will give you options to easily install some popular marketing plug-ins. I recommend unselecting all of them and installing them as needed later. 

WooCommerce Setup Wizard: Choose a Theme

This is the last step and simply select “continue with my current theme”. 

STEP 3: Adding Products

Before jumping into adding your products, think about how you want to organize your products into categories. For example, if you are selling clothing, this is how you might layout your category: 

Categories are managed from the Products > Categories screen. On the left side of the screen shows you the fields to create a new category and to the right are the categories you created. To create a category: 

• Add a Name.
• Add a Slug (optional); this is the URL-friendly version of the name.
• Choose a Parent if this is a subcategory.
• Enter a Description (optional); some themes display this.
• Choose Display type. Decide what is shown on the category’s landing page. “Standard” uses your theme’s default. “Subcategories” will display only the subcategories. “Products” only display products. “Both” will display subcategories and products below that.
• Upload/Add Image (optional);  Some themes have pages where product category images are displayed.
• Click “Add new category” 

Now let's get your products created. 

Adding a Simple Product

1. Go to Woocommerce > Products > Add Product. 
2. Enter a product Title and Description. 
3. Add an excerpt. This typically appears next to product imagery on the listing page, and the long description appears in the Product Description tab.
4. Go to the Product Data panel, and select downloadable (digital) or virtual (service) if applicable.

Product Data

The Product Data box is where you will input most of the important information about your product. 

General Section

• Price
  • Regular Price – Item’s normal/regular price
  • Sale Price – Item’s discounted price that can then be scheduled for certain date ranges. The sale expires at 11:59 pm of the specified end date
• Tax
  • Tax status – Taxable / Shipping only / None
  • Tax class – Choose which tax class should be applied

Inventory section

The inventory section allows you to set SKU and manage stock for the product individually and define whether to allow backorders and more. 

Shipping section

• Weight – Weight of the item.
• Dimensions – Length, width, and height for the item.
• Shipping Class – Shipping classes are used by certain shipping methods to group similar products.

Linked Products section

Using up-sells and cross-sells, you can cross-promote your products. When you are starting off, you can skip this section and come back to it. 

Attributes section

On the Attributes tab, you can assign details to a product. 

Taxonomies

On the right-hand side of the Add New Product panel, there are product categories in which you can select to place your product.

Product Images

There are two areas where you can upload your product images too. 

One section is called Product Images. This is where you add the main image for your product. 

The other section is called the Product Gallery. This is where you add additional photos for your products to be shown on the product page. You can drag and drop the images to show in the order you prefer. 

Now click publish and your product will be live. 

STEP 4: Setup Shipping and Tax

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping.
2. Click add shipping zone
3. Enter Shipping Zone Name
4. Select Zone Regions
5. Add Shipping Method

Shipping Method

You will have a flat rate, free shipping, and local pickup as your shipping options. You can choose to add all 3 methods to your zone. 

Flat rate: A set shipping fee. You can create multiple flat rates to reflect different shipping providers you offer. 

Free Shipping: You can set rules to offer free shipping on orders over X amount of value or triggered by a coupon code. 

Local Pickup: Have the customer pickup locally. 

Once you have created the shipping methods, you click on the edit button to set the costs associated with each option. 

STEP 5: Setup Payments

The last and crucial step. You want to get paid right? We are almost done getting your store up and running. 

You will have Direct Bank Transfer, Check Payments, and Cash on delivery available by default. To accept credit card payments you will need to install a plugin for the payment processor you are going to use and set it up. Update: Woocommerce now has an easy install for Stripe and PayPal with the initial setup of the store. 

If you haven’t found a payment processor yet, we recommend using Stripe due to its security and ease of use. To start using Stripe. 

• Go to: Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Search Plugins
• Search for “WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway”
• Install
• Activate

For a detailed setup and configuration guide see the Woocommerce Stripe Documentation. 

And that’s it! Now your Woocommerce store is all set up and ready to sell! If you run into trouble or have any questions feel free to contact us and we can help you!