How to build an online store with WooCommerce

In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add New, search for WooCommerce, install it and activate it. Follow the onboarding wizard and enter your store location, product type, currency and business details. WooCommerce then shows a setup checklist for products, payments, design, tax, shipping and launch.

Check the details rather than accepting every optional recommendation. Payment providers and tax tools vary by country, and some require a separate account or connection before they can accept live orders.

WooCommerce normally creates the key pages for your shop: Shop, Cart, Checkout and My account. Confirm them under WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced, and review the page assigned as the shop page under the product settings.

Use the site editor or your theme customiser to create the homepage, navigation, logo, colours and footer. Keep links to the shop, cart, checkout, account, contact details, delivery information, returns policy and privacy policy easy to find. WooCommerce settings control the shop page, account behaviour, inventory, emails and other store functions.

Go to Products > Add New. Add a clear product name, description, price, images, stock status and category. Choose the correct product type: a simple product for one item, a variable product for options such as size or colour, or a virtual and downloadable product when nothing is shipped.

For physical products, add weight, dimensions and any shipping class that your delivery rules use. For a larger catalogue, use WooCommerce's built-in CSV importer, but check a few imported products manually before publishing the whole catalogue.

Open WooCommerce > Settings and work through Payments, Tax and Shipping. Enable a payment provider and complete its account connection, then choose the payment methods customers should see. For taxes, use an automated tax service where appropriate or enter rates based on advice for your business and location. WooCommerce's tax settings do not replace professional tax advice.

Create shipping zones for the places you serve and add methods such as flat rate, free shipping or local pickup. Make sure products have the right virtual, weight, dimension and shipping-class settings. A common Friday problem is a missing shipping rate: it is often caused by a customer address that matches no zone, an incorrect zone order or a product marked virtual when it needs delivery. Use shipping debug mode and test addresses if rates do not appear.

You do not need a page builder or premium theme to sell with WooCommerce. Keep your current block theme, use the WordPress site editor or customiser, and style the shop and product pages with the theme's available controls. This is the sensible manual route for a small catalogue or a store where design is not the main project.

The drawback is that you must build the homepage, header, product presentation and archive layouts yourself, and theme controls vary. If you use Elementor, its WooCommerce tools can display products and, with the relevant version and features, create reusable shop and single-product templates. Test templates on product, category, cart and checkout pages because a builder or theme can interfere with shipping or checkout behaviour.

Place a complete test order on a phone and desktop. Check product selection, variations, stock reduction, coupon behaviour, shipping rates, tax display, payment confirmation, order status, customer emails and the admin order screen. Also test a failed payment, an out-of-stock product and an address outside your main shipping zone.

Fix broken links, remove sample products, check image sizes and review the checkout fields. Only switch off any coming-soon or private-store setting after the test order and email notifications work. For the fast route, start with Monki: its Elementor-ready fashion layouts, WooCommerce product pages and one-click demo import reduce the design work, while WooCommerce still handles products, checkout, orders and store settings.