{"id":98435,"date":"2026-10-02T20:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T20:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/glossary\/woocommerce\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T03:03:52","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T03:03:52","slug":"woocommerce","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/woocommerce\/","title":{"rendered":"WooCommerce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that turns a WordPress<\/a> website into an online store. With it you can sell physical products, digital products or services, take payments and manage orders.<\/p>\n\n

It is the most widely used ecommerce<\/a> platform in the world. According to W3Techs (October 2026), it is used by 8% of all websites and 47.7% of online stores with a known system.<\/p>\n\n

But setting up the store is just the beginning. To get customers buying again, you need something more: emails that arrive and campaigns that bring customers back.<\/p>\n\n

What is WooCommerce and how does it work?<\/h2>\n\n

WooCommerce was launched in September 2011 by the company WooThemes. In 2015 it was acquired by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com.<\/p>\n\n

It works like any other plugin. You install it on your WordPress site, follow the setup wizard and within a few minutes you have a catalog, a cart and checkout.<\/p>\n\n

From the dashboard you manage products, prices, taxes, shipping, orders and customers. And whatever it doesn’t include out of the box, you add with extensions: payment gateways, invoicing, bookings or subscriptions.<\/p>\n\n

The software is free. What you pay for is hosting, the domain and any paid extensions you need.<\/p>\n\n

Advantages and disadvantages of WooCommerce<\/h2>\n\n

Before choosing it, it’s worth comparing what you gain and what you take on:<\/p>\n\n

Factor<\/th>Advantage<\/th>Disadvantage<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Cost<\/td>The plugin is free<\/td>Hosting, extensions and maintenance add up<\/td><\/tr>
Control<\/td>Your data and your website are yours<\/td>You take care of backups, security and updates<\/td><\/tr>
Personalization<\/td>Thousands of themes and extensions<\/td>Too many plugins slow the store down<\/td><\/tr>
Content<\/td>Blog and store on the same website, a good foundation for SEO<\/td>You need some experience with WordPress<\/td><\/tr>
Emails<\/td>Sends order emails automatically<\/td>By default they are sent from the server and can end up in spam<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

If you’re looking for a more closed platform with no maintenance, the usual alternative is Shopify. And if you want to compare it with another open-source option, we cover it in our entry on PrestaShop<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

What emails does WooCommerce send?<\/h2>\n\n

Out of the box, WooCommerce sends several transactional emails<\/a>. Some go to the store administrator and others to the customer:<\/p>\n\n