With the pandemic clamping down on conventional business logistics, viable alternatives are the need of the hour. As a business model, drop-shipping has been around for quite a while now, with titan brands like Amazon leveraging it to great success worldwide. Its viability has compelled establishments in other sectors to sit up and take notice of its potential. One such sector is blog-based e-commerce. How can WordPress blogs and e-commerce sites tap into the vast potential of drop-shipping? In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about a specific WordPress plugin that makes streamlined drop-shipping possible: WooCommerce!

Drop-shipping Basics

If you’re new to the field of drop-shipping, here’s a quick brief to get you up to speed:

– Drop-shipping is a logistics model involving a manufacturer, vendor, and the end consumer.

– The end consumer places an order with the vendor, who raises a request with the manufacturer. From there, the product is sent from the manufacturer to the vendor, who in turn gets it delivered to the end consumer.

– One of the main draws of drop-shipping is the ease of setup, and lack of inventory requirement.

It’s no secret that a sizable chunk of WordPress websites are dedicated to e-commerce and online storefronts. Can those portals harness this model for their benefit? With WooCommerce, all that is possible, and then some more!

WooCommerce: The Drop-shipping Hub

Put simply, WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that enables a comprehensive suite of drop-shipping facilities on your site. To understand how WooCommerce works, let’s start from the foundation and work our way up to the higher functionality the platform offers. For starters, let’s look at the central draw of WooCommerce.

– WooCommerce enables WordPress users to sell whatever products they desire, however they desire. It accomplishes this through a set of customization options that allow greater flexibility in storefront management.

– The structural formula at play here is that one end focuses on the drop-shipping function management, while the other end leverages WordPress’ potential as an online platform for marketing, tying it into the business’ operations.

WooCommerce & Drop-shipping

Like every other WordPress plugin, WooCommerce follows the standard installation procedure. Within minutes of setup, you’re good to go and start selling from the Dashboard. For your first steps, you will want to set up:

– Payment: WooCommerce supports a vast array of payment options like PayPal, Google Pay & Amazon Pay. International transactions are a breeze too, thanks to Stripe support.

– Order Management: WooCommerce offers you an efficient interface to manage your orders, from product availability to tax assessment. Shipping costs are factored in, to keep you in the loop about overall (and overhead) costs.

WooCommerce & WordPress

On the platform side of things, WooCommerce pulls out all the stops for full functionality:

– Jetpack Integration: To add a layer of top-notch security to your storefront, WooCommerce provides full Jetpack support. This ensures your business wards off spam and secures your customer base for a seamless shopping experience.

– Marketing Options: Being on WordPress also gives your store access to marketing options like Google Ads & the Analytics suite.

– Block Systems: Like with traditional blogs, you can also structure your store based on different aesthetic elements, to highlight desired products. WooCommerce is open-source too, so you’re free to tweak the API as you wish!

– Plugin Interactions: WooCommerce offers integrations to popular WordPress plugins like Yoast and Mailchimp. This facilitates the cross-platform promotion and other marketing integrations.

Woo-Commerce: Key To Drop-shipping:

We at Ravenan recommend WooCommerce for anyone looking to diversify their WordPress-based e-commerce store. The sheer flexibility it offers you in terms of drop-shipping options is a great addition to round out your online storefront’s functionality. Looking to set up your WooCommerce suite? Contact us at Ravenan for holistic digital marketing services!