If you are considering setting up an eCommerce site through WordPress, most of the focus is on selling products. How can you add and manage products with WooCommerce? How can you add variations? How can stock be managed? While these are all great questions for selling products, what if you are selling services instead? Can you still use WooCommerce effectively in order to sell your services?
When selling services there are some features of the plugin that you will not need, such as shipping capabilities. However, there are some of the other features of the plugin that can be useful such as sending invoices or managing orders. Here are some ways to determine the best features for your service-based business.
What Are You Selling?
Is your site only going to sell services, or are you going to sell other things as well? For example, you may be offering freelance development work, but are you also going to sell eBooks, themes, and plugins? Or maybe, down the road, you plan to add on tools that can help your customers. If you think that you may sell something besides your services it is a good idea to start out using WooCommerce, as it will allow you to easily integrate other products as you increase your offerings.
Bookings Extension
WooCommerce allows you to sell almost anything at all. There are many extensions and plugins available that will help you sell your services. One of the extensions is called Bookings, which allows you to be able sell your time or to sell appointments. This is a great option for a service-based business that offers coaching or installations or other services that require a set time commitment.
Payment Options
WooCommerce will provide you with different payment options as well. You will need to determine whether your customers will pay when the service is booked, or if they are going to be provided with a quote in order to pay later. If you are selling products as well as services, you will be able to manage your revenue using WooCommerce rather than creating an invoice system.
WooCommerce is a quality plugin with many different features that can be used for both product-based and service-based sites. The plugin is free should be considered for use by all eCommerce sites that are using the WordPress platform.
