Installation and first setup
WooCommerce is installed like any WordPress plugin. Once activated, it creates its own tables and pages and starts the setup wizard — a few screens with questions about the shop.
Installation
In the admin panel: Plugins → Add Plugin, search for WooCommerce, press Install Now, then Activate. The same from the console, in the site folder:
wp plugin install woocommerce --activateThe command downloads the plugin into wp-content/plugins/woocommerce and activates it. The WooCommerce, Products and Marketing items appear in the admin side menu.
The setup wizard
The wizard opens by itself after activation. It asks for the shop's country and address, what you sell, and offers extra plugins — you can decline them. Everything the wizard sets can be changed later in WooCommerce → Settings:
| Tab | What is there |
|---|---|
| General | Shop address, selling countries, currency |
| Products | Measurement units, reviews, stock management |
| Shipping | Shipping zones and methods |
| Payments | Payment methods |
| Accounts | Customer registration, guest checkout |
| Emails | Shop emails |
| Advanced | Shop pages, REST API, features |
For a practice shop set the currency to Euro and enable Cash on delivery on the Payments tab — with it an order can be placed without real money.
Shop pages
During installation the plugin creates four ordinary WordPress pages:
| Page | Default address | What is there |
|---|---|---|
| Shop | /shop/ | The product catalog |
| Cart | /cart/ | The cart contents |
| Checkout | /checkout/ | Address, shipping, payment |
| My account | /my-account/ | The customer's orders and addresses |
Which page plays which role is set in WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced. If a page was deleted by accident, create it again and select it there.
The first product
Open Products → Add New, enter the name Mug, the price 9.90 in the Product data box and press Publish. Or create the product with a command:
wp wc product create --name="Mug" --regular_price=9.90 --user=1The --user=1 parameter is the ID of the administrator on whose behalf the command runs. The product appears on the /shop/ page.
Checking
Open /shop/, put the mug into the cart and place an order with cash on delivery. The order appears in WooCommerce → Orders. If the whole path works, the shop is running.
Common mistake
The Shop page opens, but a product page returns a 404 error. The cause is WordPress permalinks set to Plain or address rules that were not refreshed. Open Settings → Permalinks, choose Post name and press Save Changes.