WooCommerce Settings Explained

Source: Dev.to

If you’re planning to build an online store with WordPress, WooCommerce is the easiest and most powerful way to start. After installing it, the biggest confusion is often:

“Which WooCommerce settings should I configure first?”

In this guide we break down every important WooCommerce setting in a simple, real‑world way—no complex jargon, just pure practicality. Let’s make your store ready for real customers.

General Settings – Your Store Identity

This is where you set your shop’s basic information.

• Store address – City, state, country
• Currency – INR, USD, etc.
• Thousand/Decimal separators – 1,000.00 or 1.000,00
• Enable taxes – if needed

Tip: If your store location or currency is wrong, the entire checkout experience gets messed up. Set this carefully.

Products Settings – How Your Store Behaves

These options directly affect how your products appear and function.

• Shop page – Select a page to show all your products
• Add to cart behavior – Redirect to cart or stay on product page
• Measurements – Default weight (kg/lb), dimensions (cm/inch)
• Reviews – Enable product reviews + star ratings

Inventory Settings – Stock Management

Inventory management is optional, but recommended.

• Turn on Manage Stock to:
  • Automatically reduce stock when orders are placed
  • Receive low‑stock and out‑of‑stock alerts
  • Hide out‑of‑stock items

Useful for physical products. For digital items, you can safely disable stock management.

Tax Settings – Optional but Useful

If you enabled tax earlier, this tab will appear.

• Standard tax rates
• Reduced rates
• Zero rates
• Prices inclusive/exclusive of tax

For Indian sellers (GST), configure the appropriate tax classes here.

Shipping Settings – Delivering Your Products

This is where most beginners get confused, so let’s make it simple.

• Shipping zones – Region‑wise rules
• Shipping methods – Flat rate, free shipping, local pickup
• Shipping classes – Category‑wise pricing

Example:

• Zone: “India”
• Method: Flat rate ₹50
• Class: “Heavy product” = ₹100 extra

Super clean, super scalable.

Payments Settings – Accepting Money

Every store must configure this right.

• Cash on Delivery (COD)
• PayPal
• Stripe
• Razorpay (India’s favorite)
• Direct bank transfer
• UPI (via plugins)

My recommendation for India: enable COD, Razorpay, and UPI alongside a global gateway like PayPal or Stripe.

Accounts & Privacy – User Experience Matters

Here you control how users log in and checkout.

• Allow guest checkout
• Allow users to create accounts
• Auto‑generate username & password
• Data retention options

Best setup for beginners: enable guest checkout and optional account creation.

Emails – Customize Notifications

WooCommerce emails look very basic by default. You can customize:

• Header image
• Colors
• Footer text
• Sender name & email

If your emails look clean, customers trust your store more.

Integrations – Optional Add‑Ons

Depending on plugins, you may see:

• Google Listings
• Mailchimp
• Jetpack
• Analytics extensions

Not required for everyone, so enable only what you need.

Advanced Settings – Only If Necessary

This is the technical section.

• Page setup (Cart, Checkout, My Account)
• REST API
• Webhooks
• WooCommerce data storage

If you’re not a developer, don’t touch the API or webhook settings.

Final Thoughts

WooCommerce looks big from the outside, but once you understand the settings clearly, it becomes a super‑flexible eCommerce engine. Configure the basics — products, payment, and shipping — and your store is ready for sales.