Fear of life.
\”Where should I turn when I have a problem? How can I set this software? Who is building it?\”
When you want to establish a business above this software, you I hope that the tool you choose will be durable and suitable for your store.
Although the way to use an open e -commerce platform seems to be not too transparent for new merchants, open platforms like WooCommerce provide unparalleled flexibility, freedom and sustainability for merchants. At the same time, they provide motivation for their business.
Let’s take a look at some myths of open e -commerce, as well as its advantages and disadvantages to understand how it brings great victory to the merchant.
But first of all, a story:
The closed business crushed enterprises
Imagine that you have established your own successful business to sell laptop brackets. It took four years to arrive here, most of which were spent:
Design your laptop computer bracket and build a product prototype
- Purchasing production materials and determining the manufacturing cost of each unit
- … Everything is before you consider how to sell the product and make money from it. Only in this way can you talk about sales and distribution strategies. You decide to sell through your own online store and Amazon. Now you finally passed a milestone after a year and a half: your company has created a $ 1.5 million income this year.
to figure out where you and how to make your product
OK determine How much inventory and replenishment strategy do you need
You are a model seller on Amazon, with 98% positive feedback, 99% of all orders on time, and 0.11% of defective product rates. Amazon now brings you 80% income.
However, because you sell laptop brackets, your customers are more proficient than most people. They know that if they want to try different booths, there are two ways to get free returns on Amazon: saying that the product has defects or \”unlike advertising\”, the seller pays the return freight. Although you have excellent records, you only need a small amount of negative feedback (5-10 times) like this
fromAmazon is completely deleted
.
This means that overnight, your 9 -person companies must reduce 4 or more Employees, and you have more than $ 350,000 in inventory and cannot be sold and paid to the store. Your effective business has been effectively suppressed. By the way, this does happen -you can read it (different products, the same situation). Although we can regard it as a warning story about selling in the market, I think this is more of a greater concern: merchants should evaluate their dependence on the platform, and the platform can be closed or off at any time Remove their acceptable risk factors and their business.
The beauty of open source e -commerce and Woocommerce is that they can start their own business without the need to rely on the platform.
Open source myth There are many misunderstandings about open source software (OSS) in terms of price, when it can be used, and whether it is suitable for enterprises. Let us break some major myths about OSS.
What are the open source solutions of small stores? In other words, can open source solutions like WooCommerce expand to large enterprises? Of course- \”scaling\” software has nothing to do with whether it is open.
In fact, if you do encounter fields that need to be optimized, then you can control the source code at least to make potential improvements on the open platform instead of you Unable to access the platform that runs it.
In fact, the following are some of the benchmarks that Woocommerce can be reached: 
up to 5 orders per second
- That is 20,000 per hour per hour. A order, about 5 million orders per day, if your store can maintain this speed exceeding the limited time to buy
- 4,000-6,000, and the buyer on the website
- is more important. Yes, WooCommerce 3.0 has made some improvements on these indicators, and WooCommerce 4.0 will further expand them!
Expansion is more functions with enhanced hardware, intelligent cache and other intelligent properties. When you buy more server resources, you will definitely pay for expanding the open e -commerce website, but the software may not be your restrictions. Is the open source software free or cheaper?
Open source software is usually called \”free\” software. This term means freedom, not price -open source software provides users with the greatest freedom in terms of use and flexibility. Although Woocommerce is also free in price, open software is not necessarily free. For example, the woocommerce extension is charged for sale, but they are all open source because they have open source licenses.
Although the cost of open source software is usually lower than proprietary software, it still has other costs, such as hosting or developing personnel time. When using an open e -commerce platform, you may need to pay for other \”responsibilities\” borne by the proprietary platform, such as hosting or supporting services.
In short, the use cost of the open platform may be lower, but it is usually not the case. Is OSS more difficult to use than proprietary software?
The software \”open\” has not made it more difficult to use. On the contrary, most of the difficulty related to OSS comes from the self -custody of the software -the hosting services provided by your own hosting services and using your own hosting services and the use of software.
When you custody, you are running your own e -commerce software \”instance\”. This allows you to benefit from the flexibility provided by the OSS, because no one can control the closed or modify your store. However, this means technical skills that need to be higher than average. At some point, self -operated store owners need to understand the following:
How to register the domain name and source DNS hosting
How to use the custody service provider to set the website
- How about how to use Use or provide FTP access
- This is a problem of many merchants. They want to focus on their own business, not their website. Therefore Essence This is why the Wooexperts plan is so useful.
Open source advantage Where is the open platform like Woocommerce really shining? Why is the company choosing to open software instead of proprietarysoftware? Data ownership
What will happen if you close or choose to delete on the hosting platform? Even if you do not violate the terms of service, unable to access customer data and orders means that your business may be strangled.
Not only that, think about all other data you will lose: product description, photography and inventory tracking. Using an exclusive system will allow you to rely on the system to obtain this data, and if you can’t use the platform for some reason, you may not be able to extract it from the system to other places or save your business. This is why \”getting rid of the supplier’s lock\” is the first reason why the company chose OSS in 2016.
Since your data is your own, you can also avoid the use of usage or transaction fee without custody -you don’t need to own more products Or pay for more orders, because you can control the code of running the store.
In essence, you are renting services from the proprietary system. You really have your own store through the open system. Security and code quality \”The quality of the solution\” is the second most important reason for the company to choose OSS. The quality of open software is usually higher than the proprietary system:
Commercial software usually has 20 to 30 errors every 1,000 lines … Studies have found that there are 0.17 errors per 1,000 lines of the Linux kernel [123 123 [123 ] – Source: Carnegie Mellon University+ Stanford University Study
Opening means \”security\” -the more people pay attention to code and more Many people contribute, so vulnerabilities and errors are surfaced instead of buried.
\”Vulnerability and errors are surfaced rather than buried\”
Flexibility and freedom
My favorite part! The freedom and flexibility provided by the open system is the main reason why I prefer OSS rather than closed systems.
Others agree: Software’s \”customization and repair ability\” is the third reason why the company selects OSS. You not only have freedom in use, but also have freedom in the code library.
Use freedom
means that you will not be affected by products, variants, images, images , Limit the quantity of other parts of orders or storesEssence You can’t tell you what you can sell. You are running your own platform, so you are not restricted by the exclusive system terms and will not be deleted due to violations.
Freedom of development means that you can build and customize it according to your needs. Developers can also do this like this Do it to provide you with applications, plug -in or other solutions.
Use an open platform, Your needs
determine the function of the store, not what the platform allows you to do or provide you with built -in functions. If you want to provide a custom pricing structure or a special layered discount system, but it does not exist, you can built into your platform. This is impossible for proper solutions because you have no right to access the code library.
Open e -commerce platforms are more scalability than proprietary systems
. Find a proprietary software that allows you to complete 90%? It’s too bad, it may not apply to your project because you cannot modify the last 10% of the content. The OSS project can be used as the starting point of a custom project because you can operate the code library, not just the available API.
Find errors, or need a way to customize? You can submit it! Using the proprietary system, you can only interact with the defined API, but the open platform allows you to contribute.
Open platforms like Woocommerce are also independent of developers. If the original author loses interest, sells business or does not want to provide a platform, you will not be subject to them -because your store runs on your own settings, you can continue to use it and hire other developers to maintain it or facing it or dynasty Go forward in the direction you want. In a larger range, the project can be adopted and maintained by others.
- The use of an open system can provide you with real flexibility in use -whether in the system or in the code.
Interoperability
With the help of woocommerce and other open solutions,
Interoperability
unparalleled. Because the source code and access are open, it is usually integrated in advance with other services, or can be constructed. Need to pay or transportation providers? The solution may already exist; if not, it can be built.
Use woocommerce, you can also get WordPress multiplication -the huge plug -in and theme ecosystem canModify your website. Need a way to \”mark\” customers in the system? If you use proper software, you may not be able to do this. There may not even be a Woocommerce plug -in to do this. However, because WooCommerce uses WordPress, a plug -in may be used with WordPress users to completely solve your needs. The existing large developer communities and \”additional\” ecosystems means that you can almost always find methods to meet your website needs, or use another project as a starting point.
Mutuality not only means connecting your website Go to other services-it also means how your store is connected to your entire website. E -commerce proprietary solution
focuses on e -commerce, not a complete website . In sharing other content, segment customers, or establishing communities on your website, they may not provide you with flexibility.
Because Woocommerce uses WordPress, your website can be built around content, customer interaction or any content you want. Before locking yourself in a platform that does not support your goals, you need to consider the business goals and marketing strategies of the entire website.
\”Because WooCommerce uses WordPress, your website can be constructed around content, customer interaction or anything you want.\” Community [ 123] Sustainability is a major problem in the OSS project -you want to ensure that the software you depend on will be maintained for a long time in the future, so that your business can depend on it. Programs that tend to have (A) participation and active communities, (b) commercial support or (C) contributors supported by commercial entities help reduce the risk of abandoned software.
On the other hand, the OSS project does not depend on the company or author of the original creation of it. Therefore, even if the project is abandoned, it can be used for a long time, and any developer can engage in it.
So, as a website owner, what does this \”community\” mentality have for you? What does this mean when many people build or contribute software? Usually, this will produce a lot of resources or groups. You can get information and help from the platform in it to help you learn and grow. With woocommerce, you can benefit from:
WordPress.org Forum
Wide Document
on SLACK on SLACKWooCommerce Community
Senior WooCommerce Facebook group
Sellwithwp
Open source weakness
Where is the open source platform weak? In terms of
responsibility
-although they provided users with amazing flexibility and freedom, this is costly: users are responsible for stations, maintenance and settings. To make full use of the open source platform, users need to have ownership of site instances that run the platform.
- Who is responsible for resolving the conflict? How to ensure the completion of the update? These are all the signs of flexibility: the website owner is responsible for the content of the proprietary platform that may include in its \”service\”.
So how do we overcome these weaknesses? All this is to understand where they are, and develop correct partnerships and tools to target these weaknesses.
Setting and configuration
When the owner of the store has the right to operate the platform -in other words, when the self -hosting, the open platform is the most powerful. However, it is difficult to build a store. The purchasing custody platform, the setting domain name and the installation platform are all obstacles that need to be leaned up before the store is ready.
Many custody companies help solve this problem by installing WordPress and Woocommerce. Many companies even register for your domain name (although I suggest you register for yourself to avoid being locked). For developers, ensure that you complete this process for customers to help them start and run with the least trouble.
Optimization
The exclusive system optimizes its own hardware and software stack for merchants -the platform has built -in cache configuration and performance adjustment. Although the open system does pay attention to performance, they cannot rely on specific hosting configuration, database optimization or cache configuration. As a user, you should ask developers or custody companies.
The hosting company, developers and agency should focus on high -quality hardware, intelligent cache, and other performances that are not \”use\” to provide excellent e -commerce Experience.
Maintenance
When using an exclusive system, \”maintenance\” is built -in, which is transparent to users -they don’t have to worry about security patches, compatibility changes or regular updates. If you are not sure what these changes are doing, and how to ensure that they are compatible with your own settings, these terms are terrible.
The owner of the store can ensure that they have a developer at any time to help these changes, and developers or agency should use temporary or development environmentEasy to do, so the store does not stop.
The real power of open e -commerce
The power of open e -commerce comes from freedom and community:
User
You can choose freely by them to choose Use the platform and use the most meaningful tool for them. As long as they think that it is appropriate, they can use the platform freely without being locked or risky to be removed from their wishes.
Developers
can freely build and contribute on the platform. They are not limited by the API used by the platform, and they can read or modify the source code as needed.
For merchants, the open platform provides you with great flexibility and low risk. Therefore, please cooperate with excellent developers or agents to overcome the setting and maintenance of the open solution weakness. If you are a developer or agency, then you are the key to serving OSS e -commerce for your customers -focusing on overcoming weaknesses and using advantages to provide them with possible best solutions. With your help, the merchant has no disadvantages when choosing an open solution
Watch the video version of this article and publish it at WoOconf 2017.
- Beka Rice is the product director of Skyverge, who wants to be a writer and the leading GIF sharing. She cooperated widely with merchants using Woocommerce through Skyverge extension through Skyverge extension, chatting with Sell with WP shop owners, and helping merchants and agents promote more sales through JILT.
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