WooCommerce Setup Guide: Products, Payments and Shipping

WooCommerce turns a WordPress site into an online store, and it powers everything from one-person handmade shops to large catalogues. It is free and flexible, but that flexibility means more settings than a hosted platform, and doing them in the wrong order causes most beginner headaches. This WooCommerce setup guide walks through the order that works: store settings, tax, products, payments, shipping, then testing.

WooCommerce setup is part of month 1 of our E-Commerce Architecture course, alongside Shopify. The steps below are what we practise in class.

Quick answer: Install WordPress on reliable hosting, add the WooCommerce plugin and set your store address and currency (INR for India). Enable taxes before adding products, then create simple and variable products with SKUs and stock. Connect a gateway such as Razorpay or Stripe plus cash on delivery, build shipping zones with methods for each region, and place test orders before launch.

Before you start: what you need

Have these ready, so you are not stopping halfway through:

• Hosting and a domain. Choose a host with SSL, daily backups and enough resources for WooCommerce, not the cheapest shared plan.
• WordPress installed with a block theme or a WooCommerce-ready theme.
• Business details: business address, GSTIN if you have one, a support email and phone number.
• A product sheet: names, descriptions, prices, SKUs, weights, sizes and photos (square, consistent background).
• Policies: shipping, returns and refunds, privacy and terms. Payment gateways usually ask for these during activation.

If you are still deciding whether WooCommerce is the right platform at all, read our pillar guide on how to build an online store first.

Step 1: Install WooCommerce and set the basics

1. In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add New, search for WooCommerce, install and activate it.
2. Follow the onboarding screens: store address, industry and product types. You can skip optional extensions; add only what you need later.
3. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > General and check:
   • Store address is correct (it feeds tax and shipping).
   • Selling locations: “Sell to specific countries” if you only ship within India.
   • Currency: Indian rupee (₹), with the thousand separator and decimals you want.
   • Enable tax rates and calculations: tick this now if you charge GST. It unlocks the Tax tab.

Also set Settings > Permalinks to “Post name” so product URLs read cleanly, for example /product/cotton-kurta/.

Step 2: Set up tax before you add products

Tax first, because every product needs a tax class and changing hundreds later is tedious.

• Under WooCommerce > Settings > Tax, choose whether prices are entered inclusive or exclusive of tax. Most Indian shoppers expect inclusive prices, so many stores enter prices including GST.
• Create additional tax classes for each GST rate you sell at (for example 5% and 12%), then add the rate rows under each class.
• Decide how prices display in the shop and cart, and whether totals show “includes ₹X GST”.

GST rules for your products depend on what you sell and where you deliver, so confirm rates with your accountant. Your job in WooCommerce is to make the store reflect those rates correctly and consistently.

Step 3: Add products properly

Simple products

A simple product has one version: one price, one SKU, one stock count. Go to Products > Add New and fill in:

Field	What to enter	Why it matters
Title	Clear name customers search for	Store search and SEO
Description	Benefits, materials, care, size guide	Fewer questions and returns
Regular / sale price	Price in ₹, sale price with dates if needed	Promotions run on their own
Tax class	The GST class from Step 2	Correct tax at checkout
SKU	A unique code, such as KUR-COT-BLU	Stock tracking and order picking
Stock	Tick “Manage stock” and enter quantity	Prevents overselling
Weight and dimensions	Packed weight, in kg	Shipping calculations
Shipping class	Optional, for bulky items	Different rates by product
Product image and gallery	4–6 clear photos	Trust and conversion
Category and tags	One main category, a few tags	Navigation and filters

Variable products (sizes and colours)

For a kurta in four sizes and three colours:

1. Choose Variable product in the Product data box.
2. Under Attributes, add Size (S | M | L | XL) and Colour (Blue | Black | White). Tick Used for variations for both.
3. Under Variations, choose Generate variations. WooCommerce creates all 12 combinations.
4. Open each variation and set its price, SKU, stock and image. Bulk actions let you set the same price for all at once.
5. Delete any combinations you do not actually sell.

Tip: create global attributes under Products > Attributes if many products share sizes or colours. Global attributes power layered filters on category pages.

Importing many products

For more than 30 or so products, fill a CSV and use Products > Import. Export one finished product first and copy its column format, which avoids most import errors.

Step 4: Connect payments

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments. You will see built-in offline methods and any gateway plugins you add.

Options Indian stores commonly use

• Razorpay: install Razorpay’s official WooCommerce plugin, enter your API keys, and customers can pay by UPI, cards, net banking and wallets. Razorpay’s own WooCommerce documentation covers the settings.
• Other gateways: PhonePe, PayU, Cashfree and Stripe all offer WooCommerce plugins. Choose based on fees, settlement time and which methods your customers use. We compare them in payment gateway integration in India.
• Cash on delivery: built in. Enable it and, under its settings, limit it to specific shipping methods if you only offer COD locally.
• Direct bank transfer: useful for B2B orders where buyers pay by invoice.

Payment settings beginners miss

• Keep the gateway in test mode until you have placed test orders.
• Set up webhooks if the gateway asks for them, so orders update to “Processing” even if the customer closes the browser before returning to your site.
• Check order statuses: paid orders should arrive as Processing, COD as Processing or On hold, depending on your process.

Step 5: Set up shipping zones and methods

Shipping is where most WooCommerce stores go wrong. The logic is simple once you see it: a zone is a set of places, and each zone has one or more methods.

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping and create zones from most specific to least specific:

Zone	Regions	Methods
Local	Your city’s PIN codes (for example 700001…700099)	Local pickup, flat rate ₹40, free over ₹999
West Bengal	State: West Bengal	Flat rate ₹70, free over ₹1,499
Rest of India	Country: India	Flat rate ₹120, free over ₹1,999

WooCommerce checks zones from top to bottom and uses the first match, so order matters. If a customer’s address matches no zone, they see “no shipping options”, which is the most common checkout complaint.

Shipping classes for bulky items

Create a Bulky shipping class under the Shipping tab, assign it to heavy products, then in each flat rate method add an extra cost for that class. This stops a ₹70 shipping charge on a 12 kg item.

Courier integrations

Many Indian couriers and shipping aggregators provide WooCommerce plugins that sync orders, generate labels and push tracking numbers into order emails. Start manually for the first few weeks so you understand the flow, then automate.

Step 6: Pages, emails and policies

• Cart, Checkout and My account pages: WooCommerce creates them. Newer versions use block-based cart and checkout, which you edit in the block editor.
• Emails: under Settings > Emails, set the sender name, add your logo and check each email (new order, processing, completed, refunded) reads well.
• Policy pages: link shipping, returns, privacy and terms in the footer and at checkout.
• Accounts: decide whether guests can check out. Allowing guest checkout usually reduces drop-offs.

Step 7: Test before launch

Place at least these test orders, on a phone as well as a laptop:

• A simple product with online payment in test mode
• A variable product, checking the right variation and stock reduce
• A COD order within the local zone
• An order to a PIN code in each shipping zone
• An order above the free-shipping threshold
• A coupon applied at checkout
• A refund from the order screen
• Every email arriving, and not in spam

Then switch gateways to live mode, delete test orders and do one small real payment.

Common WooCommerce setup mistakes

• Adding products before tax classes. You end up editing every product again.
• Too many plugins. Each one adds weight and update risk. Install only what solves a real problem.
• Missing weights. Weight-based shipping quietly breaks.
• No backups or updates plan. WooCommerce, WordPress, the theme and plugins all need regular updates; test them on a staging copy first.
• Weak hosting. A slow checkout loses orders. Pick hosting that suits ecommerce, not a basic blog.
• Skipping analytics. Connect GA4 so you know where customers drop off.

WooCommerce or Shopify: does the setup order change?

The order is almost the same on any platform: settings, tax, products, payments, shipping, test. The difference is who handles the server. On Shopify the platform does; on WooCommerce you do. If you want to compare, follow our Shopify store setup tutorial with the same product sheet and notice which parts feel easier.

Learn it with Omebly

Omebly Academy’s E-Commerce Architecture course is live and mentor-led, with recordings and weekly one-to-one reviews.

• Core (3 months, $699): ecommerce models, Shopify and WooCommerce setup, catalogues and themes, then payments, shipping, basic tax concepts, checkout optimisation and apps and plugins, then custom storefront basics with Next.js, store SEO and analytics. Two capstones.
• Professional (6 months, $1,199): adds headless commerce, inventory sync, multi-currency, performance and security, with four capstones (including a WooCommerce store with payments), mock interviews and portfolio review.
• Career (12 months, $1,999): adds marketplace integrations, scaling and automation, a full client-style store build and placement assistance (CV and LinkedIn help, mock interviews, portfolio review, referrals where possible; no job guarantee).

Tools include Shopify, WooCommerce, Next.js, Stripe and Razorpay, GA4, Figma and Postman. You receive an Omebly certificate of completion with your projects listed.

Want to talk through which track fits? Contact us or message us on WhatsApp.