WooCommerce has introduced Woo Express, a new managed hosting solution designed to simplify hosting and maintenance tasks for online store operators. This initiative leverages WordPress.com’s infrastructure, offering a user-friendly hosting experience. After an initial soft launch in March, Woo Express is now available to the public.
Woo Express comes equipped with pre-installed extensions and professionally designed themes while retaining the open-source flexibility of WooCommerce. Store owners can effortlessly add any plugin or theme of their choice, providing extensive customization options. Additionally, merchants can opt for WooCommerce Payments or select their preferred payment gateway. The hosting plans also include automated backups, security scanning, and come with a custom domain and SSL certificate.
In October 2022, during WooSesh, WooCommerce announced its intention to create a hosted WooCommerce solution, joining the ranks of GoDaddy’s Managed WooCommerce Stores and Bluehost’s WooCommerce offering. The focus is on delivering a more personalized and user-friendly onboarding experience that goes beyond just WooCommerce pre-installation.
Pricing for Woo Express hosting plans is slightly higher than GoDaddy’s starting rate of $20.99 per month (renews at $29.99 per month) for the basic plan but remains more cost-effective than GoDaddy’s mid-tier and upper-tier options, which start at $99.99 per month and $149.99 per month, respectively.
Bluehost, on the other hand, caters to budget-conscious users with hosting plans starting at $9.95 per month (renews at $24.95 per month), while the top-tier plan, priced at $12.95 per month (renews at $39.95 per month), offers the added convenience of managing product inventory across Etsy, Amazon, and eBay via Ecomdash.
Comparing managed WooCommerce hosts and their plans can be intricate, given their varied features and pricing tiers. A significant distinguishing factor lies in the bundled extensions accompanying each plan.
WooCommerce holds a distinct advantage in the ecosystem, boasting more than 800 products. Woo Express, in its launch, offers a compelling array of commercial extensions bundled into the hosting plans. These extensions encompass product add-ons, product bundles, gift cards, min/max quantities, back-in-stock notifications, brand management, product recommendations, subscriptions, in-person payments, shipment tracking, and more. The collective value of these bundled extensions far surpasses the annual cost of Woo Express hosting.
Block-Based Stores Take Center Stage
While WooCommerce continues its journey of “blockifying” store templates, Woo Express leads the way by featuring a block theme as the default for new customers.
WooCommerce’s Chief Operating Officer, Warren Holmes, emphasized the goal behind Woo Express: “One of our goals for Woo Express is to give new merchants the best of everything WordPress offers — the site editor and the blocks we’ve built for WooCommerce mean you can create a beautiful site to express your brand without coding knowledge.”
Tsubaki serves as the default block-based theme for Woo Express, designed to facilitate a seamless experience for new merchants. Default content, powered by WooCommerce’s blocks, enhances the shopping journey. This includes new cart and checkout blocks, contributing to a more delightful shopping experience for customers and improved conversion rates for merchants.
Woo Express also offers several commercial themes, including Amulet, Zaino, Tazza, and Thriving Artist. Store owners retain the freedom to install any theme from the vast collection of WooCommerce themes, not limited to those included in the hosting plan.
A 14-day free trial is available for Woo Express, allowing prospective hosting customers to explore the bundled extensions, themes, and the hosting environment to assess its suitability for their needs. While the onboarding experience is merchant-friendly, developers maintain access to advanced functionality under the hood.
WooCommerce’s Strive for a Unified Ecosystem
WooCommerce, as the most widely used open-source e-commerce software, powers approximately 23% of the top million online stores. Managed hosting products possess the potential to further accelerate this growth. Users anticipate a seamless experience, yet the reality is that WooCommerce’s open-source ecosystem has seen diverse solutions emerge, sometimes resulting in compatibility challenges. Such challenges can prompt users to explore proprietary, turnkey e-commerce solutions.
Beau Lebens, WooCommerce’s Head of Engineering, highlighted the role of curated solutions like Woo Express in fostering uniformity within the WooCommerce ecosystem. Integrating an array of disparate solutions hasn’t always resulted in the best experience for merchants and has introduced complexity that may deter users.
WooCommerce had announced its intention to collaborate with hosting partners in October 2022, with WordPress.com leading the way in piloting the new managed hosting solution. The WooCommerce team is also exploring the possibility of launching an affiliate program to empower developers and the broader community to promote Woo Express.
Regarding the involvement of other hosting partners offering Woo Express on their infrastructure, WooCommerce is currently evaluating these prospects. Warren Holmes, WooCommerce’s Chief Operating Officer, affirmed the importance of independent WordPress/Woo hosts worldwide, recognizing their indispensable role in Woo’s success.
WooCommerce’s launch of a managed hosting product positions it uniquely to tailor the core software for the benefit of store owners and hosting partners, contributing to the growth and efficiency of the entire WooCommerce ecosystem.