Step 1: Store General Settings

Before we can start uploading products to your store, we will need to lay the foundation by setting up the global settings for your store. You will only need to set this up once.

Setting Up Your Store Address in WooCommerce

The store address is one of the first things you need to configure in WooCommerce. It affects shipping rates, tax calculations, and even the payment options available for your store. To get there, you need to do the following:

1. Navigate to General Settings

Go to your WordPress dashboard and follow this path:
WooCommerce → Settings → General

You can also click on the “Do It Now” button on the dashboard.

2. Change Your Store Address

You’ll see fields to fill in your store’s physical location:

Address Line 1 & 2 – Enter your street address. If your business operates online and doesn’t have a physical store, you can use a registered business address.
City/Town – Specify the city where your store is based.
Country/State – Choose your country and province/state from the dropdown list.
Postcode/ZIP – Enter the postal code to help with tax and shipping calculations.

3. General Options (Selling & Shipping)

WooCommerce allows you to set restrictions on where you sell and ship:

Sell to All Countries – If you want to sell globally, choose this option.
Sell to All Countries Except for – If you want to sell to all countries with some exceptions.
Sell to Specific Countries – You can limit sales to specific countries that you can choose from.

You can also choose your shipping locations:

Ship to All Countries You Sell To – This simplifies shipping settings, but you can also restrict it to specific regions.
Ship to All Countries – This option will allow you to ship to any country regardless of whether you sell to that country.
Ship to Specific Counties only – You do not offer shipping to all the countries you sell to.
Disable Shipping & Calculations – If you sell only digital products, you can disable shipping completely.
Default customer location – You can choose how the location of the customer is set. The customer has to set their location on the cart page in order to calculate the shipping costs.

You can enable taxes and the use of coupons on your store.

Enable taxes – This option is viable if you plan to add Value Added Tax (VAT) to your store.
Enable Coupons – You can offer your customers a unique coupon code that they must enter on the cart or checkout page to receive a discount.

4. Currency Options

WooCommerce allows you to change the currency in which your product prices will be displayed. You can choose between a large range of currencies available worldwide.

Setting Up Your Product and Inventory Settings

Next, we need to setup your product and inventory settings by doing the following:

1. Navigate to Products Settings

Go to your WordPress dashboard and follow this path:
WooCommerce → Settings → Products → General

Shop page – Here you can choose from any page on your website to use as the shop page. We have already selected the shop page for you.
Add to cart behavior – We recommend the AJAX add to cart option as this allows the customer to add more products to their cart before being redirected to the cart.
Placeholder Image – Leave as is. Products without any selected images will display this image.

You can select the measurement units you want to use that will apply to the shipping costs.

Weight unit – You can choose between kg, g, lbs, and oz.
Dimensions unit – You can choose between m, cm, mm, in, and yd.

You can choose to enable reviews on each product. We recommend that you select all the options because we only want verified owners to be able to leave reviews on your store. You can also enable star ratings or make it optional.

2. Navigate to Inventory Settings

Go to your WordPress dashboard and follow this path:
WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Inventory

Manage Stock – You can enable stock management if you want to automatically track the stock levels in your store. The stock level will reduce after the purchase of each product.
Hold stock (minutes) – Not everyone who adds a product to their cart will purchase it. You do need to hold it out of stock for them temporarily until they make the payment. We recommend holding it out for them for at least 60 minutes before adding it back into stock.
Notifications – You can enable both low-stock and out-of-stock notifications. We recommend choosing both so that you can plan and restock your products before they go out of stock.
Low stock threshold – You will receive an email from your store that will warn you each time a product has reached the selected low-stock level. The out-of-stock level should be kept at 0.
Out-of-stock visibility – If you select this option then it will hide products from your catalog once it goes out of stock. We recommend keeping it unchecked to allow customers to view the products even if they are out of stock. Products out of stock cannot be purchased unless backorders are allowed.
Stock display format – By default, the stock quantity will be displayed on each product page. You can show the remaining stock when the low stock threshold is met or you can hide it from each product page.