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Choose your platform and build the catalog

First lesson of the Online Store with WooCommerce or Shopify course, free to read: about 20 minutes, 3 exercises and 3 quiz questions. This is the catalogue's base lesson; in the student space, it is rewritten for your profile.

Objectives

  • Compare WooCommerce and Shopify against the needs of a small business
  • Organize the catalog into categories and attributes
  • Write a complete product page, simple or with variations

Choosing the platformCatalog and categoriesProduct page

Two ways to sell online

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. If you took the CMS1 course, you install it from Plugins > Add New Plugin, and the setup wizard asks for the store address, the industry and the currency. Advantages: you stay in control of the site, the data and the plugins. In return, updates, security, backups and performance remain your responsibility, and some features require additional plugins.

Shopify is a hosted service: you create an account, choose a theme, and the vendor takes care of hosting, updates and security. In return: a subscription, fees depending on the payment methods, and a dependence on the platform’s rules and apps.

Question Rather WooCommerce Rather Shopify
Do you already have a WordPress site? Yes No
Who will handle the technical side? You or a contractor The platform
Need for advanced customization? Yes Little

Compare current fees on the official sites: they change, and this course deliberately quotes none. The concepts that follow (catalog, payment, shipping, orders) are the same on both platforms; menu names are given for WooCommerce, with the Shopify equivalent where it differs.

Designing the catalog

Before entering products, decide on:

  • the categories: few in number, clear, with no overlap. For a bakery selling online: Biscuits, Delicatessen, Breads (in-store pickup). In Shopify, these are called collections;
  • the attributes: the characteristics that vary (weight, flavor, size);
  • a SKU scheme (stock keeping unit): a unique code per item sold, for example BIS-SAB-01. It avoids confusion in stock and orders.

Simple or variable product

  • A simple product has a single price and a single stock: a box of shortbread cookies.
  • A variable product offers options: a chocolate hazelnut spread in a 250 g or 400 g jar. Each variation has its own price, SKU and stock.

In WooCommerce: Products > Add New, then in the Product data box, choose Simple product or Variable product. For a variable product, create the attribute (Attributes tab, tick Used for variations), then generate the variations and fill in each one. In Shopify, you add options in the product page, which generate the variants.

Writing a product page that sells

A product page answers the questions a customer would ask at the counter:

  1. A clear title: “All-butter shortbread box (20 pieces)” rather than “Gourmet box”.
  2. A short description (visible near the buy button): the essentials in two sentences.
  3. A long description: composition, weight or quantity, storage, allergens for a food product, usage tips.
  4. Photos: several views, neutral background, natural light, resized image with alt text.
  5. Price displayed including tax for consumers, and optionally a sale price with dates.
  6. SKU, category and optional tags.

For food and some other products, certain information is mandatory (product name, allergens, storage conditions…): check the regulations for your sector with official sources or your trade organization.

Start small

Ten impeccable products are better than a hundred pages with no photo. Put your best sellers online, watch the customers’ questions, then expand. Preview each page on mobile: most visitors of a small shop browse products there.

Exercises

Solutions and tests stay on the server. In the student space, your code is run and checked, and the tutor gives hints before the solution.

  1. TaskDifficulty 22 hints

    Enter the starting catalog

    Create the following three products in your test store (fictional data):

    Nom;Type;Categorie;Prix (EUR, fictif);UGS;Stock;Livraison
Coffret sablés pur beurre;simple;Biscuits;12,00;BIS-SAB-01;20;expédiable
Pâte à tartiner noisette;variable (250 g / 400 g);Épicerie fine;7,50 / 11,00;EPI-TAR-250 / EPI-TAR-400;15 / 10;expédiable
Pain au levain 1 kg;simple;Pains;5,20;PAI-LEV-1K;non suivi;retrait en boutique uniquement
    1. Create the categories Biscuits, Épicerie fine and Pains.
    2. Create the simple product Coffret sablés pur beurre with its price, its SKU and tracked stock of 20.
    3. Create the variable product Pâte à tartiner noisette with the attribute Contenance (250 g, 400 g) and its two variations.
    4. Create the product Pain au levain 1 kg without stock tracking.
    5. For each product, write a short description and a long description (composition, allergens, storage).
    • The store shows 3 products spread across 3 categories
    • The spread offers a choice of size that changes the displayed price (7,50 or 11,00)
    • All the SKUs are different (4 SKUs: 1 for the box, 2 for the variations, 1 for the bread)
    • The box's stock is 20 and the variations' stock is 15 and 10

  2. Multiple choiceDifficulty 11 hint

    Simple or variable?

    A craftsperson sells a soap in three scents at the same price, with a different stock for each scent. How should it be created?

    • A simple product with the scent in the description
    • A variable product with a Scent attribute and three variations
    • Three different categories
    • A single product with no stock

  3. Multiple choiceDifficulty 21 hint

    WooCommerce or Shopify

    An association already has a WordPress site maintained by a competent volunteer and wants to sell a few products. Which option is the most consistent?

    • Create a Shopify account and abandon the site
    • Add WooCommerce to the existing WordPress site
    • Sell only by mail
    • Create a second, empty WordPress site

End-of-lesson quiz

  1. What is a SKU?

    • A unique code that identifies an item sold
    • A shipping method
    • A tax

  2. Who handles the hosting and security of a Shopify store?

    • The merchant alone
    • The Shopify platform
    • The customer

  3. What should the description of a food product contain?

    • Only the price
    • Composition, allergens, storage, quantity
    • The name of the packaging supplier

The rest of the course

  1. Payment and shipping15 min
  2. Taxes and legal obligations15 min
  3. Orders and stock15 min
  4. Measuring sales15 min
Build my pathSee the full syllabus

Online Store with WooCommerce or Shopify · Beginner · 1 h 20 min