How to Use WooCoommerce as a SaaS Platform like Shopify?

WooCommerce is a well-known eCommerce plugin that turns the popular blogging platform WordPress into an ecommerce platform. Whereas Shopify and Wix, are SaaS (software-as-a-service) eCommerce solutions, which are made specifically to help people establish online shops easily.

WooCommerce, by default, is not designed as a SaaS-based platform like Shopify. However, there are ways to offer WooCommerce as a SaaS solution by building a custom infrastructure around it.

The multisite functionality of WordPress can be used to use WooCommerce as a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform.

For this, you will need to set up a multi-site installation of WordPress and network activation of WooCommerce. This allows you to create separate instances of WooCommerce for different users or clients, effectively turning it into a SaaS solution.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

Step 1 – Set up a WordPress Multi-Site Installation:

Install WordPress on your server or use a hosting provider that supports WordPress multi-site installations.

Enable the multisite functionality in the wp-config.php.

define( 'MULTISITE', true );
define( 'SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true );
define( 'DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'MY Site' );
define( 'PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/' );
define( 'SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );
define( 'BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );

For a detailed reference, Follow the instructions provided by Webkul WordPress Multi-Site Blog to enable multi-site functionality.

Step 2 – Install WooCommerce:

Once the multi-site setup is complete, install and activate the WooCommerce plugin on the main network site.

Configure the basic settings of WooCommerce according to your requirements.

Step 3 – Enable Network Activation:

From the Network Admin Dashboard, go to “Plugins” and activate WooCommerce for the entire network.

This allows all the individual sites within the network to use WooCommerce.

Step 4 – Create New Sites:

From the Network Admin Dashboard, navigate to “Sites” and click on “Add New” to create new sites for your clients or users.

Each site will have its own subdomain or directory, depending on your multi-site configuration.

Step 5 – Customize and Configure Individual Sites:

Access the dashboard of each individual site by logging in with the respective site’s admin credentials.

Configure the settings of WooCommerce for each site according to the specific requirements of your clients or users.

Step 6 – Manage Users and Access:

You can create user accounts for your clients or users, allowing them to access and manage their individual WooCommerce instances. Define user roles and permissions to control what actions each user can perform within their site.

Step 7 – Maintain and Update:

Monitor and maintain the server infrastructure to ensure reliable and efficient SaaS operations.

Drawbacks And the Alternative Approach

However, the above procedure is cumbersome and thus not user-friendly. It requires a lot of manual follow-up from the admin end to register users, Billing and Subscriptions, Store Creation and Management.

Alternatively, The WooCommerce Multi-Company SaaS plugin by Webkul streamlines the whole process of managing users, store creation, setting up subscription plans for your SaaS platform and billing the users.

By using this plugin you can easily manage the users and their corresponding plans. The plugin provides the capability for the admin to create subscription plans for the SaaS platform.

The merchant can register for the SaaS platform through a registration form appearing at the customer’s end.

The merchant can then purchase any of the plans to create his store.

Conclusion

Summing up, it’s important to note that turning WooCommerce into a SaaS platform requires technical expertise and server management capabilities. You need to handle user management, account provisioning, billing, and support, among other aspects of running a SaaS business.

The above-mentioned plugin provides a ready-made SaaS-based solution for WooCommerce.

You can purchase the WooCommerce SAAS plugin from Codecanyon. For a complete reference of the plugin, you can read the WooCommerce Multi Company SaaS guide.