WooCommerce powers over 30% of all online stores worldwide - and for good reason. It is free, built on WordPress, endlessly extensible, and capable of handling everything from a handful of handmade products to a catalogue of thousands of items.
If you already have a WordPress site hosted at dotCanada, adding a full online store is closer than you think.
What Is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that transforms your site into a complete e-commerce platform. It handles product listings, shopping cart functionality, checkout, payment processing, order management, shipping, and taxes - all from within your existing WordPress dashboard.
Because it is open source and self-hosted, you have full control over your store and your data, with no transaction fees taken by the platform itself (unlike some hosted e-commerce solutions).
Installing WooCommerce
From your WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New and search for "WooCommerce." Install and activate the plugin from Automattic.
When activated, WooCommerce launches a setup wizard that walks you through the initial configuration. It takes about 10 minutes and covers your store location, currency, payment methods, and shipping. You can always adjust these settings later.
Configuring Your Store for Canada
Getting the Canadian-specific settings right from the start will save you headaches later.
Currency: Go to WooCommerce > Settings > General and set the currency to Canadian Dollar (CAD). This ensures all prices display correctly for your customers.
Shipping Zones: Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping and set up shipping zones for Canada. Create a zone for Canada with the flat rate or free shipping methods you want to offer. If you ship to the US or internationally, add additional zones for those regions.
Tax Settings: Canada has GST, HST, and PST depending on province. WooCommerce handles Canadian taxes through its built-in tax settings under WooCommerce > Settings > Tax. Enable taxes, set prices as exclusive of tax (recommended), and then configure tax rates by province. You can also use a plugin like TaxJar or Avalara for automatic Canadian tax calculations if your store operates across multiple provinces.
Adding Your First Products
Go to Products > Add New to create your first product. Every product needs:
- A title and description
- A product image (and optionally a gallery of additional images)
- A price (and sale price if applicable)
- A product category
For physical products, enable Shipping and enter the weight and dimensions so WooCommerce can calculate shipping rates accurately.
For digital products, check the Virtual and Downloadable boxes and upload your file. No shipping options will appear at checkout.
Once saved, your product is live in your store.
Choosing a Payment Gateway
Your payment gateway determines how customers pay you. WooCommerce supports dozens of options.
Stripe is the most popular choice for Canadian merchants. It accepts all major credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, with no monthly fee - just a per-transaction rate. The official WooCommerce Stripe plugin is free.
PayPal is widely trusted by Canadian shoppers and straightforward to connect. Many customers appreciate seeing the PayPal option at checkout.
Interac e-Transfer is unique to Canada and preferred by customers who are cautious about entering card details online. WooCommerce does not natively support Interac e-Transfer automation, but you can offer it as a manual payment option - customers pay via e-Transfer and you manually mark orders as paid upon receipt.
For most Canadian stores starting out, offering both Stripe and PayPal covers the vast majority of customer preferences.
Going Live
Before you launch, run through this checklist:
- Place a test order using a real card (then refund yourself) to confirm checkout works end to end
- Review your order confirmation email to make sure it looks professional and contains the right information
- Check that your shipping rates and tax calculations display correctly at checkout
- Confirm your SSL certificate is active - shoppers will not trust a store without the padlock in the browser
- Set up your legal pages: Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Refund Policy
Once everything checks out, announce your store to your audience and start selling. WooCommerce grows with you - add new payment gateways, inventory management, subscriptions, and more as your needs evolve.
