Woocommerce isn’t just for ecommerce stores that sell physical products, you can also sell digital products and have your customers download them. It’s a handy system and it’s got all the basics you would need to start a digital download ecommerce website.
While Woocommerce isn’t the only (and might not be the best) digital product selling platform for Wordpress, it’s definitely our favorite and probably the easiest to use and set up. It’s also Free!
Can Woocommerce sell digital products?
Yes, it can! It actually does it really well. If you’re familiar with Woocommerce, the process is pretty similar to selling any product with this system. There are only a few changes in how you create the product and how the customer gets the product.
The basic features are:
- Download links
- Limit download amount
- Accounts required to download
- Download link expiration
How do you create a digital product in Woocommerce?
When creating a new digital product to sell on Woocommerce, fill out the “Product data” section as you would normally for any product. Be sure to enter the price, product title, and description. You’ll notice 2 checkboxes next to where you select the product type - “Virtual” and “Downloadable”.
Virtual is for any product that is intangible and does not need shipping. Downloadable gives the customer access to a file once purchased.
You’ll want to check box of these boxes. When you do, you’ll see that some of the setting options change and some new stuff gets added for you to fill out. Be sure to add your files to the “Downloadable files” section. You may also limit the amount of times a file can be downloaded by one customer and also how long before the download link expires.
Once you publish this product, you’re done! You now have a digital product ready to be purchased and downloaded by your customers.
How does buying a digital product work in Woocommerce for the customer?
The customer goes through the normal purchasing process of adding to cart, checkout, and payment. Where it’s different is that instead of a simple order confirmation email, the customer now gets a confirmation email with a link to download the file or files. Once clicked, they are redirected to your website and the download will start (they must be logged in).
Another way for them to get to the downloads, is through their account on the website. Within the account area, there is a tab for “Downloads”. All downloadable digital products will show here where they can download the item.