There are always a few loud voices who like to grumble about WooCommerce. There are always loud voices about everything. It is one of the great constants in life, like gravity or the existence of socks that vanish in the wash.
Back when I ran face to face WordPress training courses, I used to finish the day with the plugins session. This was already the point when half the room was wondering if their brains had turned into warm porridge. Then I would say, very casually, that we were going to build an online store in about five minutes.
Five minutes.
People would stare at me the way you stare at a magician who claims he can pull a live alpaca out of a hat. Then I would open WooCommerce, click a few buttons, and boom. Store.
Every time I did this, the reaction was the same. Gasps. Shock. The kind of expressions normally reserved for witnessing a royal wedding or discovering a forgotten doughnut in the kitchen.
It is easy to forget how life changing WooCommerce has been for millions of people. You see it up close though and you never forget it. Something that takes roughly as long as making a cup of tea suddenly gives someone a shot at independence or a way to support their family or a reason to believe that their idea might actually work. That isn’t just impressive. It is the sort of quiet magic that changes the course of real lives.