WooCommerce 4.0 is officially released to the public today and marks the platforms biggest major release to date.
In development since January 2020, version 4.0 of WooCommerce features a ton of upgrades for the biggest eCommerce solution for WordPress.
What’s new in WooCommerce 4.0?
Before we dive into the features, we will note that 4.0 is a major release. This means that the version is not fully backwards compatible with sites running various versions of WooCommerce 3.x. Therefore, it is recommended to test the upgrade on a staging site before upgrading your live store and creating a backup of your code and database
WooCommerce Admin
With the WooCommerce Admin plugin actively used on more than 1 million stores, the release of WooCommerce 4.0 will see the plugin included in the core by default, meaning there is no need to install an additional Admin plugin.
- New dashboard
- New and improved reports
- Improved notification experience
- New store management tools
The new admin provides improved reporting capabilities than before and adds capabilities for improved customer management and analytics.
Action Scheduler 3.1
One of the fundamental technologies that enabled WooCommerce Admin is Action Schedule – the background job runner already used in WooCommerce core. The new release utilizes custom tables to provide a great experience even on stores with large volumes of orders and posts in the database.
New Onboarding Experience
Starting a shop can be a complex and confusing experience for some, and so WooCommerce have unveiled a new onboarding experience to help get your shop up and running faster and with greater ease.
Extra Interface Updates
In addition to the new WooCommerce admin, you will find the following enhancements in 4.0:
- Visual Enhancement to the Order edit screen
- Latest fixes of WooCommerce Blocks package
- Updates related to Brexit and VAT
- Improvements to email handling
- Optimizations for saving variations and Cash on delivery payment gateway
If you need to talk with an expert about implementing a WooCommerce 4.0 powered online store with your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
