Why should organizations choose WooCommerce as their online store solution?
If your organization wants a flexible, intuitive, efficient and unique way to present your products - and the story around them - WooCommerce is the best option for an online store by far. That's the opinion of Kristian Sveholm, CEO of digital agency Epilot.

The digital agency Epilot offers consultancy and operational assistance in the operation and marketing of online stores. Dekode and Epilot have worked together for many years - in fact, Epilot actually started as a sister company to Dekode. It eventually became natural for both to separate, but the agencies have continued to work together. "It benefits our customers," says Sveholm.
We share our toolbox
- After many years of good cooperation, you establish a kind of toolbox. We know each other's working methods very well. This makes many development processes smoother," says Sveholm.
Dekode and Epilot have collaborated on a number of projects, including Defa, Kirkens Bymisjon, Redningsselskapet, Nordnorsk Reiseliv, Hardangerbestikk, Kokkeløren and Kagge forlag.
If you're looking for a new solution for your online store, Kristian Sveholm of digital agency Epilot is in no doubt about what pays off - both in terms of cost and user experience.
- A big advantage is when you have a WordPress platform with a WooCommerce online store. Then you get the optimal interaction and can link a lot of editorial content on your website to products in the online store. It's a better interaction, because the online store is also a part of activities related to national initiatives, membership sales and symbolic products," says Sveholm.
The online store should be fit for purpose. The products and what you communicate should be closely linked to the organization's core business.
Kristian Sveholm, Epilot.
He emphasizes that the solution is also easy to understand for editors, and that it gives you the flexibility to create ad hoc projects on the spot - as the Church City Mission did with the Orange Scarf campaign. In the online store, you can read about the campaign, buy yarn, read recipes and buy campaign merch.
WooCommerce is simple and effective
- When it comes to further developing your online store and adding functionality and plug-ins, I also find that WooCommerce is much easier and more cost-effective than other solutions. I've worked with many different platforms, and the majority are complicated systems. If you don't have a large development budget, you'll end up with a lot of bugs," says Sveholm.
He also emphasizes that WooCoomerce is easy and quick to work with for editors. It is both intuitive in terms of pricing and content, and offers good measurement tools for number crunchers who are concerned with the measurable, the statistics.
When products are not the core business
According to Sveholm, you need to think about more than just the products you want to sell in your online store. "You first have to define why you're going to have an online store and what you're going to offer. According to Sveholm, this has been particularly important for organizations and foundations where the store is not the core business, but rather a part of many activities.
- The strategy is to be able to define who we are and what we are. The online store must be fit for purpose. The products and what you communicate must be closely linked to the organization's core business. This is important for the cost of the project, longevity and expectation management," says Sveholm.
He explains that WooCommerce differs from other solutions in that you get the opportunity to use the WordPress publishing system. This allows you to work more with the visual presentation of what you want to sell AND communicate.
- "Having the opportunity to work with more visuals when communicating is, I think, very important, especially when it comes to products that need to say and sell more than just the product itself," says Sveholm, referring to the Church City Mission's online store.
Selling workplaces
The organization has work initiatives in the form of workshops where they produce crafts with the online store as a point of sale. In other words, the organization not only sells the product itself, it also sells jobs.
- There are work initiatives in various care sectors: Substance abuse, the elderly, psychiatry - the online store is solely a workplace for those who, for one reason or another, have fallen outside the ordinary labor market. The purpose - the core business - is to provide work. As long as the online store has sales, jobs are created," says Sveholm.

The Norwegian Lifesaving Society's online store is also among the projects Sveholm refers to, where Dekode has been responsible for the development of the website and online store, with Sveholm as operational advisor. Here, articles are linked to specific products, such as life jackets.
The online store offers safety products related to RS's core business - saving lives. The range of products will increase the safety of customers and simplify the work and everyday life of rescue teams. All profits from the online store go directly to the Rescue Society's humanitarian work.
WooCommerce is suitable for fundraising
According to Sveholm, WooCommerce and fundraising are a good match, both because you are rigged for scaling and needs, but also because you can work editorially with the dissemination of what you want to sell.
- A big advantage of WordPress and WooCommerce is how you can work with images, text and content. You can communicate and customize the content exactly as you want and need. In this type of online store for organizations, you communicate in different ways than you do in a standard online store with products. You can easily explain and communicate that customers are supporting a cause by shopping in the online store," says Sveholm.
Dekode design and code tools in WordPress for clients with long-term digital needs.
We help ours clients with transforming strategies into concrete, measurable digital solutions. Is your company or organization thinking about a new website or online store? Give us a little hint at hei@ dekode , then - and we'll figure it out together.