In this article, I will show you how to create your CBD store with WooCommerce and guide you on a few things to take into consideration too.
Slowly different countries and states are approving the use of CBD, you will have to check with your local authority for any specific restriction that might affect your business. The first thing is the eCommerce platform and payment processors. So, read this guide ahead and figure out how to build CBD and cannabis stores in a few easy steps.
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Selling CBD and cannabis products with WooCommerce
Until recently Woocommerce.com prohibited the sale of these products on stores launched directly through their website. However, they have since made a u-turn on this restriction following a partnership with Square payment processor.
So you can now create your store on WooCommerce with very little restriction and impose, nor will they delete your store. So, you can use WooCommerce to create a CBD store.
Pro tip: When creating your store however we recommend installing WooCommerce directly from your dashboard or WordPress.org, we’ll cover this further in the article.
CBD Payment Processors for the USA and Europe
To receive payments related to CBD, you have to test different third-party payment processors. We have to test them to see which one doesn’t restrict payments. We have two alternatives when it comes to payment processors for CBD online stores. There are two payment options - Viva Wallet and Square.
For US Sellers: Now, if you are planning to open an online store in the US, then Square allows you to do it without any restrictions. They have a program that approves and reviews eCommerce stores selling CBD and cannabis using their payment processor. Still, they will check your store to see if you aren’t violating their terms and services.
For EU Sellers: Suppose you are planning to sell CBD outside the US or in Europe, you have a payment alternative called Viva Wallet. Unfortunately, Viva Wallet is currently supported in a few countries like Greece, Portugal, Italy, France, and Poland.
So, you can choose accordingly and go with it. Read the next section to figure out how to build a CBD WooCommerce store.
How to Build a CBD WooCommerce Store?
Follow the given steps to build a CBD WooCommerce store.
Step 1: Get A CBD Friendly Hosting
There are many CBD-friendly hostings present out there. Check the CBD and cannabis friendly hostings below.
Digital Octane CBD-Friendly Website Hosting: Digital Octane CBD hosting is the most recommended CBD hosting. It is the best option for both small and large websites. Besides, their CBD hosting is affordable and best for all types of businesses. Check Digital Octane CBD Hosting.
Kynd Host: It is a popular CBD-friendly hosting suitable for small and large businesses. They offer great services at an effective price. Kynd Host offers multiple kinds of hostings like shared hostings, WordPress hosting, and VPN hosting.
Weed Hosts: Weed CBD hosting service has been awarded as one of the best cannabis hosting service providers by Global Health and Farma News. You can host multiple CBD-based WordPress websites. Check Weed Hosts
These are some CBD-friendly website hostings. You can look at the above options and check their features and pricing.
Step 2. Install and Activate WordPress + WooCommerce
After choosing CBD-friendly web hosting, the next step is to install and activate WordPress and WooCommerce on your web hosting. After getting the hosting, you will need to install WordPress. Nowadays, all web hosts let you install WordPress with one click.
Woosuite has created a free course for you to create a WooCommerce store. In this Woosuite course, we have explained how you can install and activate WordPress and WooCommerce. You can watch this video Here.
Step 3: Install Your Theme
The next step is to install a beautiful and lightweight theme to make your WordPress website look more attractive and stunning. WordPress has a huge library of themes, which you can choose according to your preferences.
I suggest you choose a lightweight and fast-speed theme for your CBD eCommerce store. Otherwise, this can affect your eCommerce store performance. You can try a theme called Flatsome. Most eCommerce store owners use this theme.
To figure out how to install a theme. You can check this tutorial video by clicking here.
Step 4. Configure Your Settings
Now, we performed all the necessary steps. We will now make some necessary changes to our WordPress website. First, we will go through each setting of WooCommerce and configure them. Woosuite has created a tutorial video for this.
You can check this video by clicking here.
Step 5. Install Recommended Plugins
In this section, we will mention some plugins that can help you make your store processes easier and grow faster. In addition, these plugins will help you add some advanced features to your WooCommerce store.
Min/Max Plugin: Minimum and Maximum Quantity Rules is a plugin to set conditional maximum and minimum quantity rules for your WooCommerce store. With the help of this plugin, you can easily set minimum and maximum order quantities for your products. It also lets you select the default quantity on all products or per-product basis. You can also create distinct order quantity rules for different customer groups. It would be best for both B2B and B2C businesses. Besides, it has an easy-to-use interface with powerful features.
Variation Swatches: The Variation Swatches plugin allows us to add variation swatches in a few simple steps. You can show different variations of each product with ease. Variation Swatches Pro by Woosuite includes some advanced features compared to Variation Swatches for WooCommerce.
Product Bundle: The Product Bundle plugin helps us create product bundles in a few easy steps. You can bundle the different products together and sell them at a discount. This plugin offers some advanced features such as you can customize the layout, etc.
Pricing Discount Rules: The Pricing Discount Rule plugin lets you set a Woocommerce default quality on a per-product basis or globally. In addition, you can set advance discount criteria on when and discount should be applied and to whom.
WooCommerce Wholesale Suite: WooCommerce Wholesale Suite includes a bunch of different plugins that help you run your B2B store easily. It includes all types of wholesale plugins to carry out all B2B tasks.
These are the plugins that can help you run a successful CBD online store. Read the following section to read some frequently asked questions on WooCommerce CBD and cannabis stores.
Reliable CBD website hosting
What to Look for in a CBD Hosting Provider
Uptime: A reliable host should have at least 99.99% uptime. Frequent downtimes drive away visitors, hurt your Google ranking, and cost you money. Make sure your hosting plan guarantees minimal downtime.
Scalability: Your hosting should be able to handle sudden spikes in traffic, like during viral moments or holidays. Look for a plan that allows you to scale servers quickly, ideally with one-click scaling.
Backups: Ensure your provider offers automated backups (preferably for free). Even the most secure hosts can experience cyber-attacks, so having regular backups is essential.
Customer Support: Problems happen. Make sure the hosting company offers reliable support (live chat, email, etc.) and can help you resolve issues quickly.
Now that we know the features you should be looking for in your WooCommerce CBD Hosting, let’s dive into the list of best CBD hosting providers.
1. WooCommerce CBD Hosting - WooCart
When it comes to hosting a CBD store, WooCart CBD Hosting is one of the best hosting providers on the internet. This hosting is specifically built for hosting the WooCommerce CBD stores. This hosting has everything you need to start your CBD store.
As the CBD sales are still classified as regulated products; therefore, you need to comply with all the WooCart CBD regulations and sales terms.
Following are the features of WooCart CBD hosting.
- Dedicated Google Cloud Server
Your store will be hosted by Google Compute Engine, the same server that powers Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, and other Google services. So, exceptional performance is guaranteed. - One-Click Auto Scaling Traffic Surge
You can enable the auto-scaling for a limited time to cope with the increased traffic and checkouts. The server will replicate resources as needed, and you will receive a basic cost estimate.
- Automatic Image Smushing and Optimized Image Serving
WooCart compresses photos losslessly on upload, reducing disc usage and loading time. The visitor's browser screen and size are automatically adapted for modern picture formats (WebP).
2. Kinsta
Due to the support and performance factors, Kinsta is also an excellent and popular hosting to host the CBD sites. But it will allow you to host CBD sites as long as they meet the following basic requirements:
- CBD is extracted from hemp with a THC content of less than.3%.
- The hemp utilized in the CBD products was cultivated as part of a controlled hemp growing operation.
- CBD products are frequently evaluated in laboratories.
- You're dedicated to following the law, especially when it comes to CBD products.
It also gives you a 30-days money-back guarantee in case you don’t like the hosting for any reason. Following are the features of Kinsta WooCommerce CBD hosting.
- Free Premium CDN
Kinsta gives you a free premium CDN (Content Delivery Network). It allows you to take cached versions of your website and delivers them to even more data centers, allowing you to use many server locations at once. With this CDN offer, you’ll get at least 50GB of CDN Storage with your plan.
While many providers will let you use a third-party CDN, it's almost always Cloudflare, and it's usually the free plan. Unless you pay for Cloudflare's stronger plans, you'll be restricted significantly.
- Server Performance
Kinsta servers give you an average uptime of 100%. The architecture of Kinsta is based on Google Cloud Platform's premium tier network and the best C2 machines. With WooCommerce cloud hosting, you can further reduce latency by choosing a data center that is nearest to your online traffic. Moreover, they check the uptime of your site 720 times a day. - Customer Support
Website issues can happen at any time, including weekends, evenings, and holidays. Expert assistance is just a click away, which can make the difference even when it comes to dropped sales.
Kinsta's support engineers are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With an average response time of 1 minute and 27 seconds and a close time of 39 minutes, you can rest assured that your website problems will be resolved quickly.
Recommended CBD eCommerce Platforms
Following is a list of some of the best eCommerce platforms to sell CBD online.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free-of-charge WordPress plugin that enables sellers to convert their WordPress self-hosted content management system sites into more of an eCommerce store with functionality similar to Shopify.
More specifically, sellers receive all the tools and features they need to sell their items and monitor their brand worldwide. WooCommerce gives online merchants complete control and customization flexibility over their websites. There is no such thing as WooCommerce shutting down your website.
WooCommerce is a series of open-source files that is usable on a variety of hosting platforms. It is among the key reasons why WooCommerce is a full-featured alternative to Shopify for launching a CBD online store.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a great CBD eCommerce site available online. This website provides the most user-friendly and adaptable platform for retailers to expand their CBD businesses online. It also includes several essential software and tools that you can use to conduct your CBD business smoothly.
BigCommerce provides almost everything CBD businesses could need to establish and grow, from B2B (business-to-business) to B2C (business-to-customer). This company is well-known for harnessing some of the most popular brands. BigCommerce works well for both new ventures and established large-scale CBD business owners.
Furthermore, you can use this platform to launch your digital marketing campaign and turn it into a compelling platform that is ideal for the job.
Shopify
Since 2019, Shopify has permitted CBD sales on its eCommerce platform. And, simply because Shopify is one of the largest eCommerce platforms, with a market share of 32%, it is definitely a platform you want to consider due to the volume of potential customers that use the platform.
Unfortunately, Shopify only allows US-based merchants to sell in certain states and has not developed attestation forms for CBD businesses operating outside of the US.
However, there are many benefits if you are eligible for the platform. You gain access to countless amazing eCommerce features that will help you to with digital operations, such as design templates, integrated shipping, and marketing.
Shift4Shop
CBD has limitless online sales potential, and Shift4Shop comes with the powerful tools you need to set up the ideal online CBD store.
Most importantly, Shift4Shop makes it simple to comply with the law by requiring age verification and accepting payment through the required high-risk payment processors.
Rich categorization makes it easy for your customers to access an ocean of flavors, and product bundles make it simple to offer starter kits and variety packs. Most CBD products need regular replenishment, so you can also offer a subscription service to your customers via this platform.
Wix
Wix is a website builder that offers both free and paid plans. It includes a drag-and-drop feature that makes it simple to create a visually appealing digital store.
The subscription plans are ad-free. However, the free one contains a lot of advertisements and Wix-branded elements. For the best experience, you can upgrade your account from the basic plan to the Wix Business plan.
You can use Wix to sell hemp or hemp-derived CBD products online. Wix has also paired up with third-party CBD payment processors so that you can securely process payments on your site for hemp-derived CBD products.
SpreeCommerce
Spree Commerce enables you to create an eCommerce marketplace platform that hosts products from various vendors. It has the same capabilities as open-source but with all of the SaaS benefits, such as free-of-cost integrations and features, no maintenance or upgrades, and easy scalability.
Spree Commerce enables CBD businesses to grow and operate without the risks, constraints, and uncertainty that many eCommerce service providers and financial firms impose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can You Sell CBD Products On WooCommerce?
A. Yes, WooCommerce supports CBD products, but payment processors have some limitations.
Q. Can You Sell Cannabis On WordPress?
A. WordPress.com doesn’t allow you to create a CBD store. Yet, WordPress.org is a great option to do that.
Q. Can You Sell CBD With Square Payment Processor?
A. Yes, Square allows you to deal with CBD transactions.
A. What is the best host for the cannabis business?
Q. There are a few hosting providers that allow you to host CBD sites. But Kinsta is one of the most popular and best hosting for CBD businesses.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed how you could build CBD and cannabis with ease. We discussed which is the best eCommerce platform. Then we looked at the payment processor we could use. In the end, we mentioned some plugins that can make your online store tasks smooth. So, this is how you can build a CBD and cannabis eCommerce store.
That’s All For This Article.
