WooCommerce 4.0 has been out for a little while now – have you upgraded? The primary focus of this update is to transition towards a more React-driven experience so that store owners can better leverage the power of WordPress.

Not a technical person? No worries, you’ll enjoy a more efficient workflow as the result of an improved management panel and new reporting features.

Many site owners were previously running the WooCommerce Admin add-on released in 2018 into WooCommerce Core, which includes:

• Enhanced reporting tools and analytics
• Simplified notifications
• Improved store management tools

Let’s take a look at some items of interest which have changed in 4.0

Learn how your site is performing with analytics and reporting tools built into the WooCommerce dashboard

The biggest new feature included in WooCommerce 4.0 is WooCommerce Admin, a modern, Javascript-driven way to manage your online store. While you may already be familiar with this from the standalone offering of the past, it is now available to everyone automatically and built directly into WooCommerce core. Many store owners have complained in the past about the lack of robust reporting within WooCommerce. This aims to correct that.

Here are a few key elements that will save you you time and increase transparency:

A streamlined dashboard

WooCommerce Admin was built around a new, central dashboard, designed to simplify your workflow. Customize reports to fit the needs of your store — set specific date ranges, choose how charts are displayed, categorize information, and show only the data that’s important to you.

Do you have multiple users? Settings are stored on a per-user basis, so each member of your team can quickly find the information they’re looking for.

Improved reporting with 14 different data points

Collecting and interpreting data helps you reduce costs, optimize supply management, and increase sales. WooCommerce 4.0 offers a reporting feature with a quick overview of how your store is performing.

Several different data points are now available including total sales, net sales, orders, average order value, returns, shipping, and downloads.

You can also access 12 new reports, quickly filter data, compare date periods, and download CSV files. Reports include:

• Revenue
• Orders
• Stock
• Coupons
• Customers

Make the most of your data with advanced filters and adjust reports based on specific customers, numeric values, emails, and countries.

Time-saving store management tools and notifications

The new Activity Panel helps you quickly access the management tools you use most often. It includes an inbox system that simplifies notifications — no more weeding through information you don’t need!

With just one click, you can view:

• Orders: view recent order data (status, total, customer name, time completed, etc.) and navigate to fulfillment with the click of a button
• Stock: see which products and variations are out of stock or running low
• Reviews: keep an eye on reviews and respond if needed
• Notices: get reminders for additional tasks that should be addressed

Using notifications, you can now get an overview of tasks that need your attention without having to leave the dashboard.

Build faster stores with updated technology

WooCommerce 4.0 upgrades the Action Scheduler library to Action Scheduler 3.0. This brings a new database structure, includes custom tables for scheduled actions, and reduces the load on database tables.

How does this affect your website? Expect your store to run smoother and faster, even when scaling.

While Action Scheduler 3.0 remains compatible with previous releases, we do recommend performing a full backup of your website before updating.

What have you found most exciting about with WooCommerce 4.0? Let us know in the comments!