WooCommerce 4.1 – Key Features & Improvements with Screenshots

Following the release of WooCommerce 4.0 in March 2020, the WooCommerce team is back again with the new and latest version of the eCommerce platform, 4.1. Where version 4.0 was the first major release of this year, on the other hand, version 4.1 is the first minor release of 2020, keeping things backward compatible with the last version.

No matter if you’re a merchant or developer, WooCommerce 4.1 brings something for everyone. Let’s check out in detail what’s new in WooCommerce 4.1!

For Merchants

#A Brand-New Marketing Hub

In today’s highly competitive online marketplace, every store owner needs proven ways to acquire more customers and drive store growth faster. Keeping the necessity of marketing in mind, WooCommerce 4.1 comes packed with all the essential tools and resources you need to:

• Promote your products
• Interact with your customers
• Simplify, grow and streamline your business

To help merchants grow their eCommerce business exponentially, WooCommerce 4.1 brings a robust, centralized marketing hub that lives directly inside WooCommerce.

The new marketing tab introduced in WooCommerce 4.1 focuses on:

• Simplification: Facilitating an easy installation, configuration, and management of marketing extensions.
• Curation: Suggesting the right marketing extensions to store owners at the right time.
• Education: Showing relevant articles and marketing guides to help merchants learn the ins and outs of successful eCommerce marketing.

Additionally, extension usage tracking is now possible with the Marketing Hub, allowing you to optimize your integrations based on merchant usage and feedback.

However, if you have already opted-out of Marketplace suggestions, you won’t receive these suggestions.

#A Brand-New Setup Wizard

Starting version 4.1, WooCommerce Payments will be available for all US merchants. That means if you have a Jetpack connected, US-based online store, you’ll be able to use WooCommerce Payments as your payment option. However, WooCommerce Payments is currently available only for US-based stores that transact in USD.

WooCommerce Payments is now available as an option in the updated setup wizard for new US-based stores.

While WooCommerce Payments allows you to accept payments via major cards securely, it also provides you with an integrated payments dashboard. Using this dashboard, you can manage transactions, including payments, charges, refunds, disputes, and deposits, right from your WordPress Admin area.

For Developers

WooCommerce 4.1 brings a plethora of updates and improvements, taking WordPress eCommerce development to a whole new level.

#New Hooks and Functions

WooCommerce 4.1 introduces several new hooks and functions for developers:

#Template File Changes

Template files listed below have been updated:

#Minimum WordPress Version Requirements

WooCommerce 4.1 doesn’t make any change to the minimum WordPress or PHP requirements; however, it recommends the stores not currently running on WordPress 5.2 to upgrade to the latest version of the CMS. That’s because starting WooCommerce 4.2, the minimum required WordPress version for running a WooCommerce store will be 5.2, which is currently 5.0.

Ready to get started?

That’s all about WooCommerce 4.1!

Interested in testing out WooCommerce 4.1? You can either use the WooCommerce Beta Tester plugin or download the WooCommerce from WordPress.org to test it locally on your computer.

If you face trouble updating your store to the new version of WooCommerce, feel free to seek help from our WordPress development experts.