WooCommerce Variable Pricing: A Beginner’s Guide
So, you want to sell products with different options and prices on your WooCommerce store? Maybe you’re selling t-shirts in various sizes and colors, each with a different cost. Or perhaps you offer subscriptions with varying durations. That’s where variable products and variable pricing come in! This guide will walk you through setting them up in WooCommerce, even if you’re a complete beginner.
Why Use Variable Products?
Think about this scenario: you sell handmade leather wallets. You offer them in three colors: brown, black, and tan. Instead of creating three separate product pages (one for each color), you can create a single “Leather Wallet” product and use variations for each color.
Here’s why that’s beneficial:
- Better Customer Experience: Everything is on one page, making it easier for customers to see all options and choose what they want. They don’t have to click back and forth between multiple product pages.
- Improved SEO: One well-optimized product page is better than multiple fragmented pages. You concentrate your SEO efforts on one main product instead of spreading them thinly across several.
- Easier Management: You only have one product to manage instead of several. Changes to the product description, images, or general information only need to be done once.
- Inventory Tracking: You can track the stock levels of each variation independently. So, you can know exactly how many brown wallets you have left, even if the black and tan wallets are still plentiful.
- Click “Add new attribute”.
- Give the attribute a name (e.g., “Color”).
- Enter the values (e.g., “Brown”, “Black”, “Tan”). Separate them with a vertical bar `|`. So, it would look like: `Brown | Black | Tan`.
- Crucially, check the “Used for variations” box. This tells WooCommerce that these attributes are used to create variations.
- Click “Save attributes”.
- From the “Add variation” dropdown, you have several options:
- “Create variations from all attributes”: This is the most common option. It automatically creates all possible combinations of your attributes. If you have two attributes, each with three values, it will create nine variations.
- “Add variation”: Allows you to create each variation manually. This is useful if you don’t need all possible combinations (e.g., you don’t offer a Small Red T-shirt).
- Other options: Offer more fine-grained control, but are less frequently used.
- Select “Create variations from all attributes” and click “Go”. WooCommerce will display a message saying how many variations it created.
- Each variation will now appear as a collapsible row.
- Image: Add an image that corresponds to the variation. For a Brown Wallet variation, upload a picture of the brown wallet. This is vital for visual clarity.
- SKU: Enter a unique Stock Keeping Unit for each variation. This helps with inventory management.
- Manage stock?: If checked, allows you to specify a stock quantity for just this variation.
- Regular price: Enter the regular price of the variation. This is the base price.
- Sale price: If the variation is on sale, enter the sale price.
- Weight and Dimensions: Specify the weight and dimensions if they differ between variations.
- Shipping class: Select if a certain variation requires a specific shipping class.
- Description: Add a specific description for the variation (optional).
- The Importance of Images: High-quality images are crucial, especially for variable products. Customers need to see what they’re buying.
- Manage Stock Effectively: Keep track of your inventory. WooCommerce can help you avoid selling products you don’t have in stock.
- Variation Swatches: Consider using a plugin that allows you to display variations as color swatches or images instead of dropdown menus. This can significantly improve the user experience. Some popular options are “Variation Swatches for WooCommerce” and “WooCommerce Variation Swatches.”
- Performance: If you have a *large* number of variations (hundreds or thousands), it can impact your website’s performance. Consider using plugins that optimize variable product display and loading.
- Coding for Customizations (Optional): For advanced customizations, you can use code. For example, you might want to dynamically change the product description based on the selected variation.
Setting Up Your First Variable Product
Let’s go through the process step-by-step:
1. Create a New Product (or Edit an Existing One): In your WordPress dashboard, go to Products -> Add New (or Products -> All Products and then Edit).
2. Set the Product Type to “Variable product”: In the “Product data” section, find the dropdown menu and select “Variable product”. This is the crucial step that unlocks the variable pricing functionality.
[Product type]
3. Create Attributes: Think of attributes as the characteristics that make your variations different (e.g., color, size, material). Go to the “Attributes” tab.
Example: Let’s say you’re selling T-shirts with Size and Color attributes. You would create two attributes: “Size” (values: Small | Medium | Large) and “Color” (values: Red | Blue | Green). Remember to check Read more about How To Get Woocommerce Product Category Image “Used for variations” for both!
4. Create Variations: Now, let’s turn those attributes into actual variations. Go to the “Variations” tab.
Learn more about Woocommerce How To Make Things Required
5. Configure Each Variation: For each variation, click the dropdown arrow to expand it. Here’s where you set the specific details:
Example: For the “Small Red T-shirt” variation, you would upload a picture of a small red t-shirt, set the price to $15, and perhaps add a description saying “This small red t-shirt is made from 100% cotton.”
6. Save Changes: Once you’ve configured all your variations, click “Save changes” at the bottom of the “Variations” tab.
7. Publish/Update Product: Finally, publish or update your product.
Important Considerations and Advanced Tips
/**
function custom_variation_description( $description, $product ) {
if ( is_product() && $product->is_type( ‘variable’ Explore this article on How To Insert Code Under Woocommerce Single Prodcut ) ) {
global $post;
$variation_id = $_REQUEST[‘variation_id’]; //Get the variation ID
if( $variation_id ){
$variation = wc_get_product( $variation_id ); // Get the product variation object
$variation_description = $variation->get_description(); // Get the variation description
if ( !empty( $variation_description ) ) {
return $variation_description; // Return the variation description.
}
}
}
return $description; // Returns the product description (in case there is no variation selected)
}
Disclaimer: This code is a starting point and may need adjustments depending on your theme and specific requirements. Always test code in a staging environment before deploying it to your live site.
Example: Coffee Beans
Let’s say you sell coffee beans. You offer them in different Roast Levels (Light, Medium, Dark) and Bag Sizes (1lb, 2lb, 5lb).
- Attribute 1: Roast Level (Values: Light | Medium | Dark)
- Attribute 2: Bag Size (Values: 1lb | 2lb | 5lb)
You would then create nine variations (all possible combinations) and set the prices accordingly. A 1lb bag of Light Roast might be $12, while a 5lb bag of Dark Roast might be $50. You can even upload different images for each roast level to show the visual differences.
Conclusion
Variable pricing in WooCommerce is a powerful tool for selling a wide range of products with different options and prices. By following these steps, you can create a better shopping experience for your customers, improve your SEO, and manage your inventory more efficiently. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works best for your store! Good luck!
