Woocommerce How To Make Sitewide Sale

WooCommerce: Your Guide to Running a Sitewide Sale (Even If You’re a Beginner!)

Want to boost sales and get rid of old inventory? A sitewide sale in your WooCommerce store is a powerful weapon. But where do you even start? Don’t worry! This guide will walk you through the easiest and most effective ways to create a sitewide sale in WooCommerce, even if you’re completely new to the platform.

Why Run a Sitewide Sale?

Think of a sitewide sale like a giant “CLEARANCE” banner hanging over your entire online shop. It creates a sense of urgency and excitement, tempting customers to buy NOW. Here’s why it’s a good idea:

Boost Sales: This is the obvious one! A sitewide discount makes your products more attractive and encourages purchases. Think of Black Friday – everyone’s rushing to get those deals!
Clear Inventory: Got items that aren’t selling? A sale can help you move them out the door to make room for new stock. Imagine you’re selling summer clothes in October – a sale will help you clear them before winter hits.
Attract New Customers: Sales attract attention! New visitors might stumble upon your store specifically because of the discounted prices.
Increase Brand Awareness: A successful sale can get people talking about your store, increasing your brand visibility.
Improve Cash Flow: Selling more, even at a discount, is better than not selling at all. It frees up cash for reinvestment in your business.

Method 1: The Built-in WooCommerce Sale Price Feature (The Easiest!)

WooCommerce has a built-in feature to set a “sale price” for individual products. While this isn’t *technically* a sitewide sale in one click, you can quickly apply it across your entire catalog.

Here’s how:

1. Navigate to Products: Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on “Products” -> “All Products.”

2. Use Bulk Actions:

Option A (Quick Edit): Hover over a product title and click “Quick Edit.” You’ll see fields for “Sale Price” and “Regular Price.” Enter your discounted price in the “Sale Price” field. Repeat this for each product. This is good for simple discounts.
Option B (Bulk Edit): Check the boxes next to all the products you want to include in the sale. Choose “Edit” from the “Bulk Actions” dropdown menu and click “Apply.”

3. Set the Sale Price (Bulk Edit): In the bulk edit screen, find the “Sale Price” section.

Choose the “Change to…” option from the dropdown.
Enter the fixed price you want for ALL selected products if you want them all to be the same price (unlikely, but useful in some cases).
OR, use plugins for percentage discounts. WooCommerce doesn’t natively support percentage discounts for bulk edit. Skip ahead to Method 3!

4. Update Your Products: Click the “Update” button to save your changes.

Why this works: This method is simple and doesn’t require any plugins initially. It’s a good starting point for small stores.

Example: Let’s say you sell t-shirts. A regular t-shirt costs $20. You want to offer a $5 discount. In the “Sale Price” field, you enter $15.

Method 2: Using WooCommerce Coupons for a Sitewide Discount

Coupons are another great way to offer a sitewide sale, and they provide more flexibility than just setting sale prices. You can control when the sale starts and ends, and you can customize the coupon to apply to specific categories or products (if you don’t want a *true* sitewide sale).

Steps:

1. Go to Marketing -> Coupons: In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to “Marketing” and then “Coupons.”

2. Add a New Coupon: Click the “Add Coupon” button.

3. Configure Your Coupon:

Coupon Code: Create a memorable and relevant coupon code (e.g., “SUMMER20”, “SAVE15”).
Discount Type:
Percentage Discount: This applies a percentage off the entire order. This is often the easiest and most attractive for customers.
Fixed Cart Discount: Reduces the total cart value by a fixed amount (e.g., $10 off).
Coupon Amount: Enter the discount percentage or fixed amount.
Allow Free Shipping: Enable if you want the coupon to include free shipping.
Coupon Expiry Date: Set a date for the coupon to expire, creating a sense of urgency.

4. Usage Restrictions (Important!):

Minimum Spend: Set a minimum order amount required to use the coupon. This encourages customers to buy more.
Maximum Spend: Set a maximum order amount to which the coupon can be applied.
Individual Use Only: Check this box if the coupon cannot be used in conjunction with other coupons.
Exclude Sale Items: LEAVE THIS UNCHECKED if you want the coupon to apply even to items that already have a sale price (for a double discount!).
Products: If you *don’t* want a sitewide sale, you can select specific products to apply the coupon to. Leave blank for sitewide.
Exclude Products: If you want to *exclude* certain products, select them here. This is useful for new arrivals or products you don’t want to discount.
Product Categories: Apply the coupon only to products within specific categories. Leave blank for sitewide.
Exclude Categories: Exclude specific categories from the coupon.

5. Usage Limits:

Usage Limit per Coupon: Set the maximum number of times the coupon can be used in total. This is helpful if you want to limit the discount.
Limit Usage to X Items: Limit the number of items the coupon applies to.
Usage Limit per User: Limit the number of times a single customer can use the coupon.

6. Publish Your Coupon: Click the “Publish” Explore this article on How To Process Refunds On Woocommerce button Learn more about How To Setup Woocommerce Shipping to activate the coupon.

Why this works: Coupons provide great control. You can easily set an expiry date to create a limited-time offer. You can also tailor the coupon to certain customer segments.

Example: You create a coupon code “SPRING20” for 20% off all items in your store. You set the expiry date to April 30th. You might also set a minimum spend of $50 to encourage larger purchases.

Method 3: Using Plugins for Sitewide Sales (The Most Powerful)

Plugins are where WooCommerce *really* shines. Several plugins are specifically designed to help you run powerful and flexible sitewide sales. Here are a few options:

Sale Price Scheduler for WooCommerce: This plugin allows you to schedule sales in advance, set percentage discounts, and automatically revert prices to their original values when the sale ends.
Discount Rules for WooCommerce: Offers a wide range of discounting options, including percentage discounts, fixed amount discounts, tiered discounts, and more.
Advanced Coupons for WooCommerce FREE: (or paid): This plugin offers advanced coupon features that are beyond WooCommerce’s standard capabilities.

Why use a plugin? Plugins offer several advantages:

Percentage Discounts: Many built-in methods lack easy percentage discounts.
Scheduling: Set sales to start and end automatically.
Advanced Rules: Create complex discounting rules based on customer roles, product attributes, and more.
Automation: Automate the entire sale process, saving you time and effort.

Here’s a simplified example using Discount Rules for WooCommerce (basic setup):

1. Install and Activate the Plugin: Install and activate “Discount Rules for WooCommerce” from the WordPress plugin repository.

2. Navigate to the Plugin Settings: Go to “WooCommerce” -> “Discount Rules.”

3. Create a New Rule: Click “Add New Rule.”

4. Configure the Rule:

Title: Give your rule a descriptive title (e.g., “20% Off Sitewide”).
Filter: Select “All Products” to make it a sitewide sale.
Discount Type: Choose “Percentage Discount.”
Discount Value: Enter the percentage discount you want to offer (e.g., “20”).
Date Range: Set the start and end dates for the sale.

5. Save the Rule: Click the “Save Rule” button.

 // Example code (Illustrative, doesn't directly run in this context): // This shows conceptually how a plugin might apply a discount. This is NOT copy-pastable code.

// Inside the plugin, on the ‘woocommerce_get_price’ filter:

function apply_sitewide_discount( $price, $product ) {

if ( is_on_sale_period() ) { // Some function to check if sale is active.

$discount_percentage = 0.20; // 20%

$discounted_price = $price – ($price * $discount_percentage);

return $discounted_price;

}

return $price;

}

//add_filter( ‘woocommerce_get_price’, ‘apply_sitewide_discount’, 10, 2 );

Example: You install “Discount Rules for WooCommerce” and create a rule that automatically applies a 15% discount to all products in your store from November 20th to November 27th (for Black Friday!).

Before You Launch Your Sitewide Sale:

Calculate Your Profit Margins: Make sure you’re still making a profit after the discount! Don’t blindly slash prices without understanding your costs.
Update Your Website Banner: Add a prominent banner on your homepage and other key pages to announce the sale.
Email Marketing: Send an email to your subscribers announcing the sale and providing the coupon code (if you’re using one).
Social Media Promotion: Promote your sale on social media platforms, using relevant hashtags (e.g., #sale, #woocommerce, #discount).
Test Your Sale: Thoroughly test the sale process to ensure that the discounts are applied correctly and the checkout process is smooth. Add a product to your cart and go through the entire checkout process.

Conclusion

Running a sitewide sale in WooCommerce doesn’t have to be complicated. By using the Check out this post: How To Send Email From Woocommerce Websites built-in features, coupons, or powerful plugins, you can easily create a successful sale that drives sales, clears inventory, and attracts new customers. Remember to plan your sale carefully, calculate your profit margins, and promote your sale effectively to maximize your results. Good luck!