How to Add Product Quantity in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
So, you’ve set up your WooCommerce store and are ready to sell! Fantastic! One of the first things you’ll likely need to understand is how to manage product quantities. Properly managing your inventory is crucial for avoiding overselling, disappointing customers, and ultimately, ensuring a smooth and profitable business. Think of it like this: imagine running a bakery and promising 50 croissants when you only baked 20. Not a good look, right? WooCommerce makes managing your stock levels relatively straightforward. Let’s dive in!
Why Managing Product Quantity Matters
Before we get into the “how,” let’s quickly touch on the “why.” Imagine you’re selling handmade jewelry. Each piece is unique, and you only create a limited number of each design. If you don’t accurately track your stock, you might:
- Sell items you don’t have: This leads to cancelled orders, refunds, and unhappy customers.
- Miss out on potential sales: If a popular item is out of stock but you haven’t updated the listing, customers might assume you no longer sell it.
- Lose control of your inventory: Without proper tracking, you won’t know which products are selling well and which ones aren’t, hindering your business decisions.
- “Do not allow”: Customers cannot order the product if it’s out of stock.
- “Allow, but notify customer”: Customers can order the product, but they’ll see a message letting them know it’s on backorder.
- “Allow”: Customers can order the product without any notification. Use this cautiously!
- Small Red: 10
- Small Blue: 5
- Small Green: 8
- Medium Red: 12
- Medium Blue: 7
- Medium Green: 9
- Large Red: 6
- Large Blue: 4
- Large Green: 11
- WooCommerce Stock Manager: Allows you to manage stock levels for all products and variations from a single screen. This is a huge time-saver.
- ATUM Inventory Management: A comprehensive inventory management system with features like purchase orders, stocktaking, and multi-location inventory. Suitable for larger businesses with complex inventory needs.
- TradeGecko (Now QuickBooks Commerce): A cloud-based inventory management system that integrates with WooCommerce. Offers advanced features like order management, shipping, and reporting. Best for growing businesses that need a complete solution.
- Regularly update your stock levels: Make it a habit to update your inventory after each sale.
- Use a barcode scanner: If you have a physical store, a barcode scanner can significantly speed up the inventory process.
- Automate where possible: Explore plugins that can automate tasks like sending low stock notifications or updating stock levels based on sales.
- Analyze your sales data: Identify your best-selling products and make sure you always have enough stock on hand.
Adding Product Quantity to Simple Products
For simple products (products without variations like size or color), managing quantity is super easy:
1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard: This is your control center for your website.
2. Navigate to Products: In the left-hand menu, find “Products” and click on it.
3. Edit the Product: Find the product you want to edit and click on “Edit” below its name.
4. Go to the “Inventory” Tab: Scroll down to the “Product data” meta box (usually below the main Read more about How To Connect Woocommerce To Ontraport product description) and click on the “Inventory” tab.
5. Enable “Manage stock?”: Check the box next to “Manage stock?”. This is the key to controlling your inventory within WooCommerce.
6. Enter the “Stock quantity”: In the “Stock quantity” field, enter the number of units you have in stock. For example, if you have 15 handmade bracelets, enter “15”.
7. (Optional) Set “Allow backorders?”: This option lets you decide what happens when you run out of stock. You can choose:
8. (Optional) Enter “Low stock threshold”: This is the quantity at which you’ll receive an email notification that your stock is running low. This helps you proactively restock popular items. For example, setting this to “5” means you’ll get an email when you have only 5 bracelets left.
9. Update the Product: Click the “Update” button at the top right of the screen to save your changes.
That’s it! You’ve successfully added a product quantity to a simple product.
Adding Product Quantity to Variable Products
Variable products are products with different attributes, like size, color, or material. Managing the quantity for each variation requires a little more attention:
1. Follow steps 1-4 from the “Simple Products” section above.
2. Go to the “Variations” Tab: Click on the “Variations” tab within the “Product data” meta box.
3. Select “Create variations from all attributes”: This option will automatically generate variations based on the attributes you’ve already defined (e.g., size and color). If you haven’t set up attributes yet, you’ll need to do that first.
4. Click “Go”: A prompt will appear asking if you’re sure you want to create variations. Click “OK.”
5. Expand Each Variation: Click on the arrow next to each variation to expand it and reveal its settings.
6. Enable “Manage stock?”: Just like with simple products, check the box next to “Manage stock?” for each individual variation.
7. Enter the “Stock quantity”: Enter the number of units you have in stock for that specific variation. For example, if you have 8 small blue shirts, enter “8” for the “Small Blue” variation.
8. (Optional) Set “Allow backorders?” and “Low stock threshold” for each variation. The same principles apply as with simple products.
9. Update the Product: Click the “Update” button at the top right of the screen to save your changes.
For example, imagine you are selling t-shirts in different sizes (Small, Medium, Large) and colors (Red, Blue, Green). You would need to set the stock quantity for each combination:
Using Plugins for Advanced Inventory Management
While WooCommerce’s built-in inventory management is sufficient for many small businesses, you might need more advanced features as your business grows. Consider these options:
Tips for Effective Stock Management
By following these steps and tips, you can effectively manage your product quantity in WooCommerce and avoid the common pitfalls of overselling and stockouts. Good luck, and happy selling!
