How to Create Gift Cards in WooCommerce Without a Plugin: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
Gift cards have become an essential part of online shopping. They not only offer convenience to the shopper but also increase the sales for the store. If you’re using WooCommerce for your online store, you might be wondering how to create gift cards without using a plugin. In this article, we will guide you through the process step by step. With a bit of coding knowledge, you can achieve this easily. Let’s start!
Understanding the Basics of Gift Cards
Before we dive into the process, it’s important to understand the basics. A gift card is essentially a prepaid store value money card. Customers can purchase these cards for themselves or as a gift for others. The recipient can then use this card to buy products from your store. The value of the gift card gets deducted from their total purchase amount.
The Prerequisites
- A WooCommerce store
- Basic knowledge of PHP and WooCommerce hooks
Step 1: Creating a New Product Type
Firstly, we need to create a new product type for our gift cards. We can do this by adding a custom function to our theme’s functions.php file. This function will register a new product type called ‘giftcard’.
“`php
function register_giftcard_product_type() {
class WC_Product_Gift_Card extends WC_Product {
public function __construct( $product ) {
$this->product_type = ‘giftcard’;
parent::__construct( $product );
}
}
}
add_action( ‘init’, ‘register_giftcard_product_type’ );
“`
This simple code snippet creates a new product type ‘giftcard’. Now you can add gift cards as a new product in your WooCommerce store.
Step 2: Setting up the Gift Card Value
Once you’ve added a gift card as a product, you’ll need to set its value. This is the amount that will be debited from the user’s total purchase amount when they use the gift card. You can set this up by adding custom fields to the product data meta box. Here’s how you can do it:
“`php
function add_giftcard_product_data_fields() {
echo ‘
‘;
}
add_action( ‘woocommerce_product_options_general_product_data’, ‘add_giftcard_product_data_fields’ );
“`
This code adds a new field to the product data meta box where you can enter the gift card value.
Step 3: Processing the Gift Card Purchase
After setting up the gift card value, you will need to process the gift card purchase. You can do this by generating a unique code for each gift card purchase and then send this code to the buyer. You can achieve this by using WooCommerce’s ‘woocommerce_new_order’ hook.
Creating gift cards in WooCommerce without a plugin might seem a bit challenging at first. But with some basic knowledge of PHP and WooCommerce hooks, you can easily set up your own gift card system. And the best part? You have full control over the entire process and can customize it to fit your specific needs. Start creating your gift cards today and boost your online sales!
Remember: Always back up your site before making any changes to the code. This will ensure you can easily revert back if something goes wrong.
