How To Make Store Show Products In Specific Order Woocommerce

How to Make Your WooCommerce Store Display Products in a Specific Order: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction:

WooCommerce, the leading e-commerce platform for WordPress, offers a powerful and flexible solution for selling online. However, the default product display order might not always align with your marketing strategy or customer experience goals. You might want to showcase bestsellers, new arrivals, promotional items, or products from a specific category first. This article will guide you through various methods to control the order in which your products appear on your WooCommerce store, ultimately improving user engagement and driving sales. We’ll cover methods ranging from the simple drag-and-drop approach to more advanced coding techniques.

Understanding the Need for Custom Product Ordering

Why is custom product ordering so important? Consider these scenarios:

• Highlighting New Arrivals: Immediately showcasing your newest products draws attention and encourages early adoption.
• Boosting Bestsellers: Strategically placing popular items at the top can increase their visibility and drive more sales.
• Promotional Campaigns: Prioritizing discounted or featured products during a campaign emphasizes the offers and captures customer interest.
• Category-Specific Arrangement: Organizing products Check out this post: 2019 How To Print Woocommerce Espon Shipping Labels within categories based on relevance or popularity ensures a more intuitive browsing experience.

By strategically controlling the product order, you can directly influence customer behavior, optimize your sales funnel, and improve overall store performance.

Methods to Customize Product Display Order in WooCommerce

There are several approaches you can take to customize the product display order in your WooCommerce store, each with varying levels of complexity and flexibility.

1. Using WooCommerce’s Default Sorting Options

WooCommerce offers basic sorting options directly within the WordPress admin panel. This is the simplest method, ideal for quick adjustments.

How to use it:

1. Navigate to Products > All Products in your WordPress dashboard.

2. You’ll notice several columns, including “Title,” “Price,” “Categories,” and “Date.” You can click on these column headings to sort your products alphabetically (by title), numerically (by price), categorically, or chronologically (by date). This impacts the order products display in admin area.

Limitations:

• This only affects the *admin* product list, not the front-end display order.
• The front-end product display order based on these factors is controled within the WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Display options and WooCommerce > Customize > WooCommerce > Product Catalog.
• Limited control: You can only sort by these predefined columns.

2. Leveraging the “Menu Order” Attribute (Drag and Drop)

The “Menu Order” attribute allows you to manually drag and drop products into your desired order. This method provides granular control over the product sequence.

How to use it:

1. Navigate to Products > All Products in your WordPress dashboard.

2. Click the “Sorting” tab at the top of the product list.

3. Now you can drag and drop the products to arrange them in your preferred order.

4. The products will be displayed in this order in the shop and category pages.

Pros:

• Easy to use with a visual drag-and-drop interface.
• Precise control over the product order.

Cons:

• Can be time-consuming for stores with a large number of products.
• Requires manual intervention for every product update.

3. Utilizing the “menu_order” Field Directly (Advanced)

For even greater control, you can manually edit the “menu_order” field for each product. This is especially useful for assigning specific positions to products.

How to use it:

1. Navigate to Products > All Products in your WordPress dashboard.

2. Hover over a product and click “Quick Edit.”

3. Locate the “Order” field (this corresponds to the `menu_order` value).

4. Enter a numerical value for the order. Lower numbers appear first. For example, a product with an order of “1” will appear before a product with an order of “2.”

5. Click “Update.”

6. Repeat steps 2-5 for all products in order you desire.

Pros:

• More precise control than drag-and-drop.
• Suitable for setting specific positions for key products.

Cons:

• Still requires manual entry for each product.
• Prone to errors if not carefully managed.

4. Implementing Custom Code (For Developers)

For highly customized and automated product ordering, you can use custom code. This method requires a good understanding of PHP and WordPress development.

Example: Sorting by Custom Field Value

Let’s say you have a custom field called “popularity_score” that reflects the product’s popularity. You can use the following code snippet to sort products based on this field:

 add_filter( 'woocommerce_get_catalog_ordering_args', 'custom_woocommerce_order' ); function custom_woocommerce_order( $args ) { $args['orderby'] = 'meta_value_num'; $args['meta_key'] = 'popularity_score'; $args['order'] = 'DESC'; // Sort in descending order (highest score first) return $args; } 

Explanation:

• `add_filter( ‘woocommerce_get_catalog_ordering_args’, ‘custom_woocommerce_order’ );` hooks into the WooCommerce catalog ordering filter.
• `custom_woocommerce_order( $args )` is a function that modifies the default ordering arguments.
• `$args[‘orderby’] = ‘meta_value_num’;` specifies that we want to order by a numerical meta value.
• `$args[‘meta_key’] = ‘popularity_score’;` indicates the custom field we are sorting by.
• `$args[‘order’] = ‘DESC’;` sets the sorting order to descending (highest popularity score first).

How to use it:

1. Add this code snippet to your theme’s `functions.php` file or a custom plugin. Important: Editing the `functions.php` directly can break your site. Use a child theme or a custom plugin.

2. Replace `’popularity_score’` with the actual name of your custom field.

Important Note: Before using this code, ensure you have a child theme active to avoid losing your changes during theme updates. Also, thoroughly test the code on a staging site before deploying it to your live store.

Pros:

• Highly customizable.
• Can automate sorting based on various criteria (sales, popularity, etc.).
• Dynamic and adaptable to changing needs.

Cons:

• Requires coding knowledge.
• Can be complex to implement and maintain.
• Incorrect implementation can negatively impact site performance.

5. Utilizing Plugins

Several WooCommerce plugins offer advanced product ordering features. These plugins provide a user-friendly interface for managing product order without coding. Examples include:

• WooCommerce Products Sort and Display Manager: Offers drag-and-drop sorting and category-specific ordering.
• Custom Product Sort for WooCommerce: Allows you to create custom sorting rules based on product attributes.
• Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order: Enables ordering of categories and taxonomies, which indirectly affects product display.

Pros:

• Easy to use with a graphical interface.
• Provides advanced features not available in WooCommerce core.
• Saves development time and effort.

Cons:

• May incur additional costs.
• Potential compatibility issues with other plugins.
• Reliance on third-party developers for maintenance and updates.

Conclusion

Controlling the product display order in your WooCommerce store is crucial for optimizing user experience and boosting sales. Whether you choose the simple drag-and-drop method, leverage custom code, or opt for a dedicated plugin, the key is to select the approach that best aligns with your technical skills, store size, and specific business needs. Remember to test your changes thoroughly to ensure they deliver the desired results without negatively impacting site performance. By implementing these strategies, you can create a more engaging and profitable online store.