How to Sort Products in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
WooCommerce, the powerhouse e-commerce platform for WordPress, is fantastic for setting up your online store. But what happens when your product catalog grows? Suddenly, customers are scrolling endlessly, struggling to find what they need. That’s where proper product sorting becomes crucial. It improves user experience, boosts sales, and helps customers find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.
Think about walking into a physical store. Imagine a clothing shop where t-shirts are mixed with pants, dresses, and shoes all jumbled together. Frustrating, right? WooCommerce sorting provides the same organizational benefit for your online shop. Let’s dive into how to master it.
Understanding the Default WooCommerce Sorting
Out of the box, WooCommerce provides a default sorting dropdown on your shop page. This typically includes options like:
- Default sorting: Often based on product creation date or a custom ordering you define (we’ll get to that!).
- Sort by popularity: Shows products with the most sales first.
- Sort by average rating: Displays products with the highest average customer ratings first.
- Sort by latest: Puts newly added products at the top.
- Sort by price: low to high: Orders products from cheapest to most expensive.
- Sort by price: high to low: Orders products from most expensive to cheapest.
- Improved User Experience: Customers find what they need faster, leading to less frustration and more sales.
- Increased Conversion Rates: When shoppers can easily locate relevant products, they’re more likely to make a purchase.
- Better SEO: Organized product pages are easier for search engines to crawl and understand, improving your search ranking.
- Reduced Bounce Rate: Visitors who can’t find what they want are likely to leave your site quickly. Good sorting keeps them engaged.
- YITH WooCommerce Ajax Product Filter: This allows users to filter and sort products based on various attributes, categories, tags, and more. This provides a richer sorting experience than the default options.
- WooCommerce Product Filter: A comprehensive filter plugin that offers advanced filtering options and customizable layouts.
These options are a great starting point, but you can often customize them further to optimize your store.
The Importance of Good Sorting
Why should you care about sorting? Here’s the breakdown:
Methods for Sorting Products in WooCommerce
There are several ways to manage product sorting in WooCommerce, ranging from simple built-in options to more advanced custom solutions.
#### 1. Using the WooCommerce Customizer (The Easiest Method)
This is the simplest way to configure the default sorting options.
1. Go to Appearance > Customize in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on WooCommerce > Product Catalog.
3. Look for the “Default product sorting” dropdown. Here you can choose which sort order should be applied by default when a customer lands on your shop page.
This lets you select the default sorting method that will be applied to your product listings. This sets which option is displayed automatically when someone loads the page.
#### 2. Product Sorting Within Individual Categories
You can influence the sorting by adjusting the order of products within their individual categories.
1. Navigate to Products > Categories.
2. Select the category you want to adjust.
3. Look for the “Default product sorting” dropdown in the category settings. You can set a specific default sorting option for *only* products within that category.
This allows for more fine-grained control, for example, sorting clearance items by ‘price: low to high’ by default within the clearance category.
#### 3. Manual Product Ordering (Drag and Drop)
Want *absolute* control over the order of your products? You can manually arrange them. This is useful for showcasing featured products.
1. Go to Products > All Products.
2. Look for the “Sorting” tab at the top of the products list. (If you don’t see it, make sure you’re viewing “All Products” and not a specific category or tag).
3. Now you can drag and drop the products to rearrange their order. These changes will affect the “Default sorting” option if that option is selected.
Important: This only works when the “Default sorting” option is set in the Customizer (as described above), and WooCommerce is configured to use the default order set within the Products list.
#### 4. Custom Sorting with Plugins (The Most Powerful Method)
For more complex sorting needs, consider using a plugin. Here are a couple popular options:
These plugins provide enhanced filtering and sorting capabilities, giving your customers granular control over product discovery.
#### 5. Custom Code (For the Advanced User)
If you’re comfortable with code, you can customize the sorting options directly. Caution: Always Read more about How To Add Cart To Homepage With Woocommerce back up your site before editing any code!
Here’s an example of how to add a custom sorting option to WooCommerce, such as “Sort by Stock Level”:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_get_catalog_ordering_args', 'custom_woocommerce_get_catalog_ordering_args' ); add_filter( 'woocommerce_default_catalog_orderby', 'custom_woocommerce_default_catalog_orderby' );
// Add new sorting option
add_filter( ‘woocommerce_catalog_orderby’, ‘custom_woocommerce_catalog_orderby’ );
function custom_woocommerce_catalog_orderby( $sortby ) {
$sortby[‘stock_level’] = ‘Sort by Stock Level’; // Text displayed in dropdown
return $sortby;
}
// Modify the query for custom sorting
function custom_woocommerce_get_catalog_ordering_args( $args ) {
if ( isset( $_GET[‘orderby’] ) ) {
$orderby_value = wc_clean( $_GET[‘orderby’] ); // Sanitize input
if ( ‘stock_level’ == $orderby_value ) {
$args[‘orderby’] = ‘meta_value_num’; // Order by meta value (numeric)
$args[‘order’] = ‘DESC’; // High stock first
$args[‘meta_key’] = ‘_stock’; // Meta key for stock level
//Ensure that only in stock products are shown
$args[‘meta_query’] = array(
array(
‘key’ => ‘_stock_status’,
‘value’ => ‘instock’,
‘compare’ => ‘=’,
)
);
}
}
return $args;
}
// Set default sorting to the new option
function custom_woocommerce_default_catalog_orderby( $sortby ) {
return ‘stock_level’; // Default sorting option
}
Where to add this code: Place this code snippet in your theme’s `functions.php` file or, even better, in a custom plugin. Never edit the core WooCommerce files directly.
Explanation:
- `woocommerce_catalog_orderby` Filter: Adds a new option to the sorting dropdown.
- `woocommerce_get_catalog_ordering_args` Filter: Modifies the main query to order products based on their stock level.
- `woocommerce_default_catalog_orderby` Filter: Sets “Sort by Stock Level” as the default sorting option.
- The `$args[‘meta_key’] = ‘_stock’;` gets the stock level which is stored as metadata. This is the heart of the stock sorting.
Remember to adjust the code to match your specific requirements. You’ll likely need to modify the `$args` array and meta key to suit your specific product attributes.
Best Practices for WooCommerce Product Sorting
- Understand Your Audience: What are your customers looking for? What are their priorities? Tailor your sorting options to match their needs. If you are selling toys for toddlers, the age range could be critical.
- Test Different Options: Try different default sorting methods and see which ones perform best. Use Google Analytics or WooCommerce analytics to track user behavior.
- Keep it Simple: Don’t overwhelm users with too many sorting options. Focus on the most relevant ones.
- Mobile Optimization: Make sure your sorting options are easy to use on mobile devices. A clunky dropdown menu will frustrate mobile users.
- Use Visual Cues: Consider using icons or clear labels to indicate the sorting direction (e.g., an up arrow for “Price: Low to High”).
Conclusion
Effective product sorting is vital for a successful WooCommerce store. Whether you’re using the built-in features, plugins, or custom code, prioritizing a user-friendly sorting experience will improve customer satisfaction, increase conversions, and ultimately boost your sales. Experiment, analyze, and adapt to create the perfect sorting strategy for your specific business. Good luck!
