How to Add WooCommerce Physical Products to Your WooCommerce Store

You'll find nearly infinite possibilities in a WooCommerce store: whatever you want to sell, you can. For this tutorial, we’ll talk about the “simplest” form of eCommerce by tackling WooCommerce physical products. Learn how to add new physical items to your store right here in Bright Vessel!

In our ongoing series of WooCommerce tutorials, our goal is to help eStore owners manage their businesses. WooCommerce is a potent tool to build and operate an online store, and it’s quite easy to use. At Bright Vessel, we’re committed to guiding our clients through the platform.

We’ll follow this WooCommerce physical products tutorial with an equivalent for virtual products. Now, let’s get to it!

Prerequisites

Here’s what you’ll need to go through this WooCommerce physical products tutorial:

• An updated and working WordPress website
• Admin access to said WP site
• An installed WooCommerce plugin. You must activate it and configure its settings before adding products

How to Add WooCommerce Physical Products

You’ll find that the setup is relatively similar to the WordPress interface, so it’ll feel like you’re writing a new post. You can add the first of your WooCommerce physical products by clicking Products > Add New. The first things you can specify are:

• Product title
• Description
• Image

You now have the essential information of the first product in your eShop. It’s time to head to the Product Data meta box, where we’ll get to toggling.

Product Type

Including WooCommerce physical products, you can choose from four types of product:

• Simple product, which would be a simple and individual item.
• Group product, which is a collection of products that are related to each other. A Group Product can be different versions of one thing. An example would be the same wallpaper for desktop and mobile.
• External/affiliate product, an item you don’t sell directly but instead link it to an outside link such as eBay or Etsy.
• A variable product, which would be an item with several variations like size or color.

For this tutorial, we’ll be working with a Simple Product.

General Product Data

On the General tab within Product Data, you can add:

• A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) reference number that will allow you to manage your stock.
• The price.
• The applicable tax rate.
• A sale price. This piece of data is great if you’re planning a sale. You can also click on Schedule to specify when that price will be valid.

Inventory

On the Inventory tab, you can:

• Choose whether WooCommerce will manage your stock.
• Specify your current stock levels.
• Allow backorders, which means customers can order items even if they’re not in stock. In this scenario, customers will receive the items when they’re back in stock.
• Decide if you want customers to only buy this product once per order.

Shipping

On the Shipping tab, you can:

• Define shipping classes for your products.
• Specify the weight and dimension of each product to calculate shipping costs. You can only estimate shipping costs by weight through the paid Table Rate Shipping add-on. The free version will allow you to set shipping costs for different items.

If you add a product to the Heavy Items class, customers will be charged extra at checkout, and the postage rate will increase.

Linked Products

The Linked Products tab serves the purpose of adding similar items to a product’s page. This way, potential customers can peruse other products that might be of interest. You have to set this up on each item you want linking another because the setting doesn’t create a relationship between them.

You’ll need more than two products on your eShop to use Linked Products. There are three ways of using this feature:

• Up-sells, namely when you’re looking to sell an additional product or an upgraded version of it. Also applies when you’re trying to sell complimentary options to the product the visitor is already viewing.
• Cross-sells, which is when you’re selling the customer an alternative or additional product once they’re going through checkout.
• Grouping, which entails creating parent and child products. In these cases, the “parent” product contains the “child” one in its listing. Set these up is by previously selecting grouped product instead of a simple product under “Type.”

Attributes

The Attributes tab allows you to select the specifics of WooCommerce physical products. You can choose however many characteristics your product requires. Here’s how to add each attribute:

• Go to the Custom product attribute drop-down menu.
• Select the relevant attribute.
• Click on Add.
• Head to the Value field.
• Choose the attribute’s relevant terms on the drop-down list.

You can add as many relevant terms as your product requires. Attributes are classifications, so when you’re looking to specify on them, it’s applicable terms you’ll want.

It’s possible to add new taxonomies by selecting Custom product attribute before clicking on Add.

Advanced

What you’ll be able to do on the Advanced tab of your WooCommerce physical products:

• Add a purchase note for your customers. Purchase notes are a nice detail, as you can thank them or further specify the next actions.
• Specify a menu order, which will allow you to sort the items on your eShop however you’d prefer.
• Choose whether you'll allow product reviews.

WooCommerce Physical Products Short Description

Now that you’ve set up your Product Data, it’s time you describe the WooCommerce physical products.

• Head to the Product Short Description meta box.
• Add a few short sentences about the item in question. This short description isn’t the full description, just a brief one on top of the product page. The more detailed description will appear below.
• Click Update to save changes.

At this point, you can view your product on the site and see the simple product is complete, with its price, category and short description. You can see its attributes by clicking on Additional Information.

Affiliate Products

Now that you know how to add a Simple Product, the process for creating an Affiliate one should be a breeze. When creating it, choose External/Affiliate instead of Simple. Now, you’ll be able to link to products you don’t sell on your eStore, but rather through affiliate links.

Use Affiliate Products for sponsored products or if you’ve chosen to sell a particular item through another site due to convenience.

When you select Eternal/Affiliate as your product type:

• The Shipping tab will disappear.
• The General tab will have more options. Here, you’ll now be able to add the product link and whatever text you want on the link button.

In Conclusion

You’re now able to create WooCommerce physical products and configure them to precisely what you need. Do you want to offer a more all-encompassing customer experience that also includes digital content? Stay tuned for our next tutorial in our WooCommerce Tutorials section.

At Bright Vessel, we have committed to educate our clients regarding the best WooCommerce practices. Find out more about our WooCommerce Store Management services.