Beyond your standard ecommerce model, WooCommerce can also power a variety of other online businesses. Click the links below to jump to the following:

• Dropshipping
• Digital/Virtual
• Affiliate
• Subscription
• Membership
• Auctions
• Bookings

Dropshipping WooCommerce Store

Dropshipping, with its relatively low barrier to entry, is a great way for online retailers to learn more about running an ecommerce store while minimizing their risks. Instead of purchasing and storing inventory, a dropshipping store sells items from a supplier. Once the item sells on your website, you place the order with your dropshipper at your wholesale rate, they fulfill and ship the order to the customer, and you keep the retail margin as your profit.

If you are reading this post, you may already be familiar with dropshipping and wondering if you can run that sort of store on WooCommerce? The answer is YES!

Setting up a dropshipping store in WooCommerce is really not that different from setting up a standard ecommerce store. Typically, the only difference is what happens AFTER a sale is made. In other words, how do you notify your supplier of the new order and the customer’s details?

In WooCommerce you have two options:

1. Set the “New Order” emails in WooCommerce to be sent to your supplier
2. Or, use a dropship-specific plugin/extension (ex: WooCommerce Dropshippers)

One thing to keep in mind with a dropshipping store is that you will need to work with your supplier in managing inventory. They may have feeds you can integrate with your website, so be sure to discuss this with your supplier!

Digital WooCommerce Stores

Are you trying to sell your customers a download of something like an e-book or mp3? A service? WooCommerce can help. WooCommerce offers both virtual and downloadable product types and setup is a breeze?

Virtual products, like a service, are intangible and are not shipped. Downloadable products, like an e-book or mp3, allow customers to purchase and then receive after completing payment.

For downloadable products you have 3 download method options and some access restrictions which you will set in WooCommerce > Settings > Downloadable Products:

1. Redirect only – when a customer downloads a file, the link redirects to the file
2. Force download – file downloads are forced using PHP
3. X-Sendfile/X-Accel-Redirect – downloads are server by Apache. If you use this method, keep in mind that this requires the X-Sendfile module and not all servers have this

Then, choose downloadable as the product type in the top of your product data editor. A number of fields will appear, allowing you to upload your file, set a download limit, an expiration date, and the download type.

Affiliate WooCommerce Stores

WooCommerce has built-in functionality to sell external/affiliate products through your website, making it easier than ever to run an affiliate store!

Simply add all of the details of a product (learn how to add woocommerce products) and choose External/Affiliate product as your product type. As you can see in the example below, choosing this product type will enable you to add the external URL to the product and custom button text. When customers click on your product they will be taken off your website to the URL you provided to complete their purchase.

In the example below, we’ve linked externally to an affiliate product on Amazon and added BUY NOW as our button text. How simple is that?

Subscription WooCommerce Store

Subscriptions are the perfect way to manage recurring payments for services such as access to website content, newspapers, or subscription-based ecommerce models.

With the help of WooCommerce Subscriptions, you can easily offer products and services that require recurring payments. This WooCommerce extension offers a number of robust features including:

• Add a sign-up fee, offer free trials, and set expiration dates for subscription products
• Set subscriptions to renew on a variety of different billing schedules
• Offer customers multiple gateway options
• Variable subscriptions allow customers to choose from different levels/tiers of subscriptions
• Manual of automatic renewals
• Renewal emails

Membership WooCommerce Store

Are you looking to sell memberships? A combination of tools can help you create sell memberships, set group-based capabilities, and content access control based on membership levels.

To achieve the features mentioned above you will need the following plugins:

1. Groups – this controls the membership levels and access control capabilities
2. Groups for WooCommerce – allows you to sell access to the groups you’ve set up in the Groups plugin above
3. (optional) WooCommerce Subscriptions – if you’d like to sell memberships with recurring payments you will also need to use this extension (described in previous section)

Auction WooCommerce Stores

We ran into this store type when helping a client who wanted to auction off a product on their website for charity! With the help of a plugin called, WooCommerce Simple Auctions, you can turn your regular WooCommerce products into an auction.

The plugin enables you to leverage a number of awesome new functions. In the example below, you can see the new AUCTION tab on your product data editor gives you new data fields for: item condition, auction type, start price, bid increment, reserve price, buy it now price, auction dates.

On the front-end, bidders can even access a “My Auctions” section to keep track of their bids. Learn more here: WooCommerce Simple Auctions.

Sell Bookings or Appointments on WooCommerce

Do you want to take reservations? Offer appointments? Or sell services and rentals? With the help of  the WooCommerce Booking extension you can turn your WooCommerce website into a powerful booking portal. This extension can help you sell time or date based bookings.

Here are some cool features:

• You can create booking slots which are fixed (offer set times) or let the customers decide
• Manage bookings and availability
• Customer email notifications
• You can even add extras for each booking by combining this with the Product Add-ons extension

Did you know you could run all of these types of online businesses with WooCommerce? While this is not an exhaustive list, we hope you learned something new! If you are doing something unique with your WooCommerce store let us know in the comment box below.

Related: 60 Tips to Increase Ecommerce Sales Today

Need help launching your WooCommerce website?

If you are looking to launch an online store with WooCommerce and need some help, don’t hesitate to contact us, or check out the Ultimate Guide to WooCommerce. We’d love to work with you!

The post 7 Types of Stores You Can Power With WooCommerce appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Grouping these products together in a way that is similar to post or product categories allows you to define specific shipping costs for items. WooCommerce shipping methods such as Flat Rate Shipping and Table Rate Shipping allow you to use shipping classes to calculate their costs.

Below we will discuss:

1. How to add a shipping class in WooCommerce
2. How to add products to your newly created shipping class
3. How to set flat rate shipping costs based on your shipping class

Creating a Shipping Class in WooCommerce

To create a new shipping class go to Products > Shipping Classes from your WordPress dashboard.

Next, enter a Name for your shipping class and add a URL friendly slug (this will automatically fill in if you leave it blank). If you are going to be using several shipping classes on your website, we would recommend using a description so it is easier for you to tell them apart.

In the example below, we have created a shipping class for bulky items on our website.

Repeat this process for all of the shipping classes you will need on your website. Now you are ready to add your products to your shipping class!

Adding Products to Shipping Classes

Now that you’ve created a shipping class, it is time to add some products!

To assign a shipping class to a product, go to the Shipping tab on one of your products and select your shipping class from the drop-down list.

If you have a lot of products you need to add to a shipping class, you can add them in bulk. From your products dashboard, select all of the products you would like to add to the shipping class and select Edit under Bulk actions. 

Then, under shipping class, select your shipping class from the drop-down list and click Update. Now all of the products you selected have been assigned to that shipping class!

Now that you have added a shipping class and added products to that shipping class, it is time to use that class to define your rate. Below we will cover how to set flat rate shipping costs based on your shipping classes.

Learn more about adding products in WooCommerce.

Flat Rate Per Shipping Class

To access your shipping options go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping.

Then, if you would like to charge a flat rate per shipping class select Calculation Type > Per Class – charge shipping for each shipping class in an order. 

Then, you can define the flat rates per shipping class.

Then, you can define the flat rates per shipping class. In the example below, we are charging $5.25 for all products that are in the “Over 10 lbs” shipping class we created and $2.25 for all products in the “Under 10 lbs” shipping class we created.

So if a customer had 1 product that is in the “Over” shipping class and 1 product that is in the “Under” shipping class in their cart they would pay $7.50 for shipping.

Related: 60 Tips To Increase Ecommerce Sales Today

Learn more about how to use WooCommerce flat rate shipping. Or, check out WooCommerce: The Ultimate Guide.

Do you need help setting up your WooCommerce store?

Having trouble setting up shipping options for your WooCommerce store? Modern Marketing Partners has helped many ecommerce business owners launch their online store with WooCommerce and WordPress. Contact us today for a free quote at 630-868-5060 or email us here.

WooCommerce Shipping Plugins (affiliate links)

WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro Plugin – helps you set up rules in order to calculate the shipping rates for a combination of conditions. If the user’s cart matches the conditions in the rule, the shipping cost you have defined in that rule is applied.

WooCommerce UPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label – helps you completely automate UPS shipping by displaying real-time rates in cart/checkout page, pay postage & print label from within your WooCommerce store, choose boxes automatically and enable tracking.

WooCommerce FedEx Shipping Plugin with Print Label – helps you completely automate FedEx shipping by displaying shipping rates in cart/checkout page, pay postage & print labels from within WooCommerce, automatically identify boxes to pack the items and enable tracking.

Multi-Carrier Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce – combines the power of table rate shipping with real-time rates from shipping companies like FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL Express & Stamps.com (USPS) to give you a complete shipping solution for your business.

WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Pro – helps to integrate Order tracking functionalities to the WooCommerce shops worldwide. By using this WooCommerce Order tracking plugin, you provide your customers with an easy way to track their shipments for various shipping carriers worldwide.

The post How To Set Up Shipping Classes in WooCommerce appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

WooCommerce Flat Rate Shipping – Getting Started

Based on your needs you may want to set a flat rate shipping fee per item, shipping class, or order. To get started, visit the shipping settings page in WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Flat Rate. Then:

1. Enable the shipping method
2. Name the shipping method (this is what customers will see on the front-end)
3. Set your price

In the example below, we have named our flat rate shipping option “Economy” and set it to $5.25.

Now we will move on to how to use the rate you’ve defined above on a per item, shipping class, or order basis.

Flat Rate Per Item

If you would like to charge a flat rate per item select Calculation Type > Per Item – charge shipping for each item individually.

In the example below, if a customer had 3 items in their cart they would be charged $15.75 for shipping.

Flat Rate Per Shipping Class

If you would like to charge a flat rate per shipping class select Calculation Type > Per Class – charge shipping for each shipping class in an order. 

Note: it is important that you have already established and added products to shipping classes to use this method. Learn how to set up shipping classes.

Then, you can define the flat rates per shipping class. In the example below, we are charging $5.25 for all products that are in the “Over 10 lbs” shipping class we created and $2.25 for all products in the “Under 10 lbs” shipping class we created.

So if a customer had 1 product that is in the “Over” shipping class and 1 product that is in the “Under” shipping class in their cart they would pay $7.50 for shipping.

Note: these are shipping classes we’ve created to define rules for our products, and we’ve already added products to each. Another example of a shipping class you may use is by vendor if you are using dropshipping methods so you can charge what they charge.

Flat Rate Per Order

If you would like to charge a flat rate per order select Calculation Type > Per Order – charge shipping for the entire order as a whole.

In the example below, a customer with 5 items in their cart would pay $5.25 for shipping and a customer with 1 item in their cart would also pay $5.25 for shipping.

Using a per order flat rate shipping option is a great way to encourage customers to buy more products and increase your average items per order.

Other Flat Rate Shipping Options

Trying to come up with a different shipping pricing structure than the ones listed above? WooCommerce will allow you to define some additional costs inWooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Flat Rate > Shipping Options. We will an example below.

Option Name: this will replace the main “Method Title” that you provided in the first step and will be what the customer sees when they are selecting a shipping option.

Cost: the amount that will be added to the “Cost per Order” and any other costs defined in flat rate shipping.

Per-order: (yes) the additional cost per order. If set to no, it will use the “Calculation Type” (order, item, or class) setting that you defined above.

In the example below, we add $5 per order for priority shipping and $10 per order for express shipping to the originally defined cost per order of $5.25. In this example, the following shipping options would be available to customers:

• Economy $5.25 (defined above)
• Priority $10.25
• Express $15.25

Want to learn more? Check out WooCommerce: The Ultimate Guide.

Other WooCommerce Resources:

60 Tips to Increase Ecommerce Sales Today

Setting Featured Products in WooCommerce

Getting Started With WooCommerce

How To Add Products in WooCommerce

How To Set Up Product Attributes in WooCommerce

How To Add Sizes in WooCommerce

Do you need help setting up your WooCommerce store?

Having trouble setting up shipping options for your WooCommerce store? Modern Marketing Partners has helped many ecommerce business owners launch their online store with WooCommerce. Contact us today for a free quote at 630-868-5060 or email us here.

WooCommerce Shipping Plugins (affiliate links)

WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro Plugin – helps you set up rules in order to calculate the shipping rates for a combination of conditions. If the user’s cart matches the conditions in the rule, the shipping cost you have defined in that rule is applied.

WooCommerce UPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label – helps you completely automate UPS shipping by displaying real-time rates in cart/checkout page, pay postage & print label from within your WooCommerce store, choose boxes automatically and enable tracking.

WooCommerce FedEx Shipping Plugin with Print Label – helps you completely automate FedEx shipping by displaying shipping rates in cart/checkout page, pay postage & print labels from within WooCommerce, automatically identify boxes to pack the items and enable tracking.

Multi-Carrier Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce – combines the power of table rate shipping with real-time rates from shipping companies like FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL Express & Stamps.com (USPS) to give you a complete shipping solution for your business.

WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Pro – helps to integrate Order tracking functionalities to the WooCommerce shops worldwide. By using this WooCommerce Order tracking plugin, you provide your customers with an easy way to track their shipments for various shipping carriers worldwide.

The post How To Set Up Flat Rate Shipping in WooCommerce appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Adding a Featured Product

To mark a product as featured go to Products > Products. Find the product you would like to feature and click the Featured Star. Featured products will have the star icon filled in.

Another option is to hover over the product title and click on the Quick Edit option. Clicking Quick Edit will open up a new menu of options.

Check featured and then click the blue update button.

Would you like to add featured products in bulk? You can also do that in WooCommerce! If you are familiar with bulk editing in WooCommerce you know it is a great feature and pretty easy to use.

First, check all of the products you would like to feature (the check box is located next to the product image thumbnail). Then, under Bulk Actions, select Edit and Apply. That action will open up the editor pictured below.

Select ‘Yes’ from the featured drop-down menu and then click the blue update button.

Displaying Featured Products

WooCommerce comes with a variety of useful shortcodes to allow quick and easy insertion of WooCommerce related content within posts or pages. To display your featured products, you could using something like:

[featured_products per_page=”8″ columns=”4″ orderby=”date” order=”desc”]

This would show 8 of your featured products in a grid (four columns, two rows) with the most recent appearing first.

Also, WooCommerce Featured Products is an available widget that you can use on your website

Under Appearance > Widgets, drag the WooCommerce Featured Products widget from the available widgets section to a sidebar on the right to activate it. Then, just give it a title and select the number of products to show.

For more advanced WordPress/WooCommerce users, you can display the featured products similarly to posts by using the WP_Query class.

Want to learn more? Check out WooCommerce: The Ultimate Guide. Or register for a free website review.

Other WooCommerce Resources:

60 Tips To Increase Ecommerce Sales Today

Getting Started With WooCommerce

How To Add Products in WooCommerce

How To Set Up Product Attributes in WooCommerce

How To Add Sizes in WooCommerce

How To Set Up Flat Rate Shipping in WooCommerce

Do you need help setting up your WooCommerce store?

Modern Marketing Partners has helped many ecommerce business owners launch their online store with WooCommerce. Learn more about our WooCommerce Development and Support services. Contact us today for a free quote at (331) 231-2068 or contact us here.

The post How To Set Featured Products in WooCommerce appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.