WooCommerce is arguably one of the most popular e-commerce platforms for WordPress. With over 5 million installs, people around the world use WooCommerce to help sell their products. We have used Woo on every e-commerce build we have completed, but each one is completely unique from the next. Using out-of-the-box features, WooComerce comes with several product types that should meet the majority of your needs as a shop owner.
Simple Products
The simple product type is great for products with no extra options, like one style and one color. We use this product type when adding originals or unique goods that only have one in stock. For example, we created Audubon House’s online shop filled with single prints of Audubon’s works.
Variable Products
When we have a large array of products that are mostly just different styles that come in different sizes, colors, or formats, we list them as variable products. This can be anything from T-shirts to food products to books. We can use variable products to help sell groups of products as well; a single item or a pack of ten. WooCommerce lets you add a separate price for each variation as well as many variations as you’d like, such as products that come in multiple colors and sizes.
External Products
Also known as affiliate products, external products are ones you list on your site but are purchased elsewhere. When selecting the external product type, a new field appears with an area to paste the link to that product. We’ve used this for sites that want to recommend products for their practice but don’t fulfill those items. Larson Sports & Orthopedics recommends equipment to use while completing exercises.
Grouped Products
When we sell products as part of a set, we may consider using a grouped product type to display them. Think of features of an outfit, we may suggest a shirt, pants, and shoes, but we want to let the user select their size for each item. We can link products together using a grouped product and let them add each item to their cart separately. Grouped products aren’t directly purchasable but help display a suggested pairing for purchase.
Now that you know the difference between product types in WooCommerce, you’ll be able to correctly identify what type your shop needs. Of course, this is only the starting point when it comes to customizing your shop. If you have questions about building an e-commerce site, fill out the form on our website and tell us about your project.