Managing discounts for variable products in WooCommerce can be a real headache. You might assume that a sales platform would offer flexible discount options, but in reality, WooCommerce doesn’t give its users the tools to create complex pricing strategies for products with multiple variations. This limitation can hinder your ability to run targeted promotions, optimize inventory, and boost sales effectively.
Thankfully, plugins exist, and in this article, we’ll show you how to use these useful tools to dynamically discount variable products. First, you’ll see how to create variable products with Advanced Product Fields (APF) and then apply various discounts with the WooCommerce Discounts plugin. With these solutions, you can easily set up sophisticated discount rules based on specific attributes, quantities, or time frames.
Let’s begin!
Unlock dynamic discounts for WooCommerce variable products
WooCommerce’s built-in discount features for variable products are quite limited. You can’t easily offer discounts on specific attributes (like only blue shirts), set up quantity-based discounts for variations, or create time-sensitive deals for particular variants. These limitations can frustrate store owners looking to implement more nuanced pricing strategies.
Dynamic discounting for variable products solves these issues. It allows you to create flexible, targeted promotions that can:
- Boost sales of slow-moving variations
- Clear out excess inventory of specific attributes
- Encourage bulk purchases across different variations
- Offer time-limited deals on select product options
By implementing dynamic discounts, you’ll gain more control over your pricing strategy, improve inventory management, and create more compelling offers for your customers. In the following sections, we’ll show you how to set up variable products and apply these advanced discount techniques using powerful plugins.
Step by step: Setting up variable products with Advanced Product Fields
Creating variable products in WooCommerce doesn’t have to be a headache. With Studio Wombat’s Advanced Product Fields (APF) for WooCommerce, you can easily set up complex product variations that go beyond the basic options. This powerful plugin allows you to add a wide range of customization options to your products, making it perfect for businesses that offer personalized or configurable items.
APF comes with 16 different input types, including text boxes, number fields, dropdown lists, checkboxes, radio buttons, image swatches, color swatches, date fields, and even file uploads.
This versatility means you can create product variations that cater to almost any customization need your customers might have.
Let’s walk through setting up a variable product using APF. We’ll use the example of a clothing shop that offers various colors and personalization options:
- Download the plugin from your Studio Wombat profile.
- Upload the plugin from your files directory and activate it.
- Go to WooCommerce → Products and create a new product or edit an existing one.
- Set the product type to “Variable product.”
- Click on Attributes and add a new group. In our example, these are the different colors, and you’ll also need to select the checkbox Used for variations. Save your attributes.
- Go to variations and click on Generate variations.
- You now have different color swatches that you can edit one by one or in bulk.
- The most important step here is to add prices; otherwise, they won’t show up in the store. You can do this by clicking Add price or manually adding them in each variation.
- Your variable product is now complete and if you have no more than 30 variations, WooCommerce will automatically change the product image depending on the customer’s choice.
However, with APF, you can create more than just different color options – you can give your customers a fully interactive product customization experience.
For example, you can use conditional logic to show or hide fields based on other selections, ensuring that customers only see relevant options. Let’s say you want to add the option for custom wording on the tank top, but you don’t want to show the text field in case the users go for the plain type. To avoid cluttering the page with unnecessary fields, you can make the text input field show up only when they choose to add text and even charge extra per character.
Advanced techniques: BOGO, bulk, and attribute-based discounts
Once you’ve set up your variable products, it’s time to supercharge your sales strategy with advanced discount techniques. Studio Wombat’s WooCommerce Discounts plugin offers a powerful suite of tools to create sophisticated promotional offers that can boost your conversions and average order value.
Let’s explore some advanced discount strategies you can implement:
BOGO (Buy One, Get One) deals
BOGO offers are a proven way to increase sales volume. With WooCommerce Discounts, you can set up various BOGO scenarios:
- Buy 1 shirt, get another half price
- Buy a large pizza, get a free small side dish
- Buy 2, get 1 free on selected items
These deals encourage customers to add more items to their cart, potentially introducing them to new products in your catalog.
Bulk and tiered discounts
Incentivize larger purchases by offering quantity-based discounts. For example:
- Buy 2-4 items for 10% off
- 5-7 items for 15% off
- 8 or more items for 20% off
You can apply these discounts across multiple variations of a product, making it easy for customers to mix and match while still benefiting from the offer.
Attribute-based discounts
Target specific product attributes to move inventory or promote certain options:
- 25% off all red, XL T-shirts
- € 10 off all leather accessories
- 15% discount on all summer collection items
This level of specificity allows you to fine-tune your promotions based on your inventory needs or marketing goals.
Dynamic and conditional discounts
Create smart discounts that adapt to various factors:
- Offer discounts based on cart contents
- Apply special pricing for specific user roles (wholesalers) or individual customers
- Set up conditional discounts that trigger when a certain spend threshold is reached
These dynamic discounts can help you tailor the shopping experience to different customer segments, potentially increasing loyalty and repeat purchases.
Time-sensitive promotions
Create urgency and drive sales with scheduled discounts:
- Flash sales for limited time periods
- Seasonal promotions that automatically start and end on set dates
- Daily or weekly deals that refresh regularly
The ability to schedule your discounts in advance means you can plan your promotional calendar without manual intervention.
Implementing these advanced techniques is straightforward with WooCommerce Discounts. The plugin allows you to easily assign discounts to multiple products, categories, variations, or attributes. You can also add extra conditions to define when a discount should be applied, giving you granular control over your promotional strategy.
To maximize the impact of your discounts, WooCommerce Discounts also provides tools to communicate these offers effectively:
- Show discounted prices directly on product listings
- Add custom messages to the cart when discounts are applied
- Include promotional content on product pages to inform users of available discounts
Customizing discounts for specific variations
WooCommerce Discounts takes your promotional strategy to the next level by allowing you to create highly targeted discounts for individual product variations. This granular control enables you to:
- Implement dynamic pricing based on stock levels of specific variations
- Create time-sensitive discounts for particular attributes (e.g. “20% off summer colors until August”)
- Offer customer segment-specific variation discounts (e.g. “10% off premium variations for loyalty program members”)
These tailored discounts let you fine-tune your pricing strategy, helping you move slow-selling stock, promote new variations, or reward your most valuable customers. By combining this feature with Advanced Product Fields, you can create a powerful, flexible system for managing complex product offerings and pricing structures.
How to create a “20% off red tops” discount in WooCommerce Discounts
In any product line, some variations often outperform others. You might find that your blue and black tank tops are flying off the shelves while the red ones are gathering dust. In such cases, offering a targeted discount on less popular options can be an effective strategy to boost sales and manage inventory.
WooCommerce Discounts makes it easy to create these specific, variation-based discounts. Let’s see how!
- Navigate to WooCommerce → Marketing → Discounts, click Add New, and choose the Flat discount type.
- Set a name for your discount, e.g. “Red Tops Sale”, and schedule it if you want.
- Check the option to apply the discount to selected products and choose the variations you want to include. After that, set the percentage discount amount.
- Optionally, you can add some content to show up on the product pages or the cart.
- Configure any additional conditions, such as minimum purchase amount or user roles.
- Save your discount rule.
With these steps, you’ve created a discount that automatically applies to all red top variations across your selected products. Customers will see the discounted price on the product page and in their cart, and be encouraged to choose the red option.
Remember, you can easily modify this discount or create similar ones for other slow-moving variations, helping you maintain a balanced inventory and maximize your sales across all product options.
Boost your WooCommerce sales: Optimize variable product pricing today
We’ve explored how Advanced Product Fields (APF) and WooCommerce Discounts can transform your e-commerce strategy. These powerful tools allow you to create highly customizable products and implement sophisticated pricing strategies. Key techniques include:
- Creating dynamic, customizable products with APF
- Implementing BOGO deals and tiered bulk discounts
- Using attribute-based and time-sensitive promotions
These strategies enhance the shopping experience and can increase your average order value and overall revenue.
To optimize your WooCommerce store, consider exploring Studio Wombat’s full suite of solutions. The combination of APF and WooCommerce Discounts provides a reliable and user-friendly toolkit for growing your e-commerce business.
Ready to elevate your store? Download WooCommerce Discounts now!
