So you’ve finally got around to adding a store to your WordPress site and now you need a basic lesson on how to navigate around the additional settings.
Before we begin, we are of the assumption your store has been installed for you and integrated with a Stripe Gateway for various card payments. If however you are looking to install an online E-Commerce platform, then please do get in touch with us as we would love to help get you started!
A Special Thanks
For the purpose of this guide Attleborough Boxing Club will be our example. To purchase merchandise please visit their store on the following link: Attleborough Boxing Club
How This Guide Works
The guide is broken down into various tasks, as seen below:
- Log In To Your WooCommerce Backend
- Basic Store Settings
- Add A New Product
- Add Product Variations
- Edit A Product
- Check For New Orders
- Process Orders
- Adding Custom Notes To Orders
- Reporting
- Stripe Payment Gateway
- Refund Via WooCommerce
If you have any further questions please do contact us.
1 – Log In To Your WooCommerce Backend
Assuming you have knowledge of the WordPress Backend already, the first step is to log into your accounts backend. You can do this by simply adding /wp-admin to the end of your home page domain.
A) The Backend Dashboard will show a WooCommerce Status which highlights any orders, sales per month and various other options. This can be hidden if you wish by clicking the little arrow on the top right hand corner but its useful for quick overviews.
B) On the left hand side of the screen is your WordPress Navigational Bar which navigates you to various parts of the WordPress Backend. From editing pages to adding plugins it is all done via this menu. For access to the WooCommerce aspect you need to click on the WooCommerce Menu which will then expand a screen with the following options:
2 – Basic Store Settings
A) To access your WooCommerce main settings select “Settings” from the Main Menu WooCommerce Options.
B) Now you will be presented with a number of tabs located at the top of the page where you can edit particular settings. These tabs may vary depending on what extensions you have installed.
C) The General Tab is for the Store Address, Currency and Selling Locations. Ensure this is correct at all times.
D) The Products Tab enables you to choose vital aspects for your produces for example Inventory Details and measurement units etc. Additional Tabs will open below the Products Tab which enables further Product based settings such as Inventory, Downloadable Products etc.
E) The Shipping Tab offers a detailed look into the shipping methods available for your store. This is where you can add various shipping zones for example; International, Local, Local Pickup and different services such as 1st Class, Tracked, Etc
F) The Payments Tab is where you can add the various Payment Gateways for example, Direct Bank Transfers, Visa Credit Cards etc. Often you will need to install various WooCommerce extensions to use these facilities. For us Stripe is the preferred choice for Credit and Debit Card Payments.
G) The Accounts & Privacy Tab enables users to purchase as a guest or prevent them from doing so. It also links in with recent GDPR laws with regards to Data Retention. These settings can be amended by ticking the appropriate boxes.
H) The Emails Tab is set up to ensure emails are sent to the correct recipients when certain actions are carried out. From emailing the Admin that a new order needs processing, to emailing the customer when the product has been processed. These can be amended here including which email address to send to.
I) The Advanced Tab offers a variety of settings for page setups. For example what page do customers get redirected to when they add a product to their cart? These should already be set up.
*Please Note* – If you have had your store installed by a professional then these settings should have already been covered and you do not need to amend them.
3 – Add A New Product
A) On the left hand side of your WordPress Backend Navigation you have already located the WooCommerce Menu Option however just below that should be one titled “Products” this is where we will be navigating to in order to add a product to your Web Store.
B) Once the Products have loaded you should now see options at the top to “Add New”, “Import”, and “Export”. The Import and Export options enables us to do so in bulk via a CSV file. For the purpose of this example we will be manually adding a new product. So therefore click “Add New”
C) Next a screen will appear to add a new product. The design of this is very similar to adding a new page to your WordPress Website however there are a number of new options.
- First we must add a Product Name – This will be the product title and will appear in your store
- Next a product description – This explains what the product is.
- As you scroll down you will see various options which include, General, Inventory, Shipping, Linked Products, Attributes, Advanced.
- As we are keeping this as a simple product, we leave the Product Data drop down as “Simple Product”.
- In the General Tab we add a price for our item. You can also add a sale price if you wish.
- Inventory relates to stock feeds. WooCommerce is able to monitor stock levels for you however this is for a separate guide. For now you can choose whether the item is “In stock”, “Out of stock” or “On Back Order”.
- The Shipping Tab allows you to set separate shipping classes for this particular item for example if you want this only going a particular method you can do so here. You can also add weights and measurements to make it easier when posting.
- Linked Products enables you to cross sell products and up sell others. So that you see “related products” in the listing
- Attributes is vital when it comes to product variations which we will discuss later. This enables us to add different sizes at different prices or different colours etc.
- The Advanced Tab allows you to add order notes for example if its a particular product where the person packing it needs to add something you can add these notes here, it also gives us the option to enable reviews for the particular item.
D) Further down the page you will find the “Product Short Description” which usually appears by the price on the front end and sometimes on the browsing page when looking at the different products. Although it is not essential to fill this out we always try to.
E) Once these aspects have been filled in we then have the right hand side menus to attend to. First is the Product Categories. This will be the deciding factor of where customers can find the product. For example if you own a Fashion Outlet, and have a section for Mens Shoes, and one for Women’s Dresses, you wouldn’t want to get these confused. What you do at the weekend is up to you!
F) Product Tags – This allows further filtration. It isn’t necessary but can help users find products quickly.
G) Product Image – This will be the main image for the product that is presented in the actual Store. Ensure you choose the best image for this. Usually the site will handle sizing however we recommend using a square size for images to not distort the image or product feed.
H) Product Gallery – If you wish to add additional images to your product for different looks add them here. These will usually show on the actual product page enabling a little slider below the main image for the chance to enlarge other pictures of the product.
I) Publish – Now you have completed the product you can now click the Publish Button, like you would when adding a new Blog Post or Page. This will not make the product go Live.
J) View Product – Once a product is published it will be visible via the front end Store, however you can also view it by clicking the “View Product” link found at the top of the black menu bar on your Product Page.
It really is as simple as that. If you wish to add further products, just follow the same steps over and over.
4 – Add Product Variations
Product Variations refers to options for products, such as Sizing, Colour etc. This means rather than having unique Products for each size a T-Shirt is available in we can just add sizes to a single T-Shirt Listing.
A) Firstly we need to add the Attributes to your site. To do this via the Admin Backend select “Products” from the left hand menu and then select “Attributes”
B) Now you are presented with the following screen where you can add new “Attributes”. We have already added two examples. To add your own just fill-in the form provided and click “Add Attribute”. The attributes will be the different various categories for example, Sizing, Colour, and so on.
C) Once you have added relevant Attributes you can then configure them and add the different sizes, colours etc. To do this hover over the “Configure Terms” under the particular Attribute.
D) Now the main attributes have been added you can add them to a product.
E) Either follow step 3 or 5 to Add a new product or edit a current product.
F) In the Product Data drop down choose Variable Product. A new box tab called Variations will appear.
G) No select “Attributes” from the tabs, and in the drop down choose which attributes you would like to use and then click “Add”. As shown below.
H) Select which Attributes you would like to appear. For example if you chose colour and wanted to include all of them just click “Select All”. Alternatively type the text in for each of the unique colours you wish to include for this product. Now tick the “Used For Variations” Box. Once you have finished click “Save Attributes”
I) Now the attributes have been added, click on the “Variations” tab on the left hand side. From the drop down select “Create Variations From All Attributes”. This will automatically add the attributes you have added originally. A pop up will appear when you click go so just confirm this.
J) Now all the variations will appear. Like the screenshot below. Here you can move the variations to be in any order you prefer. To add unique prices click on the number and you will get various additional options. If you do this be sure to add the details to all of the other variations.
K) Once you have completed this and filled in the details click “Save Changes”.
L) Then finally click “Update” for the product and this will now be live.
There are plenty more settings for Variation listings including multiple options, different images etc. However the above explanation covers the basics. For further information… Get in touch!
5 – Edit A Product
In some instances you may find a particular product needs tweaking, or removing fully. This is done in a similar manner to editing a page or post on your site.
A) Firstly, select Products from the side bar.
B) Choose your product and hover over it enabling further options to appear under the title. From here select “Edit”
C) Now you are in the same screen you would be in to Add a new product. Make your amendments as you please.
D) Then once you are finished click the “Update” button and the product will have been amended. If you wish to remove there is a “Trash” button by the update button.
6 – Check For New Orders
Whilst you should have received an email regarding a New Order, there are a number of ways to check whether there are new orders to be Processed.
The first is via the WordPress Main Dashboard. It will highlight new orders in the following screen:
However for us we will be using the WooCommerce Backend Features.
A) Once in the WordPress Backend, click on the left navigational menu for WooCommerce.
B) Additional menu options will appear with the top one being “Orders”. If there are new Orders a number will be highlighted next to orders to show how many new orders there are.
C) Once clicking on the “Orders” menu you will be presented with the following screen:
D) The status part will show whether it is a processed order or new order.
E) To look into an order just click on the Customers name and you will be presented with a detailed description of the order.
7 – Process Orders
To Process an Order carry out the steps guided in step 6. Which includes how to check for new orders. Once this has been done:
A) Click on the Customers Name
B) A screen will load with further information regarding the customers details, what they ordered and the payment method etc. For us we have connected with a Stripe Gateway which shows the Stripe Fee etc. Heartbreaking isn’t it!
C) Underneath the date of the order created you can amend the status of the order. If the order is completed then just choose “Completed” and click the “Update” button.
D) This will then be the order processed and completed. If however the customer didn’t receive an email or needs another invoice generated on the right hand side there is a “Order Actions” drop down as seen below. Once you select an option click the > Arrow to confirm this.
It really is as simple as that. Additional features can be implemented for PDF invoices etc, but please Get In Touch regarding these.
8 – Adding Custom Notes To Orders
Although you won’t often need to add Custom Notes to Orders WooCommerce enables this for both customer notes and Private internal notes.
A) Once you have logged in to the particular order by following the steps in stage 7, you will see on the right hand side an Order Notes section.
B) From here write your note
C) When you are ready to save choose from the drop down whether it is Private for internal use or for the purpose of the customer.
9 – Reporting
An often neglected aspect of the WooCommerce platform is the Reporting Suite. This enables us to see sales over any selected dates, monitor sales by product, category and much more.
If also offers the opportunity to export as a CSV for your planning and projections.
To access this from the WordPress Backend, select the WooCommerce Menu on the left hand side and then Select “Reports”
10 – Stripe Payment Gateway
In many instances you may choose to use PayPal or various other Payment Gateways. We are happy to implement all types for you. However for the purpose of this explanation we have used Stripe as our Payment Choice. Although you won’t need to log into this account as WooCommerce handles everything, we have compiled a basic guide below on how to process payments in Stripe.
A) Visit – https://stripe.com/gb
B) Login
C) You will be presented with the following screen. If you are familiar with PayPal it works in a very similar fashion.
D) To view payments, click on the “Payments” tab on the left hand side. This will present you with all payments over the set time period.
E) if you wish to refund it through Stripe (we recommend doing it through WooCommerce), then click the three dots next to an order and there is a “Refund” option.
It is as simple as that!
11 – Refund Via WooCommerce
Although we try not to refund orders, sometimes you may find yourself needing to. In order to do this locate the order via the backend by following the steps in stage 7.
A) Once you have located the order you will find a button titled “Refund”
B) Click this and follow the on screen instructions. WooCommerce will then handle the rest.
It really is as simple as that.
Customising Your Store
Now you have a greater understanding for WooCommerce and what it can offer, let us take a minute to explain how you can truly expand on its potential with a variety of customised extensions.
From Facebook Store integrations, to various additional gateways, WooCommerce offers a truly unique bundle of tools suitable for all types of businesses.
If you are a clothes store looking to make it easier for users to browse particular items then you can add aspects such as Size Guides, where you can filter by sizes or colours.
There are further analytical tools and much more.
We will shortly be compiling a list of the top recommended extensions you should be using for your WooCommerce store. In the mean time if you would like to get particular functions added, get in touch with us.
Still Unsure?
Have we skipped a vital step that you cant work out or need further guidance on a certain aspect of the WooCommerce setup? We would love to hear from you. Get in touch with us today and we will try and answer all of your queries.
Looking For Your Own WooCommerce Store?
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