How to Add Sample Data in WooCommerce (+ Product Images)

Are you setting up a new WooCommerce store and want to preview how it will look with some test products before launch? Adding sample data is a great way to demo your store.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll walk through how to easily add sample products, orders, and images in WooCommerce for testing.

After 15 years as a webmaster, I‘ll share my tips for using dummy data to optimize your WooCommerce store before going live.

Why Use Sample Data in WooCommerce

But first, let‘s look at some stats on WooCommerce adoption:

• WooCommerce powers over 30% of all online stores
• Over 6 million sites have installed WooCommerce

With so many stores relying on it, WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform for WordPress.

Here are some of the key benefits of using sample data:

✅ See how your products will display before launch
✅ Test different themes and layouts
✅ Try out extensions and optimize settings
✅ Work on SEO and conversion rate optimization
✅ Practice checkout flows and transaction processing

Overall, sample data enables you to improve your store and offer a smooth experience when you go live.

Step-by-Step Guide to Adding Sample Products

Let‘s go through how to add sample products in WooCommerce:

1. Install and Activate WooCommerce

First, you need WooCommerce installed and activated on your WordPress site.

If you haven‘t done this yet, refer to our WooCommerce installation guide.

2. Navigate to Product Import

Next, log in to your WordPress dashboard. Go to WooCommerce > Products > All Products:

Here you will see an Import button. Click on it to access the importer.

3. Expand Advanced Options

On the product importer page, click Advanced Options to reveal more settings:

We need to access these to specify the sample product CSV file.

4. Add Sample Product CSV

Under advanced options, find Import a CSV file on your server:

Here you need to enter the path to the built-in sample product CSV file:

wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/sample-data/sample_products.csv

Alternatively, you can download the CSV file and then upload it.

5. Run the Import

Once you‘ve specified the sample CSV file, scroll down and click Run the importer.

WooCommerce will now import the dummy products. This may take a minute.

You‘ll see a success message when done.

6. View and Modify Sample Products

Click View products to see the imported dummy products.

The sample data will be treated just like regular products. Feel free to modify as needed.

And that‘s it! By following these steps you can easily add sample products to test out your WooCommerce store.

Adding Sample Orders in WooCommerce

Unlike sample products, WooCommerce does not come with sample orders.

However, you can easily generate dummy orders by making test purchases yourself.

Here is how:

1. Enable Cash on Delivery payment method in WooCommerce settings:

2. Go through checkout in your store and order some sample products using test customer details.

3. The orders will show up under WooCommerce > Orders for you to view and test order management workflows.

This allows you to add sample orders without any plugins.

Below is a comparison of the pros and cons of using test orders vs sample orders:

	Test Orders	Sample Orders
Pros	Realistic checkout experience	Quick to generate
Cons	Time-consuming	Less accurate test

Adding Images to Sample Products

The default sample product CSV file does not contain actual images.

Here are two ways to add product images:

• Manually – Once imported, open each product and upload images. This is quick and easy.

• Re-import CSV – Add image URLs to the CSV and import it again. More time-consuming but allows bulk image uploads.

Based on my experience, manually adding product images takes less time and avoids potential import issues.

Removing Sample Data

Once your testing is complete, you can delete the sample data:

• To remove sample orders, go to WooCommerce > Orders. Select all and choose Move to Trash.

• To delete sample products, go to Products > All Products. Select all and Move to Trash.

This will clean up your store and prep it for launch!

I hope this detailed guide helped explain how to add and use sample data in WooCommerce for testing. Let me know if you have any other questions!