Offering discounted wholesale pricing is one of the best ways for ecommerce stores to increase sales and attract business customers.
But WooCommerce doesn‘t allow setting wholesale prices out of the box.
In this comprehensive guide as a webmaster with over 15 years of experience, I‘ll show you how to easily add wholesale pricing to your WooCommerce store using a simple plugin.
Contents
Why Wholesale Pricing is Crucial for Growth
Here are some key reasons why offering wholesale pricing can take your ecommerce business to the next level:
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Attract business resellers – Provide attractive margins for retailers who want to carry your products. This expands your reach.
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Encourage bulk purchases – Wholesale pricing incentivizes larger individual orders, increasing average order value.
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Build partnerships – Offering discounts can help you form relationships with complementary businesses.
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New revenue streams – Catering to the B2B space opens up new long-term revenue opportunities.
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Reduce inventory costs – Large bulk orders help clear inventory faster and lower holding costs.
According to a Brightpearl survey, 92% of wholesalers say discounted pricing is important for their business relationships.
Clearly, offering the right wholesale price points is crucial for tapping into this lucrative market.
How to Setup Wholesale Pricing in WooCommerce Stores
WooCommerce doesn‘t natively support configuring wholesale pricing out of the box.
To add wholesale pricing to your WordPress/WooCommerce site, the best approach is using a dedicated plugin.
Based on my experience managing dozens of WooCommerce stores over the past 15+ years, I recommend using two plugins together:
- Wholesale Prices – Free basic wholesale pricing plugin for WooCommerce
- Wholesale Suite – Premium plugin that adds advanced wholesale features
Together, these plugins provide an end-to-end solution for adding customizable wholesale pricing to your store.
Getting Started with the Plugins
Here are the steps to set up the Wholesale Prices and Wholesale Suite plugins:
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Install and activate both plugins on your WordPress site.
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Go to WooCommerce > Wholesale > License and enter your Wholesale Suite license key.
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The plugins will create a "Wholesale Customer" user role automatically.
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Assign this role to any user accounts you want to give wholesale access.
Once installed and configured, you‘re ready to start defining your wholesale pricing!
How to Add Wholesale Prices to WooCommerce Products
Adding wholesale pricing to individual products is easy with the Wholesale Prices plugin.
Just edit any product and go to the "Wholesale Prices" section. Here you can:
- Set a fixed discounted wholesale price
- Offer a percentage discount off the normal price
- Establish minimum order quantities to get wholesale pricing
- Schedule when the pricing starts/ends
For example, you may want to offer a 25% discount ($100 normal price, $75 wholesale price) for orders of 10+ units from your wholesale buyers.
The discounted wholesale price will automatically display to logged-in users who have your "Wholesale Customer" role assigned. No coding required!
According to a survey by SaleHoo, 73% of wholesalers say pricing flexibility is vital for their businesses. Wholesale Prices gives you this flexibility.
Advanced Wholesale Pricing Options
The Wholesale Suite plugin unlocks powerful functionality for fine-tuning your wholesale strategy:
Tiered Quantity Discounts
You can set multiple pricing tiers based on order quantities to incentivize larger orders. For example:
- 10+ units = 10% off
- 50+ units = 20% off
- 100+ units = 30% off
Just define as many quantity ranges and associated discounts as you need in the "Product Quantity Based Wholesale Pricing" section.
Enforcing Minimum Order Quantities
Prevent your wholesalers from gaming your minimums to get discounted pricing on small orders.
Go to WooCommerce > Wholesale > Roles and check the box to "Prevent purchase if wholesale condition is not met" under the role settings.
This will automatically block any orders from wholesalers below your minimum quantities. No more exceptions or haggling!
Custom Wholesale User Roles
The default "Wholesale Customer" role offers a single set of prices for all your wholesalers.
But you can create additional roles like "Platinum Wholesaler" or "Bulk Reseller" with totally custom pricing, discounts, minimums, and more.
Just assign users to the appropriate role you create to manage the pricing they see. Very powerful!
Global Storewide Discounts
Easily set a global wholesale discount percentage that applies to all products. It works as a default if products don‘t have custom pricing.
For example, you could offer a flat 25% off all items for your "Wholesale Customer" role. Configure this under WooCommerce > Settings > Wholesale Prices.
wholesale-pricing-models-examples.png
Making the Most of Wholesale Pricing
As you can see, the Wholesale Prices and Wholesale Suite plugins provide all the tools you need to optimize wholesale pricing in WooCommerce.
But how you utilize these tools depends on your business model and margins. Here are some best practices:
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Know your numbers – Calculate your profit margins for wholesale vs. retail pricing so you offer adequate discounts but still make money.
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Differentiate user roles – Vary pricing across user roles based on order history or partnership levels to reward your best wholesalers.
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Offer tiered pricing – Make pricing progressively more attractive at higher quantities to incentivize larger purchases.
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Highlight savings – Clearly display the discount percentage/savings amount to show the value to wholesalers.
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Automate workflows – Use role permissions and minimums to streamline order workflows.
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Review frequently – Revisit your wholesale pricing strategy every quarter to remain competitive.
Following these tips will ensure you fully leverage your new wholesale pricing capabilities!
Conclusion
Adding automated wholesale pricing and discounts is critical for any ecommerce brand looking to expand revenue by targeting B2B and enterprise customers.
Using the Wholesale Prices and Wholesale Suite WordPress plugins provides a complete wholesale solution for WooCommerce stores with just a few clicks.
Implementing discounted bulk order pricing lets you tap into new sales channels, develop business partnerships, and boost order values.
Just be sure to carefully balance providing value for your wholesalers with maintaining adequate profit margins on your end as the retailer.
I hope this comprehensive wholesale pricing guide provides you with the information and tools you need to start selling products at volume! Let me know if you have any other questions.
