To create a new simple product you will need the following information:
- Product Title
- Product Price
- Product Image
- Product Description
Adding a new product
In the WordPress dashboard, on the left-side menu, click Products and then Add New.
You will see see the edit screen as shown below:
In the Product name field, enter your product name. This is the name that will be displayed wherever the product is shown on the website.
You can also enter your product’s description and under ‘Product categories’, choose where the product needs to be listed. It can be shown in multiple categories if necessary.
Enter the product data
The product data section allows you to enter your information specific to the product itself. It has 7 sections and by clicking on any of these tabs, you will reveal more options for the product.
To begin choose the ‘Simple Product’ option from the drop-down.
By default every new product is set as a Simple Product.
General
In the General tab, you can enter the ‘Regular Price’ or the ‘Sale Price’ of your item, as shown below:
The ‘Regular Price’ is the price set throughout the online shop and must always be entered. This field only accepts numerical characters and decimal points. You do not need to enter a currency sign.
The ‘Sale Price’ can be added should you wish to mark the item as on sale. This will display the reduced price for as long as this field is active.
Inventory
In the Inventory tab you can enter the stock levels and stock status as shown below:
If your product has a unique identifier, such as a product code or SKU, this can be entered in the SKU field. While not a requirement to publish a product, it can help to organise your online product management.
If you wish to manage your stock levels on a per product basis you can tick the ‘Enable stock management at product level’ box which will show you options for stock quantity and back-ordering.
Most smaller online shops can set stock levels to avoid customers ordering items that are no longer in stock.
Shipping
In the Shipping tab you can enter the product dimensions and weight which can be calulated at the shipping area of the checkout when a customer starts the purchase process, as shown below:
You can add the weight and dimensions of your product. This information will allow you to use weight-based shipping should your courier require specific information on the product you are sending to your customers.
Shipping classes can also be chosen on a per product basis.
Most online shops will have shipping set to apply to the entire website, but this can be used if a product requires a different shipping option.
Linked Products
In the Linked Products tab, you can select products within your online shop that relate to each other, as shown below:
You can choose to add linked products by clicking in the field and searching for your related products in the online shop and selecting them.
Linked products are split into two areas; Upsells and Cross-sells.
Upsells are products that are displayed on individual product pages, sometimes as related, recommend or you may like options.
Note, Upsell products need to be included in the product template page to display.
Cross-sells are products that are shown within the basket page of the online shop and are useful for customers who may be ready to complete their purchase but shown a related product.
Note, cross-sell products need to be included in the basket template page to display.
Atrributes and Advanced
The Attributes and Advanced tabs are more specific to variable products and covered in that topic.
Add a product image
Once you have set-up the product data you can add a product image, and a gallery of images to showcase your product on the website. Woocommerce has fantastic documentation on how to do just that, here:
Product images not showing correctly? Click the button below for information on how to correctly format product images.
Once all of your product information is in place, you can click Publish to show your product online.
