If you have an online store, giving customers more ways to pay can help you get and keep them. One great way to do this is by offering WooCommerce installments. Using a payment plan can make it easier for buyers to afford their orders. This means wholesale buyers can pay over time, which makes it easier for them to make bigger orders using a payment plan.
In this guide, we will explain how you can offer WooCommerce installments to your wholesale buyers and keep your store easy to use.
Ready? Let’s get to it!
What Are Payment Installments In Wholesale?
Payment installments let buyers split the cost of a big purchase into smaller, easier payments over time. Moreover, this is very helpful in wholesale, where orders are often bigger and cost more compared to retail sales. Likewise, by offering installments, wholesalers give buyers the flexibility they need which makes it easier for them to place bigger orders without paying everything at once. This type of payment plan helps make buying less stressful.
For example, think of a business that wants to buy $5,000 worth of inventory. Paying this much all at once could be hard for them. But if they can pay in four smaller amounts of $1,250, it becomes much easier. This type of plan can make businesses feel better about ordering more because they won’t be overwhelmed by one big payment. In wholesale, payment installments help buyers manage their money better, which can lead to bigger and more frequent orders.
Why Set Up WooCommerce Installments For Wholesale Buyers?
There are many reasons why offering WooCommerce installments can be helpful for online stores that sell to wholesale buyers. One of the main reasons is that it makes bigger orders easier for customers. Many businesses may not want to make a big purchase if they have to pay everything upfront, but installment options can make it more doable.
Imagine a customer visiting your store to buy supplies for the next six months. They want to place a big order, but the total cost is too high for one payment. By offering a payment plan, you make it possible for them to pay in parts. By setting up WooCommerce installments, you give them a way to spread out the payments, which makes buying easier. This makes the customer more likely to buy from you and builds a stronger relationship because they see you care about their needs.
Benefits Of Offering WooCommerce Installments
Offering WooCommerce installments has many advantages for both your store and your customers. Below are some of the key benefits you can expect when you add installment options to your payment process.
- More sales: When customers can pay in installments, they are more likely to make bigger orders, which can increase your total sales.
- Better customer loyalty: Offering easy payment options, like a payment plan, shows that you care about your customers, which helps build trust.
- More customers: WooCommerce Installments make your products available to more people, including those who might not have enough money for a big upfront payment.
- Better cash flow: Offering installment payments can lead to a more steady flow of money as you get smaller, partial payments over time.
- Competitive advantage: Not all stores offer installment options, so providing WooCommerce Installments can give your store an edge.
- Lower abandonment rates: By letting customers pay in smaller amounts, you make it less likely that they will leave their cart without buying because they feel less overwhelmed by the cost.
- Repeat customers: Customers who have a good experience with your installment options are more likely to come back for future purchases.
- Helps customers plan better: Installment plans help customers manage their money better, making it easier for them to plan their purchases.
- Flexible payment choices: WooCommerce installments let customers pick a plan that works best for them which makes shopping easier.
- Less stress: Offering installment plans helps reduce financial stress for your customers, which leads to happier customers and better reviews.
How To Set Up WooCommerce Installments Using A Plugin
The easiest way to set up WooCommerce Installments is by using a trusted plugin. Plugins can make the process simple, allowing you to offer installment payments, or a WooCommerce payment plan, without needing a lot of technical skills.
One of the best plugins for this is Wholesale Payments. Wholesale Payments makes installment payments easy and hassle-free, so you can offer a WooCommerce payment plan with confidence.
In the next section, we will discuss how you can set up payment installments using Wholesale Payments. However, in the following steps, we assume that you have already installed and activated the Wholesale Payments plugin.
1. Navigate to Wholesale Payments
On the left side of your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Wholesale > Wholesale Payments.
2. Set payment options
Go to Payment Plans and set up the installment options. There are already pre-made plans that you can use. But for the sake of your store, you can set the number of installments, the time between each payment, and any other terms that work for your customers. You can click on Create a custom payment plan to customize your installment plans.
This will reveal the Edit Payment Plan tab, where you can configure your payment plan any way you like.
Here’s a breakdown of the different parts shown:
Enabled toggle
This toggle allows you to enable or disable the payment plan entirely. When enabled, the payment plan can be selected during checkout.
Plan name
This text field allows you to provide a descriptive name for the payment plan. In the example shown, it’s named “10% deposit, 90% payable in 90 days,” which describes how the payment structure works.
Plan description
This section allows you to add a description of the payment plan. This description is displayed to users on the checkout page to explain the payment terms. Here, it reads, “Pay 10% upon checkout, and we’ll bill you the remaining 90% in 90 days.”
Plan breakdown
This part shows the specific breakdown of the payment structure. Day 0 (10% payment): This indicates that the initial payment is due on the day of the order (Day 0), which is set to be 10% of the order value. Day 90 (90% payment): This indicates that the remaining 90% of the order value will be due 90 days after the order date. You can also add additional milestones using the “+ Add Payment” button if more installments are required.
Payment details for each milestone
For each payment milestone, you have several fields:
- Days after order: Defines when the payment is due in terms of days after the initial order.
- Amount due: Specifies the percentage or fixed amount due for each milestone.
Apply payment plan restrictions
This feature allows you to limit the availability of this payment plan to certain users or roles.
- Allowed wholesale roles: Here, you can specify which wholesale user roles can access this payment plan. In this example, it’s limited to the “Gold” role.
- Allowed wholesale users: This field allows you to further refine which specific users are eligible for this plan, providing more granular control if needed.
Save payment plan button
This button saves the current configuration of the payment plan.
Delete payment plan button
Clicking this button will delete the entire payment plan.
3. Save and enable your plan
Now, let’s make sure this payment plan is available to your wholesale customers. When you return to the payment plans dashboard, you’ll see that enabled plans are highlighted in green, indicating they are active and ready for your customers to use. This already signifies that your plan is available on the front end, allowing customers to select it during checkout.
You can read more about custom payment plans here: How To Create Custom Wholesale WooCommerce Payment Plans
Maximize Your Wholesale Potential With Wholesale Suite
Wholesale Payments is part of a bigger toolkit of Wholesale Suite. Wholesale Suite is the #1 WooCommerce solution for all wholesale needs, giving you all the tools to manage pricing, customer groups, inventory, and WooCommerce payment plans.
This includes other powerful plugins such as Wholesale Order Form, Wholesale Prices Premium, and Wholesale Lead Capture. Wholesale Order Form makes it easy for customers to place bulk orders quickly. Wholesale Prices Premium allows you to set advanced pricing rules for different customer groups, and Wholesale Lead Capture helps you grow your wholesale customer base by adding an easy way for new customers to sign up. Together, these plugins provide a complete solution for managing a wholesale business efficiently.
Know more about Wholesale Payments in this full guide:
Wholesale Payments: The Best WooCommerce Payments Plugin For B2B (Full Guide)
Frequently Asked Questions
Does WooCommerce have a payment processor?
Yes, WooCommerce works with many different payment processors. You can choose from popular options like PayPal, Stripe, and others to handle customer payments, including installment plans through plugins like Wholesale Payments.
What is the best payment method with WooCommerce?
The best payment method depends on your business needs and your customers’ preferences. For most businesses, offering a mix of credit cards, PayPal, and installment options through plugins like Wholesale Payments gives the flexibility needed to meet many different customer needs.
Which payment gateway is best?
The best payment gateway for your store will depend on where your customers are and your business needs. Popular gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Square are often used because they are easy to use and trusted. If you want to offer installment payments, using a plugin like Wholesale Payments is a great idea.
Conclusion
Offering WooCommerce installments to wholesale buyers is a great way to make big purchases easier. By providing installment options, you let your customers buy what they need without having to pay everything upfront. This helps encourage bigger orders, builds customer loyalty, and can lead to higher sales.
In this article, we discussed how you can offer WooCommerce installments to wholesale buyers:
- What are payment installments in wholesale?
- Why set up WooCommerce for wholesale buyers?
- Benefits of offering WooCommerce installments
- How to set up WooCommerce installments using a plugin
Using a plugin like Wholesale Payments makes it easy to set up and manage installment plans. Wholesale Payments, as part of the Wholesale Suite toolkit, offers a simple way to add installment payments to your WooCommerce store, helping you make the most of your store’s potential.
Start offering WooCommerce Installments today and see how it can make your wholesale business more friendly and easy for your customers!
Got questions about payment plans? Let us know in the comments!
