How to Set Discounts for Wholesale Purchases in WooCommerce

As the online sales market increases, there are ample opportunities for a variety of business types. For example, offering discounts for wholesale purchases might be a valuable strategy. However, managing both retail and wholesale at the same time can be a challenge.

That’s where the free Wholesale Suite Wholesale Prices plugin comes in. This is a set of extensions available that enhances the wholesale pricing options in WooCommerce.

In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of offering wholesale discounts. Then, we’ll show you how to set this up in WordPress using the Wholesale Suite add-on. Let’s get started!

Understanding Wholesale Pricing and Why It Might Benefit You

In most cases, the products we buy don’t come straight from the manufacturer. They typically move through a middleman who buys large quantities at lower prices. That lower price is the ‘wholesale’ price.

Offering discounts on wholesale purchases leaves retailers some room to mark up the price to meet their own profit goals. It’s also a way for manufacturers to move more product.

This might also help you attract a larger customer base than you have now. If you have items that can be resold or used in other products, setting up wholesale pricing online might be a great way to boost your overall sales.

While the markup on wholesale is not that high, the wholesale industry still overshadows retail ecommerce by a couple of trillion dollars. Which is to say, it’s a big, booming industry.

How to Set Discounts for Wholesale Offers in WooCommerce

Assuming you’re already set up for retail sales with WooCommerce, we’re going to walk through how to add wholesale discounts to your existing products.

1. Download and Install the Plugin

The first thing you’ll need to do is download the free Wholesale Prices for WooCommerce plugin:

You can do this through WordPress by searching the plugin directory in your admin panel. Also, if you’ve downloaded the .zip file you can upload it by going to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin in your dashboard.

It’s worth noting, the free plugin needs to be installed before upgrading. However, once your plugin is installed and activated, you can visit the Wholesale Pricing Premium plugin website to purchase the add-on. Then, follow the same process as you would for other plugins to add it to your website.

2. Establish Your Wholesale User Roles

While the free plugin has quite a few options, you’ll need the premium add-on if you want to have more user roles to work with. For example, you can set up multiple user roles to represent different tiers of pricing you want to offer.

This approach gives you a lot of flexibility in your wholesale pricing. First, you’ll need to navigate to WooCommerce > Wholesale Roles:

If you have existing site users who want to become wholesale users, you can adjust their user settings by going to Users > All Users in your dashboard. Select the user you need and choose your wholesale user role from the dropdown:

Once your user roles have been established, they’ll be available throughout WooCommerce as you configure your pricing.

3. Configure Your Wholesale Settings

The Wholesale Pricing plugin adds a new tab in your WooCommerce > Settings menu for Wholesale:

Here, you’ll have access to all your wholesale pricing settings. The first set of options is the General settings menu. This is where you’ll find your initial options. Additionally, you can customize a thank you message for your wholesale customers.

For example, you can check the first box if you only want Wholesale Users to be able to view the discounted pricing. Another setting that might be important to you on this screen is the Minimum Order Requirements:

This is where you can establish the minimum purchase quantity needed for all of your wholesale sales.

4. Set Your Wholesale Price Options

The Price settings are where you’ll decide on the options you’ll have available to customers:

For example, this is where you can decide whether to always use the regular price of your items. This way, you won’t be offering a discount on already marked down items. Additionally, you can tailor the text that appears for your pricing if you don’t want to use the phrase ‘Wholesale Price’.

5. Create Your Discounts

Next, the Discount settings are where you’ll customize what each wholesale customer role will have access to in terms of prices:

You can establish a flat percentage discount for products purchased by each role. Alternatively, you can establish quantity-based discounts as well:

As you can see, for each role you can set a starting and ending quantity. For each quantity, you’ll choose a percentage discount that will be received. You’ll then need to click Add Mapping to create the option:

There are other settings you’ll want to check out as well. For example, you can establish separate payment gateways specifically for your wholesale customers.

Also, since wholesale shipping can be a little different from regular retail, there are detailed shipping settings that can help you offer a quality option to your customers.

Create More Discounts With Wholesale Pricing and WooCommerce

Now that you know how to set discounts for wholesale prices in WooCommerce, you’ll be able to appeal to a wider range of customers. The free Wholesale Suite wholesale prices plugin for WooCommerce makes it easy.

To get set up in WooCommerce with wholesale pricing options, just remember these five steps:

1. Download and install both the free plugin and the premium upgrade from Wholesale Suite.
2. Establish your Wholesale User roles in WooCommerce.
3. Configure your wholesale settings.
4. Set your price options.
5. Create your discounts.

Do you have questions about Wholesale Suite or setting up discounts in WooCommerce? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!