How To Offer WooCommerce Invoice Payments To Wholesale Customers

Offering invoice payments is the norm in B2B transactions. If your WooCommerce store serves wholesale businesses, adding this payment method is essential to meeting their needs.  By providing a WooCommerce invoice payment option, you not only streamline the purchase process but also enhance the satisfaction of your B2B clients. 

We’re here to make this easy for you! In this helpful guide, we walk you through implementing invoice payments in your WooCommerce store. We’ll also discuss why this strategy is crucial for the success of your e-commerce business. So, let’s dive in! 

What Are Invoice Payments? 

Invoices serve as a formal document that details the products (or services) provided by a business, including their costs. They are sent to customers directly, usually outlining payment terms, due dates, and accepted payment methods. 

Invoice payments, on the other hand, are the scheduled transactions customers make to fulfill their financial obligations outlined on the invoice. Unlike immediate payment methods like credit or debit card transactions, invoice payments allow B2B buyers to defer payments at a later date.

Benefits Of Implementing A WooCommerce Invoice Payment Option 

Implementing a WooCommerce invoice payment option can be a game-changer for e-commerce wholesalers. Why is this so? Let’s explore some of its key advantages below: 

1. Enhances customer satisfaction 

Wholesale customers, often fellow business owners themselves, typically have to manage fluctuations in cash flow in their operations. This can make settling bulk purchases difficult. By offering invoice payments, you give your customers the flexibility to defer payments. This makes wholesale purchases more manageable for them, which then enhances their satisfaction and improves their overall relationship with your business. 

2. Streamlines your operations 

As a busy store owner, you’re always looking for ways to innovate and make your operations more efficient. Implementing a WooCommerce invoice payment system is one way to do this. With automated invoicing, you can generate and send invoices instantly, without the need for manual work and checking. A reliable WooCommerce invoicing system also allows you to track and manage payments at a glance, giving you more control over managing your finances. 

3. Improves sales conversion 

When wholesale customers have more payment options at their fingertips, they are more likely to convert into paying customers. Why? Offering invoice payments alleviates the burden of costly upfront payments, which is typical for bulk transactions. By allowing your customers to settle their invoices at a later date, or provide installment options, you remove barriers to purchase and encourage customers to proceed with their orders. As a result, you close more sales and increase your bottom line.

How To Offer A WooCommerce Invoice Payment Option On Your Wholesale Store (Step-by-Step)

While WooCommerce doesn’t let you accept invoice payments by default, it’s easy to set up with the right plugin. Wholesale Payments, our newest plugin in Wholesale Suite, allows you to do this in a few simple steps! With this powerful tool, you can: 

• Allow B2B clients to pay via invoice
• Create custom payment terms 
• Automate invoicing and monitoring of payments and balances right within WooCommerce
• Offer versatile and secure payment options to B2B clients

Take note that we’ll use Wholesale Payments to quickly set up a WooCommerce invoice payment system in this tutorial. So, make sure you have the plugin installed and activated before we get started. Feel free to check our getting started guide for more information. 

Let’s get right into it! 

Step 1: Enable Wholesale Payments as a WooCommerce payment method 

To take advantage of Wholesale Payments’ powerful features, you’ll need to add it as a WooCommerce payment method. To do so, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments. Then, look for “Wholesale Payments” and toggle the button to “enabled.”

Step 2: Connect your Stripe account to Wholesale Payments

Wholesale Payments seamlessly integrates with Stripe to provide your customers access to secure and versatile payment methods. After installing and activating the plugin, head to Wholesale > Wholesale Payments. Under “Stripe”, click the button “Connect with Stripe.”

Immediately, you’ll be directed to the Wholesale Payment Stripe Integration page. In here, you can either connect your store’s existing stripe account or create a new one. To do so, simply follow the prompts – enter your business details and other required information:

After a successful integration, you’ll be able to view your Stripe API settings under Wholesale > Wholesale Payments > Stripe. 

Step 3: Enable (or create) your WooCommerce invoice payment plans

Offering WooCommerce invoice payments gives your customers more flexibility, alleviating the burden of paying large upfront costs for wholesale transactions. With Wholesale Payments, you have the freedom to create custom payment plans that align with the needs of your customers.

Out of the box, the plugin presents pre-configured payment plans that you can enable anytime. These payment plans are those most commonly offered in the B2B world, giving you a quick headstart. Examples are NET 30/60/90 terms, three equal payments, and full payment on the 21st of the next month: 

To enable any of these plans, simply click on the plan you wish to add, make any desired modifications to its name and description, and click “OK.” This immediately enables the plan for your wholesale customers. 

Making a custom plan 

Alternatively, you can create a custom payment plan. To do so, click “Create a custom payment plan”. This will take you to the “Edit Payment Plan” screen, where you can modify the plan’s name, description, and breakdown:

Wholesale Payments gives you unparalleled flexibility when it comes to modifying your payment plans. In the plan breakdown section, you can choose the intervals, amount due (percentage, fixed, or no payment required), and schedule that aligns with the needs of your wholesale customers.

For a full guide on creating a custom payment plan, check out our tutorial here!

Here’s how your enabled payment plan appears for wholesale customers during checkout: 

Wholesale Payments Automates Invoicing 

Essentially, those three steps are all you need to do to provide your customers an option to pay via invoice – Wholesale Payment automates the process for you. Upon order placement, customers receive their invoice via email, with the option to pay right within the invoice, as illustrated below:

Wholesale Payments also sends out automatic reminders to inform customers of their due dates. And, as a WooCommerce store owner, you gain full visibility into the status of outstanding invoices right within your order dashboard:

With a streamlined WooCommerce invoice payment system and full visibility into payments and outstanding balances, you spend less time on manual checks, reduce order errors, and free up valuable time to focus on growing your wholesale business!

Conclusion 

Implementing a WooCommerce invoice payment system enables you to cater to the evolving needs of your B2B customers. By allowing wholesale customers to pay via invoice, you reduce friction in the purchase process, encourage them to choose your business, and maximize conversion rates. What’s more, automating invoicing streamlines your operations, giving you more control over where you pour your efforts into your business.

In this helpful guide, we’ve discovered how you can easily offer invoice payments in your WooCommerce store using Wholesale Payments. It just takes three simple steps: 

1. Add Wholesale Payments as a payment method
2. Connect your Stripe Account to Wholesale Payments
3. Enable (or create) WooCommerce invoice payment terms

Once you enable your desired payment terms, Wholesale Payments automates the invoicing process for you. Wholesale customers receive their invoices right after placing an order, automated reminders are sent, and clients can pay using their preferred method directly within the invoice. This makes the entire process smooth and convenient for you and your customers!

Do you have any questions about implementing a WooCommerce invoice payment system? Let us know in the comments section below! 

Kathren Kelly Writer, Content Manager

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