What is a grouped product in WooCommerce?
WooCommere grouped product refers to the ability to chain or group complimentary/similar products and offer them to customers as a single product.
A group may include main items and products which are otherwise considered ‘uncategorized’ or ‘additional’.
Product grouping is an ideal choice for online vendors as clients will quite often buy more when things match their necessities or improve the ease of use of everything when bought together. They can be purchased exclusively too.
Presently, there are various kinds of product grouping (product bundling) in WooCommerce and there are different plugins for the equivalent. In this article, we’ll cover all the significant grouping types and a well-known plugin for each.
Why do you need WooCommerce group products?
Each WooCommerce industry, such as digital, beauty, health and nutrition, food, FMCG, etc. can group products to boost sales. It is a powerful bundling option that allows sellers to give suggestions to their customers related to what they are buying. Besides, it also enhances revenues and cross-selling for WooCommerce online stores.
Product grouping comes in handy when a product has too many related products or different versions. In such cases, a solitary product page is required for each product with the goal that clients can undoubtedly get to each product type either independently or through the principle product page where every one of the things are assembled.
Let’s take an example of this concept in a better way.
Assume a store owner selling shoes. This product can be grouped with shoe polish and pertinent socks, as individuals who need the shoes will obviously need the other two products. Therefore, grouping these related products together will result in increased revenues and sales.
Following are the significant advantages of grouped products::
For customers – Product grouping allows customers to find the items matching their interests, taste, and preferences without browsing across the website.
For sellers – Sellers can sell additional or similar items.
Moreover, this helps in establishing connections between the different product pages, making it significant for a site’s SEO.
How to add grouped product in WooCommerce?
Now there are two ways to group products in WooCommerce:
- Using default WooCommerce
- Using different plugins
We’ll first look at the default WooCommerce way.
Product grouping is included in WooCommerce core. It allows you to showcase similar, related products on a single page but still sell them separately.
Here’s how:
- Create a parent product. Select product type as
Grouped product. Since this product will be a collection of child products, price and other fields will disappear. - Next, create different products you want to offer in the bundle. Select product type as
Simple product. Enter price and other details. - Now in the created parent product, link other child products.
That’s it. For more description with images on creating grouped products, refer to this blog.
Presently, the greatest disadvantage here is it is restricted to grouping simple products. What’s more, there could be no other customization choices. You need plugins for it.
Notwithstanding, there are various plugins for product grouping in WooCommerce. Though things appear to be identical, there are very contrasts in how the products are grouped utilizing the plugins in view of client needs and storekeepers’ plans to shoot up their revenue.
However, most product grouping plugins referenced underneath cross-over and share some comparative usefulness. So pick in view of your necessities.
Different types of WooCommerce grouped products with plugins
We start with the well-known plugins on the WooCommerce marketplace.
Chained products
On the off chance that you wish to offer custom pre-configured products, discounted bundles to customers, you need to chain products.
Here, when a buyer adds the main product to the cart, the WooCommerce chained products automatically get added to the customer order.
When buyers add the ‘main’ product to the cart, they pay price for the main product but get the ‘chained’ products as well. However, individual pricing for chained items can be done.
For example, if your main product is a shaving razor, and you chain shaving kit, cream, after-shave gel to the razor, the customer will get all four items as a bundle.
Chained Products plugin
Chained Products extension on WooCommerce.com is the popular plugin to enable the chaining functionality on your store.
The plugin allows users to create a ‘chain’ for simple and variable product items. It highlights the chained products before and after the ‘Add to Cart’ button or is featured in the product tabs. It leads to increased sales as customers are compelled to purchase the chained items alongside the main product.
Top features:
- Chain multiple products with different quantities to the main product.
- Chain products as a free gift along with the main product.
- Customers can’t change bundle configuration, so it is easier for them to focus on the value the bundle or the package delivers.
- Create nested product bundles.
- Offer chained products as individually priced.
- Compatible with WooCommerce Subscriptions.
Product bundles
Product bundles are next in the list of WooCommerce grouped product types. Unlike chaining products, here you club multiple related products together into one and offer the bundle at some discount or no discount.
It enhances the appeal as customers get great discount deals on individual items as well as on the whole bundle.
Product Bundles plugin
Product Bundles extension can be purchased from WooCommerce.com. The plugin gives you the flexibility to create personalized bundles easily and quickly.
Top features:
- Allows individuals to control the maximum or minimum quantity of products that customers should add to their cart.
- Allows users to pick their ideal layout options from the multiple available selections.
- Group simple, variable and subscription products together — or pick specific variations.
- Promote bundles anywhere on your store with shortcodes and upsells.
- Offer bulk quantity discounts with dynamic pricing rules.
Force sells
In force sells, you usually link a product to the main product (both in the same quantity) and as a result, both products get added to the cart. The best example could be linking an extended warranty or service to a product.
WooCommerce Force Sell plugin
Force Sells extension on WooCommerce.com is a good plugin to do force sells.
Top features:
- Normal force sells – linked products and main product gets added to cart in the same quantity. Products can be removed and quantity can be changed.
- Synced force sells – same like normal force sells but users can’t remove a synced force sell from the cart or change the quantity.
Composite products
Composite products are an option for building product kits and assembling the products by grouping them into configurable components. It’s a robust and flexible WooCommerce builder that gives users some customization options.
Composite Products plugin
Composite Products extension on WooCommerce.com is quite popular to create product assemblies.
The plugin offers full compatibility to the users and allows them to combine different products and create powerful bundles. It facilitates a seamless shopping experience for users.
Top features:
- Allows buyers to assemble the products on their own from the given list
- The price of the product can be determined by summing the price of different products or it can be fixed.
- Allow buyers to pick products of their choice, filtered by tags, id, or categories.
- Highlight the product list of every component in multiple ways – radio button, drop down, or product thumbnails.
- Set a maximum or minimum quantity for every component.
Mix and Match products
This is best suited for offering similar products in bulk containers. Selling a fruit basket, pack of donuts, chocolate boxes and more…this is ideal for encouraging customers to purchase in bulk without compelling them to purchase things that don’t intrigue them.
Mix and Match products
The plugin that comes to my mind is Mix and Match Products.
The plugin allows you to set the assortment size limit (number of items needed to ‘complete’ a container) and define which items customers can choose.
This enables your customer to maintain control over the quantity of individual products being packaged together. For example, if customers don’t want four blue t-shirts, allow them to buy two black and two white ones. Or any other combination.
Top features:
- Mix and match simple products and product variations in a container.
- Choose a static price for the whole container or price individually.
- Ship all assortments in one package or separate packages.
- Inventory-managed assortments.
Get Mix and Match Products plugin
Conclusion
WooCommerce grouped products not only allow sellers to categorize the uncategorized products but are also an ideal way for promoting and cross-selling items in an online store.
“Customers who purchased X also purchased Y” – leverage this idea to push shoppers to buy more than they wanted to. After all, the products they need are valuable.
The customers aren’t forced to do anything but are encouraged to purchase the right combination of products which eventually saves their time and effort. It not only enhances the shopping experiences of customers but also boosts their sales. Based on your requirements, the best plugins are in front of you to choose from.
FAQs
Can we create a WooCommerce grouped product with variations?
Yes.
Can we group external / affiliate products?
Yes.
What is the difference between simple and grouped products?
Simple
Grouped products are simple products clubbed together. Additional purchases are prompted by grouped products.
Can you bundle products in WooCommerce?
Yes. Refer to this blog.