Volume Discounts in WooCommerce: A How-to Guide

Why do some customers prefer to buy in bulk? What if a simple WooCommerce volume discount could be the key to unlocking higher order values?

For WooCommerce store owners, volume discounting is one of the most effective bulk pricing strategies. Instead of flash sales or steep price cuts, you can encourage customers to buy more by offering strategic discounts based on purchase volume. The result? More revenue, faster inventory turnover, and cost savings for customers.

And this guide will discuss everything about volume discounting in WooCommerce: what it is, how it works, and how to set it up in your store.

But first, let’s break it down: What exactly is a volume discount, and how does offering volume discounts benefit?

WooCommerce volume discounts are a bulk pricing strategy where customers get a discount based on the quantity of products they purchase. The more they buy, the lower the per-unit cost. This discounting strategy encourages bulk purchases, benefiting the store owner and the customer.

For WooCommerce store owners, volume discounting is a smart way to:

• Increase average order value: Customers buy more to claim bigger discounts.
• Clear inventory faster: Reduce stock of slow-moving products.
• Encourage wholesale or bulk buyers: Attract B2B customers and high-volume shoppers.
• Improve customer retention: Shoppers return for better deals when buying in larger quantities.

Now, let’s look into how WooCommerce volume discounts work and how they are structured.

WooCommerce volume discounting isn’t about slashing prices. It’s about structuring discounts to encourage customers to buy more. There are different ways to apply volume discounts in WooCommerce, each with its own advantages.

➞ Tiered Volume Discounts

A tiered discount structure applies different discount percentages to different quantity ranges. As customers buy more, they can claim higher discounts per unit.

Examples of tiered volume discounting in WooCommerce:

• Buy 50-100 units and Get 5% off each item
• Buy 101-150 units and Get 10% off each item
• Buy 150+ units and Get 15% off each item

This volume discounting strategy encourages bulk buying by rewarding customers with progressively better deals the more they purchase. It’s commonly used in B2B and wholesale WooCommerce stores.

➞ Threshold-Based Discounts

Here, the WooCommerce volume discount only applies once a minimum quantity is met. Until then, customers pay the full price for all units.

Examples of threshold-based volume discounting in WooCommerce:

• A volume discount of 10% is only applied once a customer buys at least 500 units.
• The first 499 units are full price, but units 500+ get the volume discount.

This volume discount structure pushes customers to hit a specific purchase goal for more savings, making it ideal for wholesale pricing models.

➞ Bulk Package Discounts

Instead of applying discounts per unit, this WooCommerce volume discount method allows stores to offer bundled discounts for purchasing a specific quantity.

Examples of bulk discounting in WooCommerce:

• Buy 10 units and Get 5% off
• Buy 25 units and Get 10% off
• Buy 50 units and Get 15% off

Customers must buy in predefined batches to get the discount, encouraging them to spend more in a single transaction.

Each of these volume discount methods can be applied based on your WooCommerce store’s needs. Now, let’s see how to set up volume discounts in WooCommerce.

Now that you understand how WooCommerce volume discounts work, it’s time to implement them in your store. There are multiple ways to offer volume-based discounts, whether through coupons, product-specific discounts, or customer-based incentives.

The easiest way to implement volume discounting is by using WooCommerce coupons. With the right plugin, you can create automatic discount rules based on the number of items in the customer’s cart.

For this, Smart Coupons for WooCommerce is a powerful solution that makes volume-based discounts and other coupon promotions easy to manage. The plugin includes a dedicated BOGO module, allowing you to set up tiered WooCommerce discounts effortlessly.

1: Getting Started with Smart Coupons

Here, we’ll use the premium version of the WooCommerce Smart Coupons plugin to demonstrate the volume discount setup process. Before proceeding, install and activate the plugin. Follow the remaining steps to set up coupon-based WooCommerce volume discounts.

2: Create a WooCommerce Volume Discount

In order to set up volume-based tiered discount in WooCommerce:

• Head over to Smart Coupons > Add new coupon to create a new volume discount offer.
• In the General tab, choose “Percentage discount” as the Discount type and set the Coupon amount to “10%.”
• Enable the Apply coupon automatically checkbox to apply the volume discount automatically if the cart is eligible.

• Next, go to the User restriction tab. Here, scroll down to the Minimum quantity of matching products option and set it as “1,” and in the Maximum quantity of matching products field, set it as “4.” Now, what this means is that if the cart has a number of items within this range, the WooCommerce volume discount will be automatically applied.

• After reviewing the remaining settings, you may click Publish to activate the WooCommerce volume discount.
• Similarly, you can create WooCommerce volume discounts for different quantity levels.

3: Add User-Role Restriction for Volume Discounts (Optional)

Say you want the WooCommerce volume discounts to apply only to a specific user role, such as wholesalers, contributors, or subscribers. In that case, you can add an additional restriction to ensure only eligible users can redeem this WooCommerce volume discount.

• Access the edit coupon window for the volume discount.
• Go to the Checkout options tab in the Coupon edit page and choose the user roles under the Applicable Roles option to limit who can redeem the discount.

• Click Update to save the changes.

Now, only users with the selected roles can use this WooCommerce volume discount.

Setting up WooCommerce volume discounts can be a hassle, especially if managing multiple products, customer segments, or discount tiers. That’s where Smart Coupons for WooCommerce comes in. The plugin is an all-in-one solution that automates bulk discounting, coupon management, and advanced discount rules.

With the premium Smart Coupons plugin, you can:

• Set up advanced types of coupon discounts
• Create auto-apply discounts
• Offer advanced Buy X Get Y offers
• Set up cart-based discount rules and conditions
• Restrict discounts to specific products, categories, or user roles
• Display coupon banners with countdown timers

This WooCommerce coupon plugin ensures that your WooCommerce store runs on autopilot when it comes to discounting strategies, boosting conversions, and customer satisfaction.

If you’re looking for a simple yet effective way to increase order value and drive more sales, WooCommerce volume discounts are the way to go. Instead of offering discounts that eat into profits, bulk pricing encourages customers to buy more while keeping profit margins intact.

That’s it, folks! We have come to the end of this guide on WooCommerce volume discounts. Which volume discount strategy are you planning to implement in your WooCommerce store? Let us know in the comments below!