Product Add-ons – WooCommerce product types that can benefit from this plugin

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Working with variable products sometimes is not the best solution and you need an innovative way to manage a product and all the related options available. Size, colors, style, material, customization or shipping options: there are many more scenarios whereby you would need the YITH WooCommerce Product Add-ons & Extra Options plugin, so let’s explore the most useful product types that can benefit from this integration.

What is the Add-ons plugin designed to do?

Before we share the different scenarios, let’s take a closer look at what the plugin actually does. In a nutshell: add options to your WooCommerce products in the form of checkboxes, text input, drop-downs, and many others to create a customised product.

You can charge an additional cost for each option, make it free, or a combination of both. As you probably guessed, once installed, it is your creativity that limits the options you can set for each product. 

Why use Product Add-ons and not bundles or variations?

A commonly asked question is why not replicate custom options using bundles or variable products? The simple answer is that the options are very limited. When you use variations, for each option you need to create a variation, which can only be chosen with a drop-down menu. For example, in the case of only one variation you will be able to choose only one topping:

As variations are added you will have something like this, where your customers can choose 5 different toppings…

And although it looks pretty nice from the frontend, it is a nightmare in the backend as you will have to put the price to 50 variations! Maybe you enjoy it and you have time and a golden patience but for a lot of people this is tedious and impractical, mostly if you are willing to have several products in your store with the same amount of variations.

If you were thinking about bundles, you will have to have a product for every option in your store and that doubles the work, as you will have to create first the option as products to later add them to the bundle. Besides, it is still limited in terms of the variety of displays available for the options.

For the potential hundreds of custom products with many more options for each combination, there is only one plugin that can manage it all in an intuitive and practical way. Here are some examples of how you can use the YITH WooCommerce Product Add-ons & Extra Options to create these products.

Case of usage: create your own pizza (and choose toppings!)

We all know pizza is a personal favourite and not one single person likes the same pizza. As you could see in the previous example with variations, here is another way the same product can be displayed.

Don’t worry about the price, you can set a price for each option and also determine conditional logic to have different options appear if you have, for example, vegan pizza instead of the regular option. If you own a restaurant and you’re looking to have this process made easily and faster for your take-away services, you can certainly take advantage of these features.  

Case of usage: customizable T-shirts and apparel products

Ordering t-shirts for special events and celebrations is a common practice. Adding a custom text and image should be an easy process but if you can only rely on a variable product, it is a different story.

The most common variations are size and color. When you add style, artwork and custom text, you can imagine the options will increase by a huge amount. 

Imagine you paint letters and you need to make the first 12 free and charge for all additional letters.There is really only one way to do this, which is using the YITH WooCommerce Product Add-ons plugin. Take a look at this demo on how to create this type of product.

Case of usage: assemble your personal computer

What if you could offer a computer with a set options, where its functions are compatible and dedicated to a particular use? That would be a game-changer for customers and yourself. For example, you could name the product ‘My gaming Computer’ or ‘My computer for School’ and add specific components or brands that are aligned with the searched functionalities. It prevents many types of questions as the process is clearly defined. Along with this, the display is very intuitive and easy to set. You can see it for yourself in this step by step guide about how to configure a computer with options.

Case of usage: sell personalised jewellery

This is another product that wins at customization options. To gift a piece of jewellery or to buy it for yourself, takes time, because it is a very personal accessory. Think about an online shop that lets you custom every piece, wouldn’t it be easier, faster and even fun? Also, from the shop owner perspective, it would be a faster way to prepare orders and get them ready.

Case of usage: offer a copywriting service

For all freelancers out there, this is the perfect tool to sell your services. Give your clients the opportunity to choose the service they need. Whether you are a web designer or a copywriter, you can easily find a way to introduce your services details and the available options with its prices. For example, in the image below we have a copywriting service that is titled “Custom post”. In this particular product page you can choose the writing style, the length of the article, the topic, SEO options with a text box for keywords, a delivery date and, finally, an option to upload an image. Looking from the customer’s point of view, it’s a great way to purchase that kind of job.

Case of usage: custom print with frame as an upsell option

People are picky when decorating their houses, aren’t they? Everything should match the furniture and the walls, and if you’re in the business you know that you have to offer plenty of options to make every kind of customer happy. Think of a custom print with frame options: the material, the colour, the size, everything matters and is important to have a choice. 

With the help of a fantastic plugin you can achieve this in a very suitable and easy to navigate way. Our Product Add-ons’ settings were designed to be intuitive and fast to implement and change. With a few clicks you will have your product fully set, including the variety of frames with its respective picture to give your clients an exact reference of the materials you offer.

Use add-ons to sell extras 

A finishing touch for your product, that you can apply during the holiday season or, why not, the whole year! Gift wrapping and a custom card may not be that much of an investment to implement but it really makes a huge difference when it comes to user experience. To make a loved one feel special when sending a dedicated present truly is priceless and goes beyond. Besides, with additional options like a color picker, your customers will appreciate having the entire color spectrum to choose from.

An option like this one can not only enhance sales during special days like Christmas, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day but it is also something the customer will likely return to, as this is good service and the attention to detail every customer is looking for.

Set shipping options at the product level

Forget about complicated shipping configurations when you can easily add a set of options to your product. Give your customers the possibility to choose the shipping company best suitable for them with additional costs when needed . If you are offering a box of Italian products like the one in our demo, you can make it very easy for your users to choose a box and a carrier, as a plus you can add fast delivery in 24 hrs or the cheaper option that takes more days. What about insurance options and a field to enter the delivery notes? You can create those too. This way you have a complete product with the most convenient shipping options.

Go beyond!

From custom t-shirts to pizza, this plugin has no limits when it comes to options. You can say goodbye to variations and bundles for good and welcome this fascinating tool to your shop.

These are just a few examples and the tip of the iceberg of what you can create. If curiosity knocks your door and you want to further explore creating your own products you can check our Live demo and launch the admin demo to get full access to the backend configuration. Our design efforts were focused on developing a very intuitive tool, but it can happen you need some guidance and that is why we created a documentation and a YouTube playlist with tutorials.

Feel free to contact us if you have more questions regarding this or other plugins, we’re here!