How to sell 'build your own' custom product boxes in WooCommerce

While WooCommerce is widely used for simple stores, it’s also possible to create custom product boxes in WooCommerce. Keep reading to learn how to set up a ‘Build Your Own Product’ system.

Whether you want to sell bespoke vegetable boxes, luxury food, or gift baskets, build your own pizza or burrito, build a box, or something else, you can sell custom product boxes with WooCommerce.

Used creatively, WooCommerce is perfect for selling custom product boxes and bespoke orders. Customers can choose from a selection of products in different categories to order a custom combination that is unique to them. They can view the available box contents in a user-friendly list, tick the ones they want, and add to the cart – all from a simple one-page order form.

Pretty neat, right? Below you’ll see an animation showing a WooCommerce custom product box plugin in action:

Best of all, it’s surprisingly easy to create a WooCommerce build your own product system using the flexible Product Table plugin to list the available box contents. You won’t even need to write any code :)

This tutorial will cover everything you need to know to get started on your own WooCommerce custom product box site. We’ll show you how to install and set up WordPress and the required plugins and different strategies for organizing and listing the available box contents. We'll also share some handy design tips to tailor your 'Build your own product' ordering system to suit any kind of business.

Examples of custom product boxes in WooCommerce

First, let’s look at the types of WooCommerce build your own product that you can sell with WooCommerce. This will help you to understand the options and think about what you need for your own custom product boxes.

1. Build your own pizza, sandwich, wrap, burrito, or salad

A WooCommerce takeaway restaurant website might want to let customers choose fillings and build their own meals. This could be used to create a customized pizza, sandwich, sub, wrap, burrito, salad, or other custom product box.

For example, the item choices might work as follows:

• Build your own pizza – choose your base, choose your sauce, choose your toppings, and choose your dips.
• Create your own sandwich – choose your bread, choose your fillings, choose your salads, and choose your sauces.
• Build a burrito website – choose your fillings, choose extras, and sides.

The WooCommerce build your own product website would have separate lists of the different types of items – one for each category. For example, the pizza example would start with a list of bases, followed by a list of sauce choices, and so on. Customers could add as many extras as they like to their custom product selection, all from one page.

2. Create your own custom gift basket product

There’s something depressing about buying a basket/hamper as a gift when you don’t get to choose what’s in it! Whether you’re buying a food, beauty, or gift basket, it’s far better to build your own gift basket with items that you know your loved one will enjoy.

You can use WooCommerce to develop a custom product box website selling gift baskets. This might involve creating 3 separate categories: one for the hamper or product box options; one listing all the foods/gifts/cosmetics/etc to fill the gift basket; and one with the padding and wrapping options. Customers can choose their options and add all the individual elements to the cart, creating their own custom gift baskets.

3. Custom meat or vegetable boxes with WooCommerce

The meat and vegetable box industry is growing rapidly as more and more people discover the benefits of local and organic food.

There are 2 main types of meat box or vegetable box websites:

1. Some companies use WooCommerce to sell the same weekly meat or veg box to all their customers.This contains whatever produce is currently in season, and customers can’t choose the contents. You may sell a choice of meat or vegetable boxes (e.g. Small and Large boxes), but there are no customization options for individual customers. The best way to set this up is to add each box as a separate WooCommerce product (e.g. meat box, fruit box, and vegetable box), with or without variations (e.g. size options). Display the products and/or variations in a table using WooCommerce Product Table. Use YITH WooCommerce Subscriptions to get recurring revenue, as customers can sign up to receive the same box weekly, fortnightly, or monthly (or at whatever regular intervals you choose).
2. The other type of vegetable box scheme allows customers can selecting the items to include in the box.Instead of ordering a box with pre-defined contents, customers can view a list of available items and create a custom product box in WooCommerce. The custom food box company will then fill each box individually, and deliver it to them. Continue reading this tutorial to learn how to set this up.

Before you start, make sure you’re clear on specifically what type of product box you’re building.

You may also want to check out another tutorial of ours: Use WooCommerce to create a restaurant online food ordering system.

How will customers build their own WooCommerce product?

If you follow this tutorial to set up your own WooCommerce custom product box system, it will work like this:

1. The customer will be taken to a single page listing all the box items that are available to choose from, divided neatly into sections/categories.(Or if you prefer, you can divide the process among several pages.) Each section can have basic instructions above the list of products, for example: “Please choose 1 item from each section.”
2. Customers can select all the items they require.Standalone items will appear on their own row in the list. Mutually exclusive items will appear as dropdown lists so that customers can choose between them. If you use an additional Product Add-Ons plugin (more info about this below), then you can also add further options such as checkboxes and custom gift messages.
3. Once they have filled their custom product box, the customer can click the ‘Add Selected to Cart’ button.This will add all the products to the WooCommerce cart with the selected options.
4. Next, the customer can click through to view their selected products in the cart, view the total price, and make any changes.They can then access the checkout, enter their details and order the 'Build your own product' online.
5. As the store owner, you will receive email notification of each new order. You can then build the product box containing the items they have selected, and deliver it to them as appropriate.

See it in action on our ‘Build a gift basket’ plugin demo page.

What will my build-your-own WooCommerce site cost?

The great thing about selling WooCommerce custom product boxes is that you’ll be using the self-hosted version of WordPress. You will own your own data, and won’t have to pay high monthly charges for a hosted e-commerce platform. It also gives you more control over what your website will cost.

Here’s a list of the various elements of your WordPress WooCommerce website and what they might cost:

Your WooCommerce build your own product website

• WordPress CMS (content management system) – this powers your overall website and is 100% free of charge.
• WordPress theme – free (if you choose, you can purchase a premium WooCommerce theme for approx $65. However, the Storefront theme featured in this tutorial is free).
• WooCommerce plugin – this adds the core e-commerce functionality to WordPress and is also free.
• WooCommerce Product Table plugin – this paid-for plugin lists your products in a table layout so that customers can choose and customize the options to build their boxes.
• Bonus: WooCommerce Product Options plugin – you only need this if the product variation options that come built into the free WooCommerce plugin aren’t suitable. The core WooCommerce platform lets customers select customization options from 1 or more dropdown lists. If you want further options, such as multi-select checkboxes or custom gift messages, then you’ll need the Product Options plugin too.
• Any further plugins you choose to add extra functionality, such as ongoing subscription boxes.

Other costs

• Web hosting(Ongoing cost) – There are many web hosts for various price ranges. If you’re outside of Europe, we recommend signing up direct with Kinsta or or WP Engine. It’s important to choose a managed WordPress host because they will ensure your website loads quickly, is reliable and you won’t lose sales due to downtime etc. They also come with extra features such as backups with one-click restores, and free staging sites. Scrimping on hosting is a false economy.
• Payment gateway feesIf your customers will be paying for their WooCommerce build your own products online, then you will need a payment gateway. This will take a percentage of each sale in fees. PayPal is the easiest payment option to set up and charges are just a few percent. If you will be receiving a lot of online orders then I’d recommend a credit card processor with even lower fees such as Stripe.

Total up the options you’ll need to give you an idea of the cost involved. It’s amazing just how inexpensive it is to set up a website for your business creating your own products.

With those costs clear, we’re nearly ready to cover how to actually create a custom product box website with WooCommerce. But first, let's have a quick look at 2 websites that are already using WooCommerce and product tables to sell 'Build your own' products.

Case study #1 - using WooCommerce to sell custom cosmetics product boxes

Inspire Cosmetics uses the WooCommerce Product Table plugin to sell custom product boxes of cosmetics. They've built a multi-step page where customers are taken through an intuitive journey to build their own product box. First, you choose an experience box. Second, you choose the experience box contents from 2 tables listing the cosmetics products. Third, you complete your order via the WooCommerce cart and checkout.

They used the Beaver Builder WordPress page builder plugin to create the tabbed layout. To boost performance, each tab links to a separate page but the customer has the illusion of remaining on one page for the entire process.

They also use the WooCommerce Quantity Manager plugin to ensure that people select the correct quantity of items for their experience box. This allows them to sell different-sized boxes with the correct validation rules.

Case study #2 - using WooCommerce to sell custom product baskets for pets

Barks and Squeaks uses WooCommerce Product Table to sell create your own product gift baskets for pets and their owners. Customers can quickly choose variations and create a custom product box containing multiple WooCommerce products. You can use the "Who Is It For?" filter above the table to narrow down the list. This speeds up the buying process.

Now you've seen the WooCommerce design your own product system in action on 2 real websites, I'll show you how to set it up yourself!

How to create a WooCommerce custom product box website

Building a 'Build your own product' system from scratch can be a daunting proposition, but WordPress and the right plugins make it really easy.

This section will show you everything you need to know: you’ll learn how to set up WordPress and an appropriate theme, along with the plugins you need. Then, I’ll show you how to use those WooCommerce plugins to set up your product categories and tables, and then create your own product page listing the box contents.

Step 1 – Set up WordPress

First, sign up with a good WordPress web host such as Kinsta or WP Engine and follow their instructions to install WordPress.

Once you’ve logged into the WordPress admin for the first time, go to Appearance → Themes and install a theme. Themes are the “templates” on which all WordPress sites are built, and there are hundreds of thousands to choose from, so you can make your site look just how you want.

You can either buy a premium theme and install it, or use a good quality free theme such as Storefront. All the product images in this tutorial and the accompanying video use the Storefront theme.

If you don’t like the design of Storefront, check out its many child themes which offer a good choice of themes for your WordPress website design. There’s even a child theme designed specifically for food websites!

Step 2 – Install WooCommerce

When you first activate WooCommerce, you’ll be taken to a Setup Wizard. This will walk you through the main steps to creating your online store. For example, it will auto-create your main pages such as the shop page, cart, and checkout. You can choose your tax and shipping settings and set up payment gateways. You can then use the official WooCommerce documentation to make any further changes to the overall setup of your online shop.

Step 3 – Create ‘build your own product’ categories

Once you’ve set up WooCommerce, it’s time to create the categories that the custom product box ordering system will be divided into. First, write them down on a piece of paper to make sure it’s logical and user-friendly.

Think about the best way to group product elements. For example, if you’re creating a ‘build a gift basket’ website then you might want 3 categories: one for the box/basket, one for the contents, and one for finishing touches such as padding and bows.

Remember, you’re creating a tailored user experience: you need to take the customer on a journey to create the custom product box, making one decision at a time.

Once you’ve planned a category structure, go to Products → Categories in the WordPress admin. Create as many categories as you need.

Step 4 – Plan your products

Now, it’s time to create some products. Each of the items that customers can choose as part of the "build your own" process will be a ‘product’ in WooCommerce. Again, it’s best to plan your products before adding them to the website:

1. First, write a list of all the separate items that customers will be able add to their box when building the custom product.Structure the list into the categories you created a minute ago. For example, if you’re building a ‘design a custom pizza’ website then your list should include things like bases (deep pan base, Italian base), sauces (tomato sauce, spicy garlic sauce), toppings (pepperoni, ham, meatballs, mozzarella, goat’s cheese), and so on.
2. Next, decide whether to create each item on the list as an individual product, or to group them into variations.I’d recommend using individual products for standalone items, and variable products for items that the customer has to choose between. For example:
   • In the pizza example, the customer only needs a single pizza base, so you would add a single variable product called ‘Pizza Base’. You might then add 2 variation options to this product: ‘deep pan’ and ‘Italian’. Later, I’ll show you how to display these on an order form with a dropdown so that customers can select a base from the 2 options. (NB: with variable products, it will still sometimes be possible for customers to choose more than 1 option if they want to. However, using this format will discourage them from doing so).
   • For other types of items, such as pizza toppings, the customer can choose as many as they like. It’s not an ‘either/or’ choice and the toppings aren’t dependent on each other. You should add each of these items as individual products, not as variations.

Tip - Use Add-Ons for extra product options

If variations aren’t flexible enough then you can add extra product options using the WooCommerce Product Options plugin instead. This has extra options such as check boxes, radio buttons, the ability for customers to add some custom text, etc.

Step 5 – Add the products

Once you’ve worked out all the products that you’ll need to create, and decided on the format, it’s time to add them to WooCommerce. Follow this process for each product:

1. Go to Products → Add New in the WordPress admin.
2. Add all the product data such as title, description, category, and upload a featured image.
3. In the ‘Product Data’ section, choose a product type:
   1. Select ‘Simple Product’ if you’re creating a standalone item that can be added to the eventual WooCommerce build your own product without variations. Add a price, plus choose the stock options if you want to use stock control.
   2. Select ‘Variable Product’ if you’re creating several mutually exclusive items for customers to choose from (like my pizza base example in the previous section). This is slightly trickier to set up – please follow the instructions on creating attributes in the WooCommerce documentation. Once you’ve created your attributes, tick the ‘Use for Variations’ box and go to the ‘Variations’ tab. You can then select your attributes and create the variations (one for each options) with their own pricing and stock control.
   3. If you’re using WooCommerce Product Options to provide extra options, then you can use these with the Simple or Variable product type. Add your options under Products → Options.
   4. Finally, click Publish to add the product to the custom product box website.

Now comes the fun part!

Step 6 – Create a ‘build your own product’ page

It’s time to list everything on a single page or order form, so that customers can select items and build their own custom product box. You’ll need the WooCommerce Table plugin for this:

1. Buy WooCommerce Product Table and install it.
2. Create your first tableThe product table builder will open automatically. Go through each page to choose details such as which products to display, and which columns to include. Copy the shortcode from the final page of the table builder - you'll need this for Step 6.
3. Create more tablesGo to Products → Product Tables and create a different table for each section of the 'Build your own product' system. For example, you might create a different one to list the products from each category.
4. Create a page (Pages → Add New) which you will use for the custom product box online order form. Add whatever information you like to this page, for example instructions and any rules/restrictions that customers should follow in selecting their products. (E.g. you might add instructions like “Choose 1 product from each category”.)
5. Divide the page into sub-headings – 1 for each category. For example, a ‘build a custom pizza’ website might need H2 subheadings for Base, Sauce, Cheeses and Toppings.
6. Insert tables onto the pageNow insert the product tables that you created in Steps 2 and 3 into the relevant parts of the page. To do this, either use the 'Product Table' Gutenberg block or the shortcode that you copied earlier.

The end result will be a page listing each section of your 'Build your own product' order form, like this:

Split the 'build a box' process across multiple pages

In the previous section, you learned how to add multiple product tables to a single page. Alternatively, you can split the 'build your own custom product' ordering process across several pages.

Depending on what you're selling, this can have several benefits:

• If you have a small selection of products then it makes sense to keep everything on one page. In contrast, if you have a lot of products or options then it's good to use multiple pages.
• It can also be better for performance, as fewer products are being loaded all at once (although WooCommerce Product Table does come with a lazy load option, which helps with page load times).

How to set it up

To create a multi-step 'Build your own product' process, it's important to make things as easy as possible for the customer. The process must be simple and intuitive. For example:

• You might add a 'Next Step' button under each product table, intuitively directing users to the next page after they add products to the cart.
• For an even more seamless user experience, install the free WooCommerce Add to Cart Custom Redirect plugin. List your basket/box products on the first page of the order process, and use this plugin to redirect each one to the page where you've listed the box contents products. Users will automatically be redirected to the correct next page, depending on which box they choose. This is an excellent option if you offer different content products for each box. (Tip: To use this plugin with WooCommerce Product Table, you must ensure that the Ajax cart option is disabled. The redirection only works if the page refreshes after adding a box to the cart.)

Bonus options

By now, you know how to create a WooCommerce store where customers can select multiple items to create a build your own custom product box. Before we finish, I’ll tell you about some plugins that can further enhance it.

Add 'quick view' links

So far, you've learned how to list the components of your 'build your own' WooCommerce products on a single page, with an add to cart column listing all the options. That's fine if you have a small number of options for each product. But what if you're creating more complex custom product box systems systems, with many variations or product add-ons? You can see from the screenshots above that the product list will start to look cluttered if you have too many options.

If this applies to the build your own products in your ecommerce store, then WooCommerce quick view is the solution:

The WooCommerce Product Table plugin featured in this tutorial is designed to work with our other plugin, WooCommerce Quick View Pro. Use the two plugins together to add a Quick View column to your product tables. Customers can use this to view more images, extra information, choose variations and add to the cart from a lightbox popup.

Quick view is a great way to tidy up your custom product box ordering pages without having to take customers to a separate page for each product. This keeps them within the flow of building their own product and avoids distractions. (Tip: If you install WooCommerce Quick View Pro then I recommend using WooCommerce Product Table to disable the links to individual product pages.)

Set quantity rules and defaults

Out of the box, all your WooCommerce products will have a default quantity of 1. Customers can add as many of each item to their custom boxes as they like.

Many 'build a box' schemes need more control over product quantities. Specifically, they need to ensure that customers add the right number of items from each category to their boxes. You can easily do this with the WooCommerce Quantity Manager plugin.

How it works

Let's say that you have created 3 sections for your WooCommerce built-your-own-product system: Box, Contents, and Finishing Touches. You can add minimum and maximum controls like this:

• Box - Set the minimum and maximum quantity for this product to 1.
• Box contents - If you want customers to choose up to $30 worth of items, then set the maximum category value to $30. Alternatively, set a minimum and maximum quantity so that customers have to choose a certain number of box items instead.
• Finishing Touches - To let customer choose up to 2 decorative options for their custom product box, set the maximum category quantity to 2.

Where possible, the WooCommerce Quantity Manager plugin will stop customers from adding the wrong quantity in the first place. For example, the quantity field for the 'Box' product won't let customers select more than 1.

If the customer tries to add too many products from the box contents category, then they will see an error. The error will be helpfully worded and will advise them what they need to change.

If the WooCommerce cart doesn't contain enough products from a certain category then again, a helpful error will ask them to add more.

To improve user experience, I recommend adding clear messages about the quantity requirements to the build-your-own-product page. You can see an example of this in the screenshot above.

Sell different products for each box or basket

So far, we've assumed that you will be offering the same box contents products to everyone, regardless of which box they select.

If you'd rather sell different products depending on the custom product box, then you can do this too.

Simply create a separate category for each gift basket and use WooCommerce Product Table to create a table listing all the products for each box. Put the box itself in the same category, and use the sort options in WooCommerce Product Table to list the box first. Use the free Product Dependencies plugin to prevent people from buying the contents products unless they have also added the correct box to their cart.

Can I add a fixed price for each box option, instead of charging separately for the contents?

Some people use WooCommerce Product Table to create a custom product box website with a fixed price for each box. For example, they might offer Box A for £10 and Box B for £20. Each box contains a different number of products.

Again, you can achieve this by using WooCommerce Product Table with the WooCommerce Discount Manager plugin.

How to sell fixed price product boxes in WooCommerce

1. Install WooCommerce Discount ManagerFirst, install the WooCommerce Discount Manager plugin on your WordPress website.
2. Create a fixed price dealNext, go to Marketing → Discounts and click 'Create New'. Select the 'Buy X products for a fixed price' discount type.
3. Choose the discount detailsSelect which products customers can combine to get the fixed price offer, for example your 'box contents' category. Also select the number of items that they must add in order to be charged the fixed price.
   

   

After you have saved the fixed price discount, customers can

Repeat the above steps to create as many fixed price deals as you like. For example, you might create one fixed price to sell quantities of 5, another for quantities of 10, and so on.

If there are any quantities that you don't want customers to be able to buy (for example, quantities of less than 5) then you can use the WooCommerce Quantity Manager plugin to prevent this.

Can I sell box subscriptions, and let customers change their order each week/month?

This is possible, with a bit of extra work.

1. Create your subscription and box contents products

1. First, install YITH WooCommerce Subscriptions and create a subscription product for each box.Create a separate category for these products. Use WooCommerce Product Table to list products from this category on a public page. Customers can view the subscriptions, sign up and pay online. (Note: The subscription product is just for the ongoing subscription/membership plan - do NOT include options for choosing the box contents as part of the subscription product. You'll create separate products for the box contents next.)
2. Next, create categories for the box contents products.Add each option for the box contents as a separate product, or as variable products with a choice of options. Decide whether or not to charge for these products:
   • If all products are included within the ongoing subscription plan, then leave the price of the box contents products as 0. This is because the customer has already paid via their subscription and the products are essentially free.
   • If customers have to pay for each item in addition to the subscription cost, then add prices for each product.
   • Alternatively, if you include some products within the basic subscription and charge extra for more expensive items, then you can do that too. If the customer selects chargeable items then they will make a one-off payment for these at the checkout, otherwise they can choose their box contents and check out for free.
3. Create a new product page for choosing the box contents. Use WooCommerce Product Table to list the products from these categories.
4. Finally, use the AutomateWoo plugin to automatically email your customers at regular intervals, reminding them to order the box contents for that subscription period.The emails should contain instructions on how to log into their account and order their box contents for that week/month.

2. Restrict access to the box contents products

• Restrict what subscribers can order, and how often If you want to control how many items customers can order for their box, then you can add the WooCommerce Quantity Manager plugin.
• Prevent non-subscribers from ordering box contents products To prevent non-subscribers from ordering the monthly/quarterly box, you need to restrict the page where you've listed these products. Do this using the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin. Use it to restrict them to logged in customers.

Can customers change their box each week?

Some WooCommerce subscription box websites like to sell subscriptions for a fixed weekly/monthly cost, while giving customers the option to choose the box contents each week. Unfortunately there is no straightforward way for the customer to change their box each time. The way WooCommerce Subscriptions works is that they subscribe to receive the same products each time.

My suggestion

Lots of people have asked us how to do this, so here's a suggestion:

• Use YITH WooCommerce Subscriptions to sell the subscriptions without any actual products (i.e. box contents) associated. For example, you might have a product called 'Weekly Box - 10 Items'. This would bill the customer a fixed amount each week.
• In a private area on your site (which you could create using our WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin), you could add the products that are available each week. Create a separate category for each subscription option. You would then use the WooCommerce Quantity Manager  plugin to restrict the number/value of items that the customer can order from that category. Set the price for each product to 0.00 so that customers can order the products each week without paying extra. Or if a product has a surcharge on top of their fixed subscription amount, then you can set this as the product price and they must pay this when they check out that week.
• Use the AutomateWoo extension to automatically email the customer each week with a separate email for each type of subscription. The email should include details of how to access the hidden area where they can choose their products for the week, and the deadline for ordering. Each week, the customer will log into their account, view the hidden category containing the products that are available on their subscription, select them from the product table, and check out in the usual way.
• As with all subscription box services, if the customer doesn't order specific products before the weekly deadline then you would choose the items for them.

That's a lot of plugins!

I realise that this method involves combining several plugins. They are all reputable plugins which we have tested to work well together. If you don't wish to code it from scratch yourself (which would be very complex - and therefore expensive) then we believe this is the best method for allowing customers to choose different contents for their subscription boxes each week.

Can people build their own custom product box without having to pay online?

Yes, you can do this. When you set up WooCommerce, you need to choose one of the offline payment options. For example, you can enable payment by check or invoice. You can reword these to anything you like, so your customers won't see the word 'check'.

They can then place the order in WooCommerce without having to pay. You will receive an email notifying you of the order. This will contain details of the selected products and the customer's contact details. You can then arrange payment offline in whichever way works for you.

Get building! How do you use WooCommerce custom product boxes?

And there you have it! You now know everything about creating a WooCommerce build your own product boxes page. Plus, you know doing this can be quick and easy using WooCommerce and the WooCommerce Product Table plugin.

Designing your own site doesn’t have to be hard, no matter what sector you work in. With this simple tutorial, and some help from the most powerful e-commerce platforms on the web, you’ll be able to set up a beautiful, easy-to-use site.

I’d love to hear how you’ve achieved a build your own box system using WooCommerce. Did you use the plugins I’ve mentioned in this tutorial, or are there any good ones I’ve missed? Please add your comments below, and include a link to your site where we can see it working 😀