Sell more photos with a WooCommerce gallery plugin
'WooCommerce is great for selling all kinds of products. That's why it powers over 41% of all e-commerce websites. If you're a photographer selling photos online then you can benefit from a WooCommerce gallery plugin.
In this tutorial, I'll show you how to use the Product Table plugin to create a professional-looking WooCommerce image gallery.
Your customers can search, sort and filter the table to quickly find the images they like. They can select product variations or other options, and add photos to the cart directly from the WooCommerce gallery. You can display any information you like about your products, all within the image gallery view. And if you implement the bonus tip later in this article, then you can also display the full product image gallery in a quick view lightbox. It's the perfect way to sell more photos.
Are you a photographer wanting to securely sell photos to specific clients? Check out our WooCommerce for photographers tutorial.
Why do I need a WooCommerce gallery plugin?
A WooCommerce image gallery is perfect for any website with highly visual products. If images are essential to your sales then a product gallery is a great way to show them off.
Most WooCommerce stores have a layout that consists of a grid of images with the product name, price, reviews and add to cart button. This may not be the best way to appeal to your customers. For example, if you sell variable products then customers have to click through to the single product page to choose options and add to the cart.
With a photography product, you don't really need the single product page as there's no text-based description. It's better to display all the data you need in the WooCommerce gallery where customers can make quicker buying decisions.
Here are some examples of websites that would benefit from a WooCommerce image gallery.
WooCommerce photography website
If you're selling photos or other images on a WooCommerce website then you can display them in a WooCommerce gallery. The gallery can include all the information you want to provide about your images. This might include name, price, variation options, dimensions, frame options etc.
By displaying all this information on a single page in a WooCommerce gallery, customers can choose all the photos they want without clicking elsewhere. Ideally, they should be able to select multiple photos and add to cart in a single click. This helps to increase the value of each sale - simply by having a gallery of products.
Graphic designer website selling images online
A graphic designer might sell image files using WooCommerce. This could be photos, icons, vector graphics, illustrations, PSD's or logos.
Displaying images in a WooCommerce gallery is a great way to showcase your work while providing all the data your customers need. You could include a big column for the image preview, plus information such as image size, file format, options, price and add to cart button.
Any WooCommerce website where images are important
So far, I've focussed on the most obvious uses for a WooCommerce gallery. However a table layout with images can benefit any WooCommerce website where photos of your products are important.
You can choose the size of the images in the table view, and what other information you want to display. By presenting your products in a one-page WooCommerce gallery layout, customers can see everything at a glance. This helps them to find what they want and reduces your bounce rate and lost sales.
Whether you need a one-page order form with photos or a WooCommerce product catalogue, a WooCommerce gallery view can make a big difference.
How to create a WooCommerce image gallery
1. Install WooCommerce
First, create a WooCommerce website as usual. If you don't know how to set up WooCommerce, here's a link to the official documentation. This covers a huge range of topics such as adding products and categories, payment options and shipping.
2. Install WooCommerce Product Table
Once you have an e-commerce website set up, it's time to install the Product Table plugin for your WooCommerce gallery layout.
- Get WooCommerce Product Table, download the plugin files and copy your license key.
- In the WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New. Upload, install and activate the plugin.
- Go to Products → Product Table → Add New. Now you're ready to create your first product gallery!
3. Create your WooCommerce product gallery
Use the table builder to set up the product gallery in WooCommerce. There are plenty of gallery options and it will walk you through the process step-by-step.
For example, you can:
- Change your columns WooCommerce Product Table can display most types of product data in the image gallery. You can choose which columns display in the table view. For a product gallery, you might want to display product descriptions, categories, tags, attributes or extra data as custom fields or taxonomies.
- Disable links to the single product pageYour WooCommerce gallery should include all the information that customers need about your photos, as well as the image itself. This means that you may not want them to be able to access the single product page. By default, the gallery image and product name in the table will link to the single product page. To disable these links, click on the pencil icon for each column and disable the links.
- Let customers choose the quantityEnable quantity fields on the 'Add to Cart' step to add a quantity selector dropdown next to the add to cart button. This lets customers buy multiple copies of each photo, which can increase your sales. For example, if you're a school photographer then this can encourage customers to buy a copy for each family member.
- Change the image sizeFinally, go to Products → Product Tables → Settings. Here, I recommend adding 300x300 (or similar) to make the images bigger. By default, your photos will appear quite small in the WooCommerce gallery. Set the number of pixels to enlarge them.
3. Create a page for your WooCommerce gallery
In the Pages section of WordPress, create a page for your WooCommerce gallery view. You can skip this step if you used the table builder to enable the gallery view globally on your main shop page templates.- Either add a 'Product Table' block if you use the block editor, or get the shortcode from Products → Product Tables and add that to the page.
- Save the page and view it. You will see your products displayed in a WooCommerce gallery table with columns for image, name and add to cart button.
Top 10 Tips - How to use product tables to optimize your WooCommerce conversion rate.
Bonus - Add a WooCommerce quick view gallery
With WooCommerce Product Table, you can list products in a table-based gallery. If you'd like to show multiple images for each product, then you can do this by using it with its sister plugin - WooCommerce Quick View Pro.
When you use both plugins together, customers can click on a product image, title or quick view button to view the full WooCommerce product image gallery in a lightbox popup:
By default, the WooCommerce gallery lightbox shows thumbnail images. Customers click on the thumbnails to navigate between the gallery images. If you prefer, then you can switch to bullet navigation and slide between the images. It's also possible to add product information, variations and add to cart buttons to the gallery.
Adding quick view to your WooCommerce gallery is the perfect way to sell more photos. It increases the value of each sale because customers remain on the list of images, and are not taken to a separate page for each product. This encourages them to buy more images from you, increasing your profits.
Once you've installed WooCommerce Quick View Pro, it's easy to add quick view buttons to the WooCommerce product gallery. Just edit your table at Products → Product Tables and add a 'Quick View' column.
See the WooCommerce product gallery in action
If you'd like to test drive the WooCommerce image gallery that I created for this tutorial, check it out here.
Which WooCommerce gallery plugin do you use?
WooCommerce Product Table is a neat way to create WooCommerce galleries, with a grid of product images alongside other data and buy buttons.
Do you use galleries in WooCommerce on your website? I'd love to know what method you use. Please leave your comments below.