WooCommerce location-based pricing: A step-by-step guide to zip code pricing

WooCommerce Zipcode Based Pricing Plugin

A customer recently told me that there are no WooCommerce location based pricing plugins. I didn't believe this, so I had a look - and I couldn't find one either!

I'm writing this step-by-step tutorial to show you how to set up WooCommerce zipcode based pricing using the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin. You can use it to charge different prices depending on the customer's zip code, postcode, area, location, region, or country. And it only takes a few minutes to set up!

Importance of location based pricing in ecommerce

There are lots of reasons why location based pricing can be useful on an ecommerce platform:

  • Firstly, it allows you to customize your pricing strategies based on specific market conditions and consumer behavior in different geographical locations. By considering factors such as local competition, purchasing power, and demand patterns, you can optimize your pricing to remain competitive and maximize profits.
  • Secondly, location based pricing enables you to offer personalized pricing to customers, taking into account their specific location. This approach allows you to provide targeted discounts, coupons, or promotions to customers in certain regions, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  • Furthermore, location based pricing can help you effectively manage shipping rates and logistics costs. By adjusting the process based on the proximity of the customer's location to the warehouse or distribution center, store owners can ensure that the shipping costs are reasonable and aligned with the customer's location.

Examples of industries that can benefit from location based pricing

Several industries can benefit from implementing WooCommerce location based pricing strategies. Here are some examples:

  1. Ecommerce store and retail: Online retailers can use location based pricing to account for variations in shipping costs. local competition, and customer preferences. By adjusting prices based on different zones, a postcode WooCommerce plugin lets them remain competitive while keeping each area profitable.
  2. Travel and hospitality: Hotels, airlines, and travel agencies can implement WooCommerce location based pricing to reflect regional demand, seasonal fluctuations, and local competition. Pricing can be adjusted based on popular travel destinations, high-demand areas, or specific tourist seasons.
  3. Food delivery services: WooCommerce location based pricing can be beneficial for food delivery platforms and services. Pricing can be adjusted based on the delivery distance, traffic conditions, and availability of local restaurants and food suppliers. This allows for accurate cost calculations and fair pricing for customers.
  4. Insurance: Insurance companies can use WooCommerce location based pricing to account for different risk factors associated with specific locations. Factors such as crime rates, weather patterns, and accident statistics can be considered when determining insurance premiums for different postcode WooCommerce prices.
  5. Subscription services: Companies offering subscription-based, such as streaming platforms or software providers, can implement WooCommerce location based pricing to adjust flat rate prices based on regional demand and market conditions. This approach allows them to optimize revenue and cater to specific customer segments.

Why use a WooCommerce zip code based pricing plugin?

In an ideal world, everyone would pay the same amount regardless of where they live. However, there are situations where you might want to change your product pricing based on the customer's zip code or location.

Here are some reasons why you might need location-based pricing:

  • If you offer free shipping, then your profitability will vary depending on the customer's location. There's no way to avoid this because shipping companies often charge different rates depending on the customer's zip code, area, or country. The easy solution is to set up WooCommerce shipping zones to charge zip code-based shipping and keep your product prices consistent for all customers. However, if free shipping costs are a big selling point for your WooCommerce site, then you could keep this while charging higher specific product prices for customers in more remote locations.
  • If your website sells worldwide then it's important to be aware that accepting payments from customers in different currencies may lead to higher fees for your business. A WooCommerce price based on country plugin can help with this.
  • There may be higher legal or administrative fees relating to selling in certain places. You might try to recoup some of this by charging higher prices to those customers. For example, different WooCommerce zip code validation may have different tax rules or legal requirements which make it harder to sell to that area.
  • If you provide local services then your prices may differ based on each customer's zip code area.
  • Perhaps you want to reward locals with lower pricing depending on their zip code.

If this sounds like you, then you may be able to increase profitability with WooCommerce location based pricing. Continue reading to find a step-by-step guide on how to set up a price by country WooCommerce plugin.

What is WooCommerce Protected Categories?

WooCommerce Protected Categories is a WordPress plugin developed by us at Barn2 Media. It restricts access to certain product types in your WooCommerce store so that only people with the password can see and buy them.

I'll talk you through how to achieve zip code based pricing in WooCommerce. You can also change product prices depending on postcode, zone regions, location, country - whatever you like.

In a nutshell, the plugin lets you create a separate product category for each of your price bands. Each category is password protected using one or more zip codes or area names. The customer visits a central login page and enters their area or zip code as the password. This unlocks the category for their area and instantly directs them to the products with the correct pricing. Each product page will then show the right prices.

Each password protected category will contain a different version of your products, with the correct pricing for that zip code area, region, or price by country WooCommerce .

Customers will only be able to see the pricing for their own zip code area (i.e. category).

How to set up WooCommerce zipcode based pricing

Setting up WooCommerce location based pricing gives you the flexibility to customizable product prices based on specific zip codes, countries, etc. Installing the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin is a straightforward process. Let's dive into the installation and basic setup. You can do all this in the WordPress backend.

Installation and activation process

  1. Get the plugin, and you will receive a confirmation email containing your license key and a download link to the plugin. If you don't find the email, please check your spam folder or contact support for assistance.
  2. Download the plugin by clicking on the provided link. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload plugin. Choose the downloaded file and click on "Activate". Note that you need to have the WooCommerce plugin already installed for the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin to work seamlessly.
  3. Enter your license key. You can find your license key in the email confirmation that was sent to you after purchase. The plugin will not work until you activate your license key. There are two ways to enter your license key: In the setup wizard - Once activated, the setup wizard will open. This walks you through each step of the setup process, including entering your license key. On the WooCommerce settings page - Alternatively, you can go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Protected Categories and enter your license key.
  4. Finally, save changes.

Configuring the WooCommerce location based plugin

  1. On the plugin settings page, choose the text that will appear above and on the category login form. For example, you will want to replace 'Enter your password' with 'Enter your zip code' or similar.
  2. Create a separate WooCommerce product category for each area that requires its own pricing. For example, you might sell products to 15 local zip codes based on 3 price bands. You would put the 5 zip codes for Band 1 in one category, the 5 zip codes for Band 2 in a second category, and so on.
  3. Password protect each category using the option in the 'Visibility' settings on the add/edit category page. Create a password using each area or zip code that you want to restrict the category to. For example, if you want customers in zip codes 123456 and 987654 to be able to access the category, then create 2 passwords: 123456 and 987654.
  4. Next, create a separate version of each product - one for each of the categories you just created. (Note: You can't put the same product in more than 1 password protected category. To get around this, the Duplicate Post plugin provides one-click cloning of WooCommerce products. If you're cloning products and want to manage inventory across the retail and wholesale versions of each product then we recommend the Group Stock Manager plugin. This lets you share stock levels across multiple products.)
  5. Put each product in the correct category.
  6. Change the pricing of each product as required.
  7. Create a category login page by adding the following shortcode wherever you want people to log in to the category for their zipcode or area: [category_login].

When customers enter the password (i.e. their zipcode or area) into the category login form, they will automatically be directed to a hidden category containing the products with their local pricing.

But I want the public to be able to see my products!

When you use a price by country WooCommerce plugin, the products will be hidden from the public parts of your website so that only customers with the password can view them. However, you don't have to protect all your products using this functionality.

Perhaps you want to list each product on your front end public site but also want a hidden version of each product for people from different zip code areas. You can achieve this by creating one or more public categories, which will not be password protected. These will appear in the public parts of your online store in the usual way.

The pricing of your public products will NOT change depending on the customer's location. The same price will appear for everyone. This means that you need to either show a standard cost that will always be visible in the public part of your site.

If this isn't appropriate for your site, then you can list the public products without prices. WooCommerce will automatically disable the checkout buttons for these products. People can view them but not buy them online. Customers will have to request the password to view pricing and buy.

How can customers request the password for their zip code?

There are various options for how you can give each customer the password for their zip code. This will depend on how private you want your area-based pricing to be, and whether you have regular or one-off customers:

  • If your pricing is not confidential then you could list all the passwords publicly, above the category login form. Customers simply need to find the password relating to their zipcode area and enter it to see their pricing.
  • You could use a WP contact form plugin such as Contact Form 7 to let customers request the password. This is a more secure option, as you can ensure that each customer can only access the prices for their own local WooCommerce zip code validation.
  • If you have a members-only WooCommerce shop or WooCommerce wholesale store, then you might only sell to pre-approved customers. If this is the case, then you can give them the password directly.

Location-based shipping methods

After setting up location-based pricing for your WooCommerce products, it's important to make sure that shipping will always be profitable for you regardless of the customer's location. Fortunately, you can easily do this using the built-in WooCommerce shipping methods.

WooCommerce lets you create an unlimited number of shipping zones and shipping classes. You can create different zones per continent or country, or make it fine-grained and charge different shipping based on city, zipcode, etc. Choose which areas get free shipping, local pickup, and which areas you won't ship to at all.

You can add one or more shipping options for each shipping zone. For example, each zone might have a free shipping option with a different minimum order amount to quality; flat rate shipping with a different cost, and so on.

To get full setup instructions, check out our complete guide to WooCommerce shipping. This covers how to add shipping zone or zones to your store, and how to add shipping methods. You can add a zone name for each one, and set multiple pricing options.

Let customers enter their location on the product page

Normally, WooCommerce stores only let customers enter locations on the cart page or single product page. That's no use - customers need to enter their location before deciding whether to buy a product!

It's much better to use the WooCommerce Product Page Shipping Calculator plugin to let customers enter their shipping location and view costs directly on the product page. That way, they can easily see if you will ship to their location and what it will cost. This is much more user-friendly and avoids disappointment while improving your conversion rates. After all, there's nothing worse than getting abandoned carts when customers get put off by seeing the shipping cost too late in the process!

Location-based payment gateways

The WooCommerce location-based pricing plugin described above will work with any WooCommerce-compatible payment gateway. However, you may need an extra plugin if you want to offer different payment options based on the customer's location. For example, maybe you offer PayPal as an option in some countries but not others.

For this, I recommend the Conditional Shipping and Payments plugin from woocommerce.com. This gives you full control over which customers see each shipping and payment option. You can Show different payment gateways based on the customer's billing country, shipping method, country, state or postcode.

Best practices for WooCommerce location based pricing

To effectively implement WooCommerce location based pricing, start by conducting thorough market research. Understand how prices vary in different areas by analyzing factors such as income levels, competition, and customer preferences. This research will help you segment your customers based on WooCommerce postcode and identify patterns in their behavior and purchasing power. By understanding these dynamics, you can develop a comprehensive pricing strategy that caters to the specific needs of each segment.

Use product data analytics to analyze historical sales data and identify trends across different postcode WooCommerce. This will enable you to adjust your prices dynamically based on real-time market conditions.

By implementing dynamic pricing, you can respond to changes in demand and stay competitive in the market. Keep a close eye on your competitors' pricing strategies to ensure your prices remain attractive while offering unique value-added features or services that differentiate your offerings.

It's time to add location pricing to your store!

WooCommerce Protected Categories provides a unique way to offer location-based pricing. Simply install the plugin and create a separate product category for each location, each with its own pricing.

I was really interested to hear that a customer was using it as a WooCommerce zip code based pricing plugin and thought that others might like to do the same.Please leave your comments below!

24 Comments

  1. I want to implement different product price according to different locations . Which is India want to sell products , which plugin is available?

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