Best Way to Import & Export WooCommerce Variable Products

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on reddit
Share on email

Importing and exporting WooCommerce store’s items, particularly for medium to big retailers, maybe a difficult and time-consuming operation. Perhaps if you have a minimal store with approximately 100 products, you have to have a deeper insight into how to quickly import-export WooCommerce products across your marketplaces and how the WooCommerce import-export plugin serves while selling on multiple channels such as Amazon, eBay, Google, and so on. 

Changing web hosting is a common occurrence for WooCommerce shops. When an online store starts to grow in popularity and you add a significant number of items, you must ensure that your store is reachable to your target audience as quickly as possible. You’ll want to switch to a web host that can scale your traffic and provide a flawless surfing experience for your visitors. 

That’s where you’ll worry about transferring your existing products along with their variations to the different servers. You must determine how simple it will be to transfer all of your product information, photographs, articles, and customer feedback to your new spot.

In this post, we’ll guide you through the entire process of WooCommerce import-export variable products, as well as recommend the top WooCommerce import-export product plugins.

Import-Exporting WooCommerce Products Through CSV File 

The CSV file is abbreviated as a comma-separated values file. In basic terms, it’s a text file that can be accessed by a number of programs, the majority of which are databases. If you’ve ever used a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or something similar, you’ve probably come across a CSV file.

CSV files include text segmented by commas, as its title suggests. These files are intended to communicate structured data or content between programs. For example, you could want to store a list of contacts in your Microsoft Outlook address list. The contacts may be saved as a CSV file in Microsoft Excel and then imported into Microsoft Outlook.

It’s the same with WooCommerce databases. You may export the product information from your old shop as a CSV file and import it onto your preferred server.

Generally, a CSV file will have the following format, with identical product data sequences on each line, just like the following example: 

Product Name, Product Size, Color, Product’s Price 

Shirt, Large, Black, $39

Shirt, XL, Blue, $42

Your WooCommerce export goods CSV will, of course, include additional information like the ID, name, categories, tags, and so on. You can open CSV files with text editors like Notepad, but you’ll need excel spreadsheet apps such as Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel to see them accurately.

Importing WooCommerce Products Via WP All Export Plugin 

Since you have been provided with the knowledge about CSV files, let’s demonstrate how you can import-export WooCommerce variable products. 

We are going to talk about WooCommerce import-export variable products using WP All Export & Import plugins. This extension allows you to export, import, and even update them with the help of CSV files. This extension supports all sorts of import-export options, including simple, variable product, group, and external products as well. 

I’m assuming you already have a WooCommerce store because you’re reading this post. For this tutorial, I constructed a prototype WooCommerce shop to show how to import and export products using a CSV file. I’ve also included a few sample items.

So, we’ve installed the WP all import plugin, and first of all, we will start with the basics of product import along with its variations. Therefore, you will get an idea of how you can do it using any file type. 

Then we’ve uploaded a file “BurtinSacks.csv” which includes snowboard sacks that comes in different colors and sizes. After uploading the file, we’ve selected New Items > WooCommerce Products from the drop-down menu and moved further by clicking Continue to Step 2

As you can see, 153 rows of products are imported. There are few main products but many variations, sizes, and colors. Let’s continue to step 3

Now, drag and drop the product name from the right-hand column to the title section. Similarly, drag and drop the product description from the right-hand column in the description field. You can see the preview by clicking the Preview button. 

Here is an example of the  preview: 

Now scroll down to get the WooCommerce Add-On section, where you will see a similar interface as the WooCommerce plugin. Select the Product type as a Variable product since we are importing variable products. Then drag and drop the price information from the right-hand column to the Regular Price field. 

Now select the Attributes section. This is the element that users can choose from in the front end. So, users can choose colors and we will drag and drop Color from the right-hand side. Then we will click add more to include more attributes and then drag and drop different Sizes

Now we will go to the Variations tab, where we tell Wp All import plugin how to link all the variations together into a single product. In this case, if you explore the title, it’s always the same. Because one product, it has many variations, the title is always the same.  But the color and size are different. 

Now we will choose “ All variations for a particular product have the same title. There are no parent products.” We will then drag the Product Title from the right side to the Product Title field. This allows Wp all imports to link all the product variations together. 

Next stop, you need to set the image where we will drag and drop the image from the right-hand side to the Image field. And don’t forget to enter the separator as shown in the image. This will allow the plugin to divide up all the images. 

We’ve initialized the basic settings for the Export part of the WooCommerce import-export variable products. So, scroll down a bit and click Continue to Step 4.  

Now click the Auto-Detect button to put in the Unique Identifier in the related field. Press Continue, and on the next screen, click Confirm

Now the Import process will start, which will take a few minutes to download all the product information with its variations. 

When the import process is finished, head to the products, where you can see all the product variations. You can click on any product and watch the full details and check the variation information within the WooCommerce plugin, 

In the Front end view, you will be able to see the color variations as well as the size variation. Now you are ready with a product variation within the WooCommerce back end and front end. 

In this way, you can download any CSV file with the product information. For example, while creating a WooCommerce product feed via the best product feed plugin, you can use all the product variation information on your site to create an accurate feed file that contains all the details of the product along with the variations. 

Importing WooCommerce Product using Wp All Export Plugin 

Now we will be talking about exporting products using WP All Import. You can only export the products by filtering them. So, you can filter certain price ranges, product visibility, stock status, and so on. After setting your elements, you can Continue to Step 2.  

In step 2, you can see which data ends up in the exported file. So, choose a certain data rather than exporting everything and ending up with a messy file. Let’s say you want to export ID, Title, SKU, and Product Type

You can drag and drop elements from the right-hand side to the middle of the blank. WP all Import also integrates with Yoast SEO, and you can also drag and drop it from the right-hand side. When you are done with collecting the elements, simply click Continue to Step 3. 

You can see the numbers of products it will export in each iteration. You can change this number according to your preference. Now, click Confirm & Run Export. 

The export process will take a few moments to complete. Until then wait for a while for the export process to finish. Now, click the CSV button to download the exported file in CSV format.  

Now the export process is finished and here is the CSV file that you’ve just downloaded. You can mass update the data in the CSV file and then re-import them again. 

Some of the Best WooCommerce Import-export Plugins 

Well, the WP all import & export plugins are not the only option in the WordPress plugin repository. There might be some options that are more effective and essential for you. Therefore, we are focusing on more plugins that you can use in your shop for WooCommerce import-export variable products. 

There is a default plugin in WooCommerce for product import-export. But we want you to expand your import-export capability with some exceptional options. So let’s learn about those plugins right away. 

Product CSV Import Suite

It’s an official plugin developed by WooCommerce, which you can find in the WooCommerce plugin marketplace

With this tool, you can easily import hundreds of items and complicated products with additional information such as Brand, vendors, Google Product Feed, and so on. Moreover, it comes with the Product CSV Import Suite. 

Key Features 

  • Export data in custom fields by skipping custom codes, including taxonomies, attributes, and more. 
  • Migrate text-based data, which is an essential component of WooCommerce products.
  • Add your preferred or additional data with the existing product information 
  • Integrates with other WooCommerce plugins such as WooCommerce bookings.
  • Import data into custom taxonomies 
  • The extension also supports WooCommerce Product Feed Plugin, Google Product feed, etc. 

Product Import Export for WooCommerce by WebToffee

This is perhaps the most prominent export import product WooCommerce plugin in the plugin directory, and it’s accessible for free. There is also a premium edition with more features.

The makers of this plugin are regularly updating their free version to include sophisticated capabilities that are only available in the premium version of alternative plugins.

Key Features 

  • Allows CSV and XML export 
  • Enables you to use FTP or URL profiles to schedule the export and import of WooCommerce items.
  • The extension allows you to export customer reviews, ratings, categories, and tags in addition to goods.
  • Import and export simple, variable, grouped, parent, and external items.

WooEXIM

Another excellent plugin that allows you to import WooCommerce products. You may also import other forms of data, including orders, customers, coupons, and so on. It also makes it easier to migrate custom fields, characteristics, and product categories. This plugin’s capacity to let you schedule the export workflow at a time that is convenient for you is one of its most beneficial functionalities.

Key Features

  • Friendly UI with import system that is based on ajax
  • Supports product data, including variable and downloadable products 
  • Set up multiple filters
  • Download files from the archive 
  • Meta information can be exported 
  • While importing product info, configure the order status 

Products & Order Export for WooCommerce

This is a fantastic free extension with several capabilities that are only available in expensive extensions. With one click, you can import as well as download your WooCommerce product information, WooCommerce order info, ordered item info, customer info, and so on. 

  • Import-export files in CSV and XML format
  • Collect Customer’s info from orders 
  • Display beyond 40 fields in a report 
  • The Pro version supports more than one meta fields. 

Final Words

If you want to be willing to expand your WoooCommerce store in multiple locations, you must enable WooCommerce import-export variable products. 

As an online store owner, you need to reserve your product info or take a backup or transfer your product info from one network or marketing channel to other on a frequent basis. You may also export your store’s product info to interact with third-party inventory management or tax computation software.

Product migration will become a daily task while managing an international WooCommerce store. It’s a complex task to manually move your online store or upload a product feed file to a marketing channel. But we have represented the easiest way to import-export multiple products at once in your preferred format. 

We’ve also shown you other options to import-export WooCommerce products.  Hopefully, you will be able to import-export all your WooCommerce products in the preferred channel in the preferred format. 

The Core Tools

Create dashboard for any Database

Data Visualizer and Dashboard Application
SALE
This is the best dashboard software for its price. One good thing we did was to hire their consulting services to build few dashboard prototypes and provide some quick dashboard training.
- Terry Seal, IL
We evaluated Xcelsius and Qlikview and the cost for organization to implement dashboards was quoted over 10,000 USD. For fraction of the above quoted price, we were able to buy the licenses for the web based dashboard software and get some free training. This is truly a dashboard software for small businesses like us.
IT Manager of a Trucking company, OH