How to Add Sample Data in WooCommerce (with Product Images)

Some of our readers asked if we could make a tutorial on adding sample data in WooCommerce.

Adding sample data in WooCommerce can be a massive help, as it allows you to see how your online store will look and function.

While it’s useful when setting up a new store, sample data also helps with testing before you launch it to the public. This is because the product data can show you what needs tweaking.

In this article, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of adding sample data in WooCommerce.

What Is Sample Data and Why Add It to WooCommerce?

Sample data in WooCommerce is pre-made product info you can add to your online store. It includes example products, descriptions, prices, categories, images, and other details.

Adding sample data helps you see how your store will look and work before you add your own products. What’s more, using sample data is helpful for:

• Testing: Making sure your online store’s design and features work well.
• Learning: Understanding how WooCommerce handles products, tags, categories, and other data.
• Designing: Seeing how things on your product pages, including images and descriptions, will look on your site.
• Tweaking: Letting you resolve potential problems with your WooCommerce theme and trying out essential WooCommerce plugins before going live.

Overall, sample data lets you set up and improve your store without the stress of using your real product listings. As a result, it enables you to offer a better customer experience when you go live with real products.

With that in mind, we will show you how to add sample data in WooCommerce. Here’s a quick overview of all the steps we will cover:

Ready? Let’s start with a video tutorial.

Video Tutorial

Subscribe to WPBeginner

If you’d prefer written instructions, just keep reading.

Setting Up Your WooCommerce Store for Sample Data

If you haven’t launched your WordPress website yet, you’ll need good WooCommerce hosting to get started. Reliable hosting makes sure your online store works well and stays up and running.

We recommend Bluehost for WooCommerce hosting. It’s easy to use, and WPBeginner readers get a huge discount. Plus, you’ll get a free domain name. It’s a great deal!

Need help with launching your WordPress-powered WooCommerce store?

Then, you can check out our step-by-step WooCommerce tutorial. It walks you through everything so you can set up your WooCommerce store quickly.

Adding Sample Product Data in WooCommerce

Now that you have installed WooCommerce, you can begin to add some sample product data to your store.

First, you can navigate to Products » All Products in your WordPress admin area and click on the ‘Start Import’ button.

You will then see the product importer page.

From here, you can click on the ‘Advanced Options’ link to expand the settings.

After that, you just need to copy and paste the following URL path into the box for a CSV file on your server:

wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/sample-data/sample_products.csv

Don’t worry. This CSV is included with WooCommerce when you install it.

That URL goes directly to the sample product data, which is the quickest method for adding the sample data.

Another option is to download the sample_products.csv file from your website and then upload it again. Simply go to the following URL:

https://example.com/wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/sample-data/sample_products.csv

Don’t forget to replace example.com with your own domain name. Your browser will automatically download the CSV file to your computer, which you can then upload on the product importer page.

Once you have uploaded the CSV file, you will be prompted to choose how to map the data to the product fields in WooCommerce.

We recommend leaving all these default settings and clicking the ‘Run the importer’ button at the bottom.

The WooCommerce importer may take a minute or two to import dummy content. Once it has finished, you will see an ‘Import Complete’ message.

You can then click on ‘View products’ to see all the imported content.

The sample WooCommerce products will then show up just like regular products.

Here, you can edit them just like any other WooCommerce product, preview them with your WooCommerce theme, and try out different WordPress plugins.

Creating Sample Orders in WooCommerce

WooCommerce doesn’t come with a sample order generator. The easiest way to create dummy orders in WooCommerce is to simply go through the checkout process yourself. This lets you optimize your customer journey and boost conversions.

The good news is that it’s easy to do this without spending any money and changing your products’ prices.

Simply go to the WooCommerce » Settings » Payments page in your WordPress admin and enable the toggle for the ‘Cash on delivery’ payment option.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button.

Next, you’ll need to go to your store and complete the full checkout process to order some of the dummy products.

You should then see your orders on the WooCommerce » Orders page.

You can create as many sample orders as you want.

For more tips about optimizing customer journeys, then feel free to check out our actionable tips on the best ways to increase WooCommerce sales.

How to Remove the Sample Data in WooCommerce

After you’ve finished using your sample data, you can delete the dummy products and orders.

To delete orders, you can head over to WooCommerce » Orders in your WordPress admin. Here, simply select all the orders and use the ‘Bulk actions’ menu to move them all to the trash.

The next step is to select ‘Move to trash’ from the dropdown menu and click the ‘Apply’ button.

To delete products, you can go to Products » All Products.

Again, simply select all the products and use the ‘Bulk actions’ menu. Then, you’ll want to select ‘Move to trash’ and then click the ‘Apply’ button.

Add Sample Data in WooCommerce FAQ

In this section, we’ve answered some of the most frequently asked questions about adding sample data in WooCommerce.

How do I import dummy data in WooCommerce?

In short, to import dummy data, you can use the sample CSV file provided by WooCommerce. Simply go to Products » All Products » Start Import, and choose the sample data file. This will add example products to your store.

How do I create a CSV file for WooCommerce?

You can create a CSV file for WooCommerce using a spreadsheet program like Excel or Google Sheets. Just make sure to include columns for product details like name, price, description, and categories. When you’re done, you can save the file as a CSV.

How do I add custom data to a WooCommerce product?

You can add custom data to a WooCommerce product by navigating to Products » Product Data when editing a product. Then, you’ll want to look for the ‘Custom Fields’ tab to add custom data.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add sample data in WooCommerce. Now that your store is ready, we recommend that you check out our article on how to set up WooCommerce conversion tracking and our guide on WooCommerce made simple, which covers everything you need to know to get started with your WooCommerce store.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.