WooCommerce secret sale plugin

A WooCommerce secret sale plugin is perfect for creating a hidden sale, with special discounted prices that only pre-approved customers can see. Today, I'm going to tell you how to create secret sales for your own WooCommerce store.

We'll do it using the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin, which just takes a couple of minutes to set up. You'll have your secret sale up and running in no time!

How does the WooCommerce secret sale plugin work?

WooCommerce Protected Categories is the perfect WooCommerce secret sale plugin. It works by creating a hidden WooCommerce category for your secret sale. The sale category contains your discounted products with the special pricing.

It's completely hidden from the public parts of your site, so only people with access to this hidden category can see the sale prices and buy at the reduced rates. Everyone else continues to see the full priced version of each product. They'll have no idea that the secret sale even exists!

There are 2 ways to share access to your hidden WooCommerce secret sale category:

  1. You can password protect the sale category with 1 or more secret passwords. Give the password to everyone who needs to access the secret sale.
  2. Alternatively, you can mark the WooCommerce secret sale category as 'private' so that only logged in users with the correct role can see it.

Next, I'll show you how to create a secret sale in WooCommerce with both options.

To follow these instructions, I'm assuming that you already have a WooCommerce website with full-priced versions of the products that you want to include in the secret sale. (If not, then the official WooCommerce documentation will help you get to this stage.)

Let's get started!

How to create a WooCommerce secret sale

  1. Get WooCommerce Protected Categories.
  2. Use the instructions in the 'Getting Started' email to install the plugin and activate your license key.
  3. On the plugin settings page, DO NOT tick the 2 options to show the hidden categories in the public parts of your store. You need the plugin to hide your secret sale products!
  4. Now, go to Products > Categories in the WordPress admin. Create a category called 'Secret Sale' (or whatever you want to call it). Don't worry about protecting it for now - we'll do this in the next section.
  5. If you want to sub-divide your secret sale into sub-categories, create these too. Select the main Secret Sale category as the 'Parent' of your sub-categories.
  6. Next, install the free Duplicate Post WordPress plugin. Go to the plugin settings page and make sure you have enabled the option to duplicate the 'Products' post type.
  7. WooCommerce duplicate product plugin
    How to duplicate a product in WooCommerce
  8. Now go to the main list of Products in the WordPress admin (this is the 'Products' list on the left). Hover over each product that you want to include in the WooCommerce secret sale and click the 'Duplicate' link that appears.
  9. This will clone the product and save the new version as a draft with '(Copy)' in the title. Click on each of your cloned products and make the following changes:
    • Remove '(Copy)' from the title.
    • Remove the product from the full-price category, and tick the secret sale category instead.
    • Change the main product price to the correct sale price.
    • Click the blue 'Update' button.

Now, your WooCommerce secret sale category contains a cloned version of each product with the special discounted price.

The next step is to protect your hidden sale category and hide it from public view.

Option 1 - Password protect your secret sale category

The easiest option is to password protect the category that you're using for the WooCommerce secret sale. Go back to the Edit Category page (Products > Categories in the WordPress admin). Click to edit the category and click the 'Password protected' option in the Visibility section. Enter 1 or more passwords to protect the secret sale category.

If your secret sale category has any sub-categories, leave these set to 'Public'. They will automatically be protected with the same password(s) as the main secret sale category, so customers can unlock the entire sale area with a single password.

Next, you need to create a way for eligible customers to access the WooCommerce secret sale category. You can either link directly to the secret sale category page (e.g. from your navigation menu or an email). Or, you can create a secret sale login form by adding the shortcode [category_login] anywhere on your site.

Either way, whenever someone tries to access the secret sale category (or one of its sub-categories), they must enter a valid password before they can see the sale products inside.

Option 2 - Restrict your sale category to specific logged in user roles

If all your customers already have a user account on your WordPress website, then you may want to automatically show the secret sale to eligible customers. This is more customer-friendly than forcing them to enter a separate password to unlock the secret sale.

You can achieve this using the private categories option in WooCommerce Protected Categories. Private categories (and their products and any sub-categories) are completely hidden from public view. They are visible to logged in users with the correct role.

  1. Go to Products > Categories and click to edit your WooCommerce secret sale category.
  2. Go to the Visibility section and select 'Private'.
  3. Save the category.

Chose which user roles can access the WooCommerce secret sale

Edit WordPress user roles for private categories, posts and productsBy default, this will make the secret sale products visible to logged in administrators and WooCommerce store managers. You probably want other user roles to be able to access the sale too. The free User Role Editor WordPress plugin is the solution. Follow these instructions to choose which role(s) have access to the private secret sale content.

If you want ALL logged in users to have access to the secret sale, then you need to make private content available to the Customer and Subscriber roles. If you want to create a separate user role for the secret sale, then you can do this too. That way, you can continue showing the prices to normal customers, with an extra user role for people who can access the secret sale.

Tip: You can change each customer's user role by going to the main Users page in the WordPress admin, clicking to edit the user, and selecting a different role from the dropdown.

How do users log into the secret sale?

If you're using the private categories option for your WooCommerce secret sale, then the discounted products will automatically be available to logged in users with the correct role. You don't need a separate login form for the secret sale.

Instead, customers can simply login using the standard login form for your WooCommerce store. If you haven't added one yet, then the WooCommerce 'My account' page will automatically show a login form to logged out users. Or if you prefer, you can create a login form using a plugin such as Theme My Login. Either way, logging in will unlock the secret sale for the correct user roles.

Ending your WooCommerce secret sale

All good things come to an end, and secret sales are no exception.

When it's time to end your secret sale, it just takes a minute to close it down:

  1. Use the free Redirection WordPress plugin to automatically direct everyone who tries to access your secret sale category to your main WooCommerce store. This will prevent people from seeing any broken links, for example if they have bookmarked the sale page. If you want to be really belt and braces, then you can also do the same for your sale products.
  2. Next, you can either delete your secret sale category completely via Products > Categories. Or, if you're planning to reactivate your WooCommerce secret sale in future, then just change the password to something that no one else knows. That way, you can easily create new sales in future, but you've locked everyone out for the time being. (If the category is set to private, then you just need to switch it to 'Password protected' and add a password.)
  3. Decide whether to delete your sale products or keep them dormant until the next secret sale. If you decided to keep them, then you don't need to worry about anyone seeing the discounted prices while the sale is inactive. They're still in the password protected category and will remain hidden from public view.

Now you're ready to set up the WooCommerce secret sale plugin

And that's it! In this tutorial, I've told you everything you need to know about how to create a WooCommerce secret sale. You can create a category for your sale, add a discounted version of each product, and hide it from public view. I've shown you how to password protected the secret sale, or make it available to specific user roles only.

Now it's time to get started and use the WooCommerce secret sale plugin on your own website. The plugin comes with a full 30-day money back guarantee, so you can try it risk-free today. Happy selling!

WooCommerce Age Restriction Plugin

A WooCommerce age verification plugin prevents underage people from buying age restricted products on your website. You'll need one if you're selling items such as tobacco, alcohol, 18+ competitions, or adult products. It works by asking customers to verify their age before they can view or buy age restricted products from your WooCommerce store.

In this tutorial, I'll introduce you to 2 popular WooCommerce age verification plugins.

One of these plugins restricts your entire WooCommerce store so that people can only access it after verifying their age. The other plugin lets you restrict specific product categories only, while leaving your other products available to all age groups.

Both plugins will leave your homepage and other main pages (About, Contact, etc.) public. They only provide age verification for your age restricted products. You don't have to lock down your whole website. This lets you create public areas of your website, build your SEO, and get a good search engine ranking (which wouldn't be possible if your whole website was age-restricted. Google's crawlers can't get past age verification!).

I'll provide advice on which WooCommerce age verification plugin best meets your needs. Then I'll show you how to set them up, using a choice of 3 methods. Let's get started!

Age restriction is a tricky issue in e-commerce because the customer isn't physically present for you to verify their age. Lots of countries simply require website owners to ask customers to confirm their age before allowing them to purchase. WooCommerce age verification plugins work on this basis. It's the customer's responsibility to verify their correct age.

Before we start, I recommend that you check the law for your own country to make sure this is acceptable. If not, then you might need a more comprehensive approach. For example, in extreme circumstances, you might need each customer to provide proof of identify before you will ship age restricted products to them. Method 2 covers a WooCommerce age restriction plugin that can do this, but it does mean more work for you. Fortunately, this isn't normally needed - but you should always check.

Introducing 2 WooCommerce age verification plugins

You should choose an age verification plugin for WooCommerce based on exactly what you need to restrict:

  1. Method 1 - WooCommerce Private Store with online age verification This simple plugin locks down ALL your WooCommerce content while leaving the rest of your website public. Customers can view your homepage and other main pages, but must verify their age in order to view and buy any products. Use this plugin to add a global age gate which will restrict ALL your products.
  2. Method 2 - WooCommerce Private Store with individual user accounts Perhaps you still want to age restrict your entire store, but need to manually confirm each user's age before they can start shopping. You can do this by using the WooCommerce Private Store age verification plugin to hide your products from public view, and manually creating individual user accounts for each customer. Logging into their user account will unlock the age restricted store.
  3. Method 3 - WooCommerce Protected Categories This WordPress plugin is perfect for age restricting specific groups of products within a WooCommerce store, while leaving other products available to everyone. Use it if you only want to restrict some of your products, while leaving others available for all ages.

How do the age verification plugins work?

Methods 1 and 3 are very simple, in that they both password protect parts (or all) of your store. To use them as WooCommerce age verification plugins, you need to set a password for each age that the products are available to. Whenever someone enters their age in the box, the plugin recognises it as a valid password. This tells the plugin that their age is validated and they can view and buy the products within the restricted area.

Method 2 is slightly different because it unlocks the age restricted store for logged in users, while hiding your products from guests.

Next, I'll provide detailed instructions on how to set up each plugin to age restrict your products.

Method 1: How to use WooCommerce Private Store to age restrict your entire shop

This is how to use the WooCommerce Private Store plugin to lock down your entire WooCommerce store. Customers must enter a valid age to unlock the age restricted store.

Setup instructions

  1. First, buy WooCommerce Private Store. Download the plugin and upload it to your site (Plugins > Add New).
  2. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Private Store and change these settings:
    • License Key - Enter your license key.
    • Store Passwords - Add a password for each age that can access the age restricted WooCommerce store. For example, if your store is restricted to people aged 18+, then you need a password for each age over 18. So, you would have a password called 18, one called 19, one called 20, and so on. (I realise this is quite a few passwords, but it only takes a second to add each one, so it won't take you long to create them all.) When someone enters a valid age on the WooCommerce age verification page, the plugin will unlock the store if their age matches one of these passwords.
      WooCommerce age restricted store plugin
    • Password Expires After - Add a whole number here to specify the number of days that people can continue accessing the store from their browser until they have to re-validate their age. I recommend adding '1' here for added security.
    • Login Redirect URL - Normally, a customer will be redirected to whichever page they were trying to access when they had to verify their age. If you prefer, you can enter a specific URL here that they will always be redirected to after validating their age. (E.g. this might be main WooCommerce shop page.)
    • Login Form - Finally, you'll see settings for customising the page that people will use to validate their age. In the 'Form Message' field, I recommend adding something self-explanatory that will help people to validate their age. For example, it's helpful to state the format in which people need to enter their name.
    • Save your changes.

Now add an age validation page

  1. In 2 simple steps, you have already age restricted your WooCommerce store so that only people with the correct ages can access it. The final step is to provide a way for them to enter their age and unlock the store. To do this, create a page and add the shortcode [store_login]. This will create an age verification form, with the text you added on the settings page. Add it to your menu or provide other user-friendly ways for people to find it.
WooCommerce age restricted store plugin

For more information, see the plugin knowledge base.

Note: This applies to your entire shop. If you want to sell some age restricted products and some products that are available to everyone, then you need WooCommerce Password Protected Categories instead. (See next section.)

Method 2: How to use WooCommerce Private Store with individual user accounts

Method 2 is identical to method 1 and uses the same WooCommerce age verification plugin. However, it's more secure because instead of trusting users to enter their own age, you would vet each customer manually and then create a user account for them.

With this method, you'll be using the WooCommerce Private Store plugin in a different way. Each customer must log into their individual user account on your website. This will automatically unlock all the age restricted WooCommerce content (i.e. your main Shop page, products, categories, etc.).

3 simple steps to create an age restricted store

  1. First, get WooCommerce Private Store. Download the plugin from the link in your confirmation email. Upload it to your website (Plugins > Add New).
  2. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Private Store and change the following settings:
    • License Key - Enter the license key from your confirmation email. (The plugin only works with a validated license key.)
    • Logged In Users - Tick this box. This means that instead of having a separate password for your age restricted WooCommerce store, the store is unlocked whenever someone logs into their user account. An option appears underneath to choose which user roles will have access.
  3. Finally, create a login page. This should allow customers to log into their main WordPress user account. Either link directly to the main WordPress login page (yourdomain.com/login.php). Or - for a more professional result - create a front end login form using a plugin such as Theme My Login.

And that's it! Your main homepage and other standard WordPress pages will remain public and can appear in search engines etc. All your WooCommerce store content will be hidden from guests, and will immediately appear for logged in users.

Can customers create their own accounts?

Plugins such as Theme My Login add customizable registration forms as well as login forms. Theme My Login also has an option to hold new user registrations for moderation, so that they can only access your hidden store after you've manually validated their age.

If you're not using Theme My Login, then you can add this as a standalone feature with the New User Approve plugin.

Method 3: How to use WooCommerce Password Protected Categories to create an age restricted area within your store

Unlike methods 1 and 2, this WooCommerce age verification plugin lets you create an age restricted area within WooCommerce, while leaving the other parts of your store public. It works by creating one or more private product categories, which can only be viewed after the customer enters a valid age.

First, setup the WooCommerce age verification plugin

  1. Buy WooCommerce Protected Categories and install the plugin on your WooCommerce website.
  2. Go to the plugin settings page: WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Protected Categories. Change the following settings:
    • License Key - Enter your license key so that the plugin will work.
    • Category Visibility - You would normally leave both these boxes unticked for WooCommerce age restricted products. However, it's ok to tick them if you want the age restricted products to appear in the public areas of your site. If you do this, then when someone clicks on one, they will be asked to verify their age before they can add to cart or access the single product page.
    • Password Expires After - Add a whole number to set the number of days that each person can continue accessing the age restricted store before having to re-validate their age. I recommend adding '1' here for extra security.
    • Client Login Page (optional) - If you like, you can select a page here which will automatically contain an age verification form form. This is optional because you can link directly to your age restricted category page or products, and people will also see the age validation form there.
    • Password Form - This section customises the login page where people enter their age to unlock the protected products. Adapt the Form Heading, Form Heading, Password Label and Button Text to an age verification form. (See the below screenshot for an example).

Now create a WooCommerce age verification category

  1. Next, go to Products > Categories and either create a new category, or edit an existing one. You'll see a 'Visibility' section with a 'Password protected' option. Tick this.
  2. Instead of just adding 1 password, add lots of passwords - one for each age over 18. So, you would have a password called 18, one called 19, one called 20, and so on. As with method 1, I realise this is quite a lot of passwords. However, it only takes you a second to add each one, you can create them all within a couple of minutes.
    WooCommerce age verification plugin
  3. Finally, you need to add links to your age restricted products. If you selected a Login Page on the plugin settings page, then you can link to this from your menu etc. You can also link directly to the age restricted category, if you have ticked the appropriate box on the settings page. Either way, customers will have to verify their age before they can view and buy the restricted products.

What about navigation for my age restricted store?

If parts or all of your WooCommerce store are hidden from underage visitors, then the navigation needs to reflect this. For example, you might want to include menu links to all your product categories once people have verified their age, while hiding these links from everyone else.

Happily, both the WooCommerce Private Store and WooCommerce Protected Categories plugins will automatically do this for you. If you add links to WooCommerce content to your main navigation menu, then these will only be visible to people who have verified their age. You don't have to bother creating different menus for different types of user, as the dynamic links happen automatically.

How to display products to everyone, but require age verification to purchase

Finally, I'll give you a tip that lots of age restricted WooCommerce stores have asked us about.

If you want everyone to be able to browse your store, but only people over 18 or 21 can make a purchase, then you need to use WooCommerce Protected Categories (i.e. method 3 of this tutorial). When you set it up, tick the 'Category visibility' boxes on the plugin settings page:

WooCommerce Protected Categories Visibility Settings

When you do this, your age restricted products will appear on the main WooCommerce shop page, search results and widgets. When someone clicks on a product, they must login or enter the password (depending on how you've chosen to set up the age restriction) before they can access the single product page or add to cart.

You can use WooCommerce Protected Categories to make your entire store private, as well as hiding specific categories only. To put all your products behind the age gate, simply put them all in age restricted categories.

Which WooCommerce age verification plugin will you use?

In this tutorial, I've taught you how to set up 2 WooCommerce age verification plugins, using 3 different methods. These are designed to suit different types of WooCommerce store, so I hope you find one that works for you.

I'd love to hear how you get on with your age restricted WooCommerce store. Please add your comments below!

Private WooCommerce Members Only Shop WordPress Plugin

'WooCommerce is perfect for building any type of e-commerce website. That's why it's no. 1! One of its less obvious uses is to create a private, members only WooCommerce store, which restricts access so only pre-approved customers can enter. Read more on how to add a WordPress membership plugin with WoCommerce to create your membership website today.

This is the complete guide to building a WooCommerce members only shop. We'll look at 2 plugins: WooCommerce Private Store and WooCommerce Protected Categories.

I'll help you to choose the right WooCommerce members only plugin for your specific needs, and provide full instructions on how to set it up for your members.

Do I need a members only WooCommerce shop?

There are lots of reasons why you might want a private shopping club where members can buy exclusive products that aren't available to the public. Here are some examples:

  • WooCommerce wholesale pluginMembers buying club - Some stores offer membership plans in return for discounted access to their products. For example, you could use a WooCommerce extension/plugin such as YITH WooCommerce Subscriptions to sell membership on your public store with recurring payments. You can then use this tutorial to create a WooCommerce members only area containing the products.
  • WooCommerce wholesale store - A trade-only e-commerce store might want a WooCommerce wholesale plugin to sell products to approved members at trade product prices. (Note: if you're building a B2B store then you might prefer our dedicated WooCommerce Wholesale Pro plugin, instead of one of the more generic plugins in this tutorial.)
  • Branded products for members only WooCommerce stores - A trade association or membership group might sell branded merchandise that is exclusively available to its members. This might include clothing with the logo of the membership organization.

Whatever your reason for needing a members only WooCommerce plugin, read on to find the right solution for you.

What sort of membership store do I need?

First, let's look at the different types of WooCommerce members-only extension plugins. There are a few methods for structuring a private area and membership store, depending on which customers need access to which products:

  1. 100% private WooCommerce store with 1 membership level With this option, your overall website will be public (e.g. the homepage, core pages, and any custom post types), but the WooCommerce shop will be hidden from public view. Members must log into the private shopping club to view the products and buy them. Once logged in, all members will have access to the same products. Setup instructions...
  2. 100% private WooCommerce store with multiple WordPress membership plugin with WooCommerce tiers Again, your main web pages can be public but the whole of your WooCommerce store will be private and hidden. Different members will have access to different products. Setup instructions...
  3. Members only WooCommerce store with public and WooCommerce members areas With this option, you can have a public WooCommerce store that anyone can access and buy from. In addition, you can have 1 or more private WooCommerce members-only areas. All within the same WooCommerce shop! Setup instructions...

Method 1 - 100% private WooCommerce store with 1 membership level

This method uses the WooCommerce Private Store plugin. Use it to make all parts of WooCommerce private shopping club. Once a member logs into the hidden store, they can view and buy all your products.

Setup instructions for your private members only WooCommerce store

Before you start, I expect you to have a WordPress website with WooCommerce already installed and set up. Create all your products.

At this point, you will have a regular ecommerce store that is available to the public. Use the following instructions to transform it into a hidden WooCommerce members only store:

  1. First, get WooCommerce Private Store. Download the plugin files from the confirmation page or email, and copy your license key.
  2. In the WordPress admin, find Plugins → Add New and upload the plugin files. Activate the plugin.
  3. Activate WooCommerce Private Store licenseGo to the plugin settings page at WooCommerce → Settings > Private Store. Add your license key, choose 1 or more passwords for your store, make any changes to the login page text, and Save.
  4. Now create a page that clients will use to log into the WordPress portal. Use the shortcode [store_login] to automatically add a login form to the page.
  5. Finally, link to the login page from your navigation menu, header, footer, or keep it hidden and just send the link to your members. (This depends on how you want people to access your private store.)

And that's it! That's all you need to do to lock down WooCommerce and turn it into a members only store.

Public visitors can visit your membership site, view your main pages, and access the login page. Your WooCommerce products, categories, etc. will be completely hidden from public view and won't show up in search results or anywhere else. On entering a correct password, members can unlock the WooCommerce members only store and view and buy the products within.

Using individual user logins to unlock the members store

By default, WooCommerce Private Store uses password protection to protect your WooCommerce members only shop. There's also a 'Logged In Users' box on the settings page. Enabling this option will replace the password protection with automatic access to the members' shop when customers log in to their WordPress user account on your website. However, if you want to limit access only to certain user roles, you can customize the settings accordingly.

If you use this option, then you don't need to use the store login page that comes with the plugin. Instead, members can access the entire store simply by logging into their account via the default WordPress login page. (Tip: You can also use any other WordPress login or social login plugin, such as Theme My Login.)


Method 2 - 100% private WooCommerce store with multiple tiers of membership

This method uses the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin to restrict access to your shop. The shop part of your website is completely hidden from the public. Your  WooCommerce members-only shop is divided into multiple sections. Each member can have access to 1 or more areas within the shop.

This is a great opportunity to sell different private products to different members. For example, if you have different groups or tiers of membership, then you can create a separate area of your store for each category.

Before you start, you should already have a WordPress site with WooCommerce and various products. At this point, your store will be fully public.

Use the following instructions to turn it into a multi-level WooCommerce members only store, with different product pages available to different groups of members.

(You can also use these instructions to sell user-specific products, such as branded clothing for a sports team or school. In this case, you will have a different category of products for each member.)

Setup instructions for a multi-level WooCommerce members store

  1. First, buy WooCommerce Protected Categories. Copy your license key and download the plugin from the confirmation email or confirmation page.
  2. In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New and upload and activate the plugin.
  3. Navigate to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Protected Categories. Enter your license key, make any other changes (e.g. to the members' area login form), and click Save. DO NOT tick the boxes to show protected categories in public parts of the store.
  4. WooCommerce school category visibilityNow, go to Products → Categories. Create a category for each membership level or group. For each category, select one of the 'Protected' options:
    • Password protected - Members must enter a password to access each members-only product category. This WooCommerce password protection is separate from WordPress user logins. It's a good option if you don't require separate accounts for each member.
    • User roles - Automatically unlock the members-only category for logged in users with a specific role. (Tip: The free User Role Editor plugin works great for creating additional WordPress membership plugin with WooCommerce levels, which you can then protect using WooCommerce Protected Categories.)
    • Users - Alternatively, select the individual member accounts that should have access to the members-only WooCommerce category. This option is probably best for smaller WordPress membership sites. I'd recommend the password protection or user roles options for WooCommerce stores with lots of members.
  5. Next, add any sub-categories to your members' area categories. Leave these set to 'Public', as they will automatically inherit the same protection as the parent category.

Now add your protects and allow members to login

  1. Next, go to the main Products page in WooCommerce. Put each product in one of your members-only categories. (I recommend using Quick Edit to categorize products more easily - hover over each product and click 'Quick Edit'.)
  2. Finally, create a page that members will use to log into their area of the members only store. Add a 'Member Login' link to your navigation menu. This depends on what type of protection you're using for your membership plugin categories:
    1. If you're using password protection, then use the shortcode [category_login] to add a login form to any page. You can link to this from the public parts of your website as needed. When someone logs into a members-only category, the plugin will instantly redirect them to the category matching the password entered.
    2. If you're using user roles or user restrictions, then you should link to a user login page such as the main WooCommerce Account page. To make your WooCommerce members store more user-friendly, you can use a free plugin named Peter's Login Redirect to automatically redirect each user or role to the correct category page after logging in.

How the multi-level members store works

Once you have completed the above instructions, you will have a complete WooCommerce members only shop with multiple levels.

Customers can view the public parts of your website as usual. They can go to the members' store login page and either enter a password or log into their WP user account.

Members can only see the products that they have access to. The restricted products are hidden from everyone else.

You will need to set up a process for giving the password to your members or allowing new members to register for the store.

Giving the password to your members

For password protected membership areas, you might want to include the password for the appropriate product category in your members' welcome pack or 'new member' email. The WooCommerce members only plugin supports multiple passwords, or you can use the same one for each user.

Creating a user account for new members

The WooCommerce 'Account' page turns into a login and registration form for logged out users and guests. If you have enabled user registration, then you can let new members use WooCommerece shop only for registered users here. Once they have logged into their new WP user account, they can access the members-only store.

Alternatively, you can use any WordPress front-end registration/login plugin to create a fancy registration form. The Theme My Login plugin has a useful feature to hold new member registrations for approval by an administrator before they can access the members-only store.

If you'd rather sell membership via your website, then you can do this by creating a public product that everyone can buy. To find out how skip ahead now.

Can I sell the same product to more than 1 membership level?

Each product can only be in 1 protected members only category. If you want to sell the same products to 1 or more groups of members, then you should clone these products and put one version in each WooCommerce protected category. The Duplicate Post plugin makes it easy to clone WooCommerce products. (If you want to manage inventory across each product version, then we recommend the Group Stock Manager plugin. This lets you share stock levels across multiple products.)


Method 3 - WooCommerce store with public and WooCommerce members areas

This method also uses the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin. It builds on method 2 by adding a public shop as well as one or more WooCommerce members only areas. Some products are available to everyone, while you can also have private members only products.

Setup instructions for a public and members only WooCommerce shop

The instructions for this use case are identical to method 2. The only difference is that as well as creating protected members-only categories, you should create some public product categories.

The next step is to create a user-friendly navigation structure for your public and WooCommerce members only store. We'll look at this now.

Store navigation

Think carefully about how to structure your WooCommerce store. It needs to be intuitive for both members and non-members:

  1. Public store navigation - This bit's easy. Simply add links to your public store in the usual way. For example, you might add menu links to the main WooCommerce shop page and maybe your public store categories. You can also use the widgets that come with WooCommerce to help people navigate the public store.
  2. Membership plugin: Members only shop navigation - The public shop will remain visible to logged in members, so you need to create navigation links that make it clear when they're in the members only WooCommerce shop. Some tips:
    • Create a page which members will use to log into the members only store. If you're using password protected categories, then use the shortcode [category_login] to add a login form to the page. If you're using role or user protection, use a front-end user login page such as the WooCommerce Account page. You can link to your members store login page from the public areas, such as a 'Members Store' link in the navigation menu. Or if you want to keep it hidden, don't link to it at all and just send the link to your members. Once someone enters a correct password, they will be redirected to the members only store category for that password.
    • If you add direct links to your WooCommerce members only categories to the navigation menu, then these will be hidden from public view. Once a member unlocks their hidden products via the category login page, these menu links will magically appear in the menu for them! This is a neat way of adding more complex structures within your members only WooCommerce store. Each member will only see the products that they have access to.

Can the same product appear in the public and members only areas?

If you've ticked the box on the settings page, then your members only WooCommerce products can appear in the public store. When people click on them, they will have to enter the password in order to purchase.

However, each single product page can only be in a public OR a password protected category. If you want to sell the same products to the public and use the WooCommerce shop only for registered users feature, then you will need to clone the individual products. The Duplicate Post plugin is a great add-on that makes it easy to clone WooCommerce products. Then, you can put 1 version of each product in the different parts of your store.

How can I sell access to my WooCommerce members only store?

Finally, I'll reveal how you can sell access to your members only WooCommerce store with this membership solution. Skip this section if you don't want to charge for membership.

  1. First, create a public category under Products → Categories.
  2. Now add a product to this category - Products → Add New. Call this 'Buy Membership' or whatever you like. Add a price and other information about joining your WooCommerce membership purchasing club.
  3. Your membership product should be a normal simple or variable product if people have to make a one-off payment to join. Alternatively, if you want to take regular ongoing payments from members, then use the YITH WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin to create a subscription product. This can include free trials and different payment frequencies.
  4. Create more than one membership product if you want to sell different paid membership tiers on this membership plugin.
  5. Link to the membership products from prominent places on your public website, such as the navigation menu.
  6. Lastly, consider how to give new members access to your WooCommerce members only store. This depends on the type of protection you're using:
    • Password protection - Use the Follow-Up Emails plugin as an add-on to automatically send an email containing the members' area login link and password to everyone who buys the membership plugin. This plugin provides fine-grained control, and you can create different emails for each membership product.
    • Role protection - The easiest way to do this is to automatically unlock the hidden membership plugin for all logged in Customers. Disable guest registration in the WooCommerce settings (WooCommerce → Settings). When someone buys a product, including membership, they will receive the logins for a customer-level account. They can log into this account to unlock the WooCommerce members only store.
    • Individual logged in user protection - Finally, is your members only store is restricted to individual logged in users? If so, then you will need to manually give each user access when they purchase a membership. Just head to the 'Edit' screen for the members only category, and select them under the 'Protection' options.

Use WooCommerce to create a members only store

Using the above methods and funtionality, you can use WooCommerce to create content restrictions and sell exclusive products to pre-approved customers. Whether you have a WooCommerce shop only for registered users or a separate public online store, there is always a best WooCommerce members only plugin that will suit your needs.

WooCommerce wholesale plugin with customer categories

There are many types of WooCommerce wholesale store. Some wholesale stores sell public WooCommerce products alongside a hidden wholesale area. Others sell the same products to public and wholesale customers, but at different prices. Some stores sell the same wholesale products to all customers. Others sell different categories of products to each wholesale customer.

This tutorial will teach you how to create a WooCommerce wholesale store selling different products to specific customers. You'll learn how to create a hidden wholesale category for each customer that only they can access.

We'll need 2 plugins for this:

Why would a WooCommerce wholesale store need different categories per customer?

Lots of e-commerce wholesale stores sell unique customer-specific products. These should not be visible to anyone else. For example:

  • Workwear or industrial clothing store If you sell branded workwear or industrial clothing to specific organisations then you might sell personalised products with the company logo. The products might contain other personalised information such as job role or department.
  • White labelled or company branded goods Your WooCommerce store might sell products that are branded to your customers. This allows them to resell the products under their own brand. Each customer needs to log into the WooCommerce wholesale area to view and buy their branded products.
  • Company stationery A design or printing company selling repeat orders of bespoke stationery might add them to a secure area within their WooCommerce wholesale store. Whenever the company needs to re-order their business cards, letterhead or promotional leaflets, they can log into their hidden wholesale category and buy securely.

With each of these examples, each wholesale customer must be able to view and buy specific products. The products need to be hidden from public view. This can be achieved by installing a wholesale plugin and creating hidden WooCommerce categories for each customer.

If you sell the same products to all your wholesale users then you don't need customer-specific categories. Instead, just use WooCommerce Wholesale Pro to create your wholesale store.

How customer-specific wholesale categories work

WooCommerce Protected Categories is a WordPress plugin that lets you hide product categories within WooCommerce. It works with WooCommerce Wholesale Pro to let you create a separate category for each individual user. Only that wholesale customer can access their hidden category and buy the products inside.

For example, one plugin user structured her user-specific WooCommerce wholesale categories like this:

  • WooCommerce customer categories
    Wholesale user 1 - main category page listing all their stationery products
    • Sub-category containing all their business card designs
    • Sub-category containing their promotional materials
    • Another sub-category containing all their company branded envelopes
  • Wholesale user 2 - main category page listing all their stationery products
    • Sub-category containing all their business card designs
    • Sub-category containing 2 letterhead designs

You can use WooCommerce Protected Categories to create single or multi-level category structures. By restricting the main 'Parent' category so that only a specific wholesale customer can access it, you can create an entire store-within-a-store for each company.

To access their hidden wholesale category, customers simply need to log into their account on your WordPress website. They will be directed to the 'Wholesale Store' page, which is created by the WooCommerce Wholesale Pro plugin. The Wholesale Store page will show all the products that the user has access to, including the ones in their hidden categories. They can then browse and buy the products inside. No other customers will ever know that the hidden categories or their products exist.

If you have added links to their private categories to the navigation menu, then they can see these links which remain hidden from everyone else.

How to set up a WooCommerce wholesale store

First, you need a WordPress website with WooCommerce installed and set up. You can then follow these steps to create hidden wholesale categories for each customer.

First, install the plugins and edit the settings

  1. First, get the WooCommerce Wholesale Pro plugin. Download the plugin files and copy the license key.
  2. Log into the WordPress admin. Go to Plugins → Add New and upload the plugin, then activate it.
  3. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Wholesale and enter your license key. Choose the other settings for your wholesale store, such as whether or not to allow new wholesale users to register for an account, and adding any additional wholesale roles and discounts.
    WooCommerce Wholesale Pro plugin settings
  4. Get the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin. Again, download the plugin files and copy the license key.
  5. Go to Plugins → Add New and upload the plugin, then activate it.
  6. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Protected Categories and enter your license key.
  7. Configure the plugin settings as needed. Most importantly, you need to leave the 2 boxes in the 'Category Visibility' section unticked. These hide your WooCommerce wholesale categories from the public areas of your store and from other wholesale users.

WooCommerce Protected Categories Screenshot - Plugin Settings Page

2. Create wholesale customer categories

Before this step, make sure you have added some users to your wholesale roles.

  1. After saving your settings, go to Products → Categories. Create a category for each wholesale customer. In the 'Visibility' section for each category, select 'Protected → User' and select which user(s) can access the category.
  2. Create any sub-categories by selecting the main category for each customer as the 'Parent'. Leave these set to 'Public'. Do not password protect them because they will automatically inherit the protection from the parent category. That way, wholesale customers can log into their account and instantly unlock their category and all its products and sub-categories.
  3. Add products for each wholesale user and assign them to the correct category. (Tip: Each product can in as many user protected categories as you like, so don't worry about creating a separate version for each customer.)

Now your wholesale users can visit your website, access the wholesale login page and see their private products. They can then view all the sub-categories and products inside and purchase from you. Mission accomplished!

Can I charge different prices to each wholesale user?

Perhaps you want to sell the same products to each wholesale user, but at different prices. If so, then you don't need a separate category for each user. Instead, you need to charge different prices for the same product.

We've provided a separate article about how to do this.

Can I show the wholesale customer's logo on their page?

WooCommerce wholesale store owners sometimes ask us how to show each customer's logo within their hidden area. This can reassure customers that they are logged into their own wholesale area.

Here are some suggestions of how to do this:

  1. WooCommerce display customer logo widget
    For the best result, you need to write some custom code to show a logo on the template depending on which category is being viewed. Your developer would need to do this. If you don't have one then we recommend Codeable.
  2. If you include the customer's company name in the category title then this will appear at the top of their wholesale ordering page once they have logged in. This will reassure them that they're in the correct place without needing any custom coding.
  3. A less technical way to add logos is to display a sidebar to the page with a different sidebar for each customer. You could the free Widget Options plugin to show a widget containing the logo on the products/categories relating to that customer.

Can I create specific WooCommerce wholesale layouts?

WooCommerce Wholesale Pro prices 1

So far, you've learned how to add a wholesale area with hidden categories for each customer. However, the layouts of the store are still the same in your public and wholesale areas.

That's not ideal because wholesale buyers have very different requirements compared to retail customers. They already know what they want, and need a quick way to make their selections and place an order. The solution is the WooCommerce Product Table plugin, which is available as a bundle when you buy WooCommerce Wholesale Pro.

WooCommerce Wholesale Pro adds quick order form layouts to your wholesale area. Retail customers continue to see the normal store layouts, and wholesalers see the quick order forms instead.

WooCommerce Product Table lists WooCommerce products in a tabular grid layout with various data such as image, title, price, tags and attributes. You can disable the links to the single product page. The table can even include variation dropdowns and add to cart buttons.

WooCommerce Wholesale Table Layout

This is ideal for WooCommerce wholesale stores because wholesale customers already know what they need. They don't want large images or long descriptions. A space-saving order form layout is more appealing to wholesale customers.

Tutorial: How to create a WooCommerce order form.

How will you structure your WooCommerce wholesale store?

I hope this tutorial has helped you create a WooCommerce wholesale store with hidden categories for each customer. The plugins come with full support and regular updates. Search the knowledge base or send a support request if you need any help setting it up.

I'd love to hear how you structure your own WooCommerce wholesale store. Are there any important features which I haven't covered? Please add your comments below.

WooCommerce Login Plugins

This ultimate guide contains everything you need to know about WooCommerce login for your customers. We'll look at the different ways you can let customers log into a WooCommerce online store, and why.

I'll tell you how to set up a WooCommerce login straight out of the box, with or without compulsory registration and social login. I'll also share some handy login plugins to create a hidden or private WooCommerce store that only logged-in customers can access. You will learn how to:

  • Add user login to your WooCommerce store (no plugin needed).
  • Make users log in before purchasing (no plugin needed).
  • Hide your entire store from logged-out users using the WooCommerce Private Store plugin.
  • Restrict specific products and categories to logged-in users using the WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin.
  • Send your customers WooCommerce auto-login links using the free URL-Based Login plugin.

Read on, or watch this video to see how each login method works.

Importance of a customer login for WooCommerce

  1. Personalized user experience: WooCommerce customer login allows you to provide a personalized experience to your customers. They can easily access their order history, saved payment methods, and shipping details, which can save them time and effort.
  2. Increased security: With a WooCommerce customer login, you can secure customer data by allowing access only to registered users. It also allows you to monitor and track user activity to prevent any fraudulent or suspicious activity.
  3. Targeted marketing: A WooCommerce customer login feature allows you to track customer behavior and preferences, which can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns. You can also offer personalized discounts and promotions to customers based on their purchase history.
  4. Improved customer engagement: WooCommerce customer login feature can help you create a loyal customer base. You can send personalized emails, update them on new products or services, and gather feedback on their experience.
  5. Simplified checkout process: When WooCommerce customers log in, they can save their payment and shipping details, making the WooCommerce checkout process faster and more convenient. This can increase customer satisfaction and encourage repeat business.

What are the different types of WooCommerce login?

By 'WooCommerce login', I'm talking about the process where customers log into your online store. It's quite a vague term and there are several ways to set it up. Which one you choose depends on how you want your store to work.

  1. Public WooCommerce store with guest checkout - This is the most common WooCommerce setup. Anyone can browse your products and there is no hidden WooCommerce content. Customers can buy products as a guest without having to log in, or they can optionally create a WooCommerce account during checkout.
  2. Public WooCommerce store with mandatory user accounts - Lots of WooCommerce stores can be browsed by anyone, but customers must register or log in to their WooCommerce account in order to purchase.
  3. Customer portal with protected product categories - Instead of (or as well as) individual customer accounts, you can password-protect parts of a WooCommerce store or restrict them to specific users or user roles. Anyone can buy from the public areas of your shop, while only customers with the right credentials can access your protected categories. Once a customer logs into your protected categories, they can view and buy the hidden products inside.
  4. 100% private WooCommerce store - Some websites want to hide a whole WooCommerce store from public view so that customers must log in or enter a password to access it.
  5. WooCommerce auto-login links - Let customers log in more easily by clicking on a personal login URL. No more usernames or passwords!

With nearly 2 million using WooCommerce sites according to the latest WooCommerce stats, there are plenty of people looking for all these login options.

Which type of customer login is best for my WooCommerce store?

I've created a quick quiz to help you with this. Answer the simple questions about your requirements, and the quiz will recommend the best WooCommerce customer login plugin for your website.


Option 1 - Public WooCommerce store with guest checkout

Most WooCommerce stores let anyone view and buy their products, whether or not they're logged in.

How to enable guest checkout in WooCommerce

  1. Log into the WordPress dashboard and navigate to WooCommerce → Settings → Checkout.
  2. You'll see a box with the label 'Enable guest checkout'.
  3. Tick this box and customers will be able to purchase without logging in or creating a user account.
WooCommerce guest checkout

How to prevent user account creation in WooCommerce

If you like, you can prevent customers from creating user accounts at all. To do this, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Accounts. Untick the boxes to enable registration on the Checkout and My Account pages. This will prevent customers from registering for your site at all, so you don't need to provide a login page.

WooCommerce prevent user account creation

Check out this free Helpie WooCommerce FAQ plugin which helps to create an FAQ section on your WooCommerce product page to easily answer customers' questions about the products.


Option 2 - Public WooCommerce store with mandatory user accounts

How to add a Register/Login page to WooCommerce

WooCommerce login register
When you first install WooCommerce and run the Setup Wizard, there's an option to automatically create all the essential pages for your store. Do this, and you'll see a 'My Account' page in your list of pages (along with other new pages for shop, cart, and checkout).

The WooCommerce login shortcode [woocommerce_my_account] will appear on the page. You can use this page as your register/login page, for example by linking to it from your header or sidebar.

The WooCommerce login/register form works as follows:

  • Guest users will see the WooCommerce login form, possibly with a registration form. To include the registration form on the login page, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Accounts and tick 'Enable registration on the "My Account" page'.
  • Logged-in users will see their Account page, with their order history, profile, and other information.

You can add the WooCommerce login shortcode[woocommerce_my_account] anywhere else on your website to create extra login forms. There are other plugins available to do this such as Sidebar Login and Woocommerce Login / Signup Lite. These let you create more complex WooCommerce login forms. However, you only need an extra plugin if the built-in WooCommerce login shortcode isn't suitable for you.

Tip: If you want to control where users are redirected after they log in, try Peter's Login Redirect. It's easy to set up and we've used it on lots of our client's websites.

How to force WooCommerce customers to log in or register before they buy

  1. In the WordPress dashboard, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Checkout.
  2. Untick the 'Enable guest checkout' box. This will force users to create an account when they buy from your WooCommerce store.

You can further configure how user accounts are created in WooCommerce → Settings → Accounts. This WooCommerce page has several settings such as whether to include a registration form on the checkout page and whether to automatically generate WooCommerce customer login usernames and passwords.

There's also a box to display a login reminder on the checkout so that existing customers can log in. This is really useful if guest checkout is disabled, as you need to make it easy for customers to log in.

Note: If a customer completes checkout without logging in then an account will be created for them behind the scenes. They will receive the login details by email so that they can log in the next time they purchase from you.

WooCommerce social login

WooCommerce social login
As well as the standard WooCommerce login facility, you can let customers log in with their social media accounts. With WooCommerce's social login, you create a public store as usual so that anyone can browse your products. As part of the checkout, they can log into your website using their social media accounts.

You might offer social login in addition to - or instead of - the option to register directly on your WooCommerce website.

Research suggests that over 77% of customers prefer to log into WooCommerce or other websites using social media. This is hardly surprising given that it saves them the hassle of creating a new WooCommerce account for your website and remembering their logins. (And of course, WordPress insists on secure passwords these days so they can't just log in with an easy-to-remember password!)

Back in 2014, I wrote about a 'deadly embrace' caused by WordPress social login plugins. At the time, the available plugins conflicted with built-in WordPress user accounts. Things have improved since then but if you're considering social login then I recommend you use the official WooCommerce extension. This offers the best chance of creating a user-friendly WooCommerce social login for your website.

How to add social login to a WooCommerce store

To add social login to your WooCommerce website, I recommend the official WooCommerce Social Login plugin. Once you've purchased the plugin, follow the instructions in the knowledge base to enter your license key and set it up.

Given the issues I previously identified with social login, I recommend thorough testing before it goes live. Make sure your WooCommerce login process works seamlessly. In particular, test the following aspects of the login process:

  • First time WooCommerce logins using each social network.
  • Repeat logins using the same social network.
  • Repeat logins using a different social network. (i.e. what happens if a customer forgets which social network they logged in with previously?)
  • Register using social login and then try logging in directly on the website using the Lost Password link.

Basically, try to break it and send a support request to WooCommerce if you discover any problems. Social login is a great idea but needs thorough testing to get right, as customers may forget how they previously logged into your WooCommerce store.

Get WooCommerce Social Login


Option 3 - Login portal with WooCommerce protected categories

WooCommerce Password Protected CategoriesOptions 1 and 2 are about letting customers log in to a public WooCommerce store. They might have to log in to purchase, but anyone can browse the store and see the products. You can also create a WooCommerce login system where customers have to log in or enter a password in order to see your products or other store content.

The WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin creates a login portal where different customers can see different products. It locks down one or more of your product categories so that no one else can see them. Customers must log into WooCommerce with the correct credentials to see the products inside their portal.

You can create separate categories for different groups of customers, and you can even create customer-specific products. Each customer logs in and views the restricted products that they have access to.

Who needs protected product categories?

You can use WooCommerce Protected Categories in several ways:

  • Show products from protected categories in the public areas of your store. When someone clicks a protected product, they must enter the password or login to view the single product page or purchase. This lets you display all products in the public store, while only pre-approved customers can buy protected ones.
  • Hide protected categories and products from the public store. Alternatively, you can hide protected WooCommerce categories and their products from public areas of your store. Authorized users can log in and be directed to the correct hidden category. This is perfect WooCommerce wholesale stores or customer-specific products where you sell different products to each customer.
  • Hide your entire WooCommerce store. Finally, you can put ALL your products within one or more protected categories. This way, customers have to log in before they can view your products or buy. (Tip: While it's possible to hide your whole store with this plugin, you might prefer Option 5, below. Both plugins let you create a WooCommerce hidden store)

How to create protected categories in WooCommerce

You can read full setup instructions in the plugin knowledge base. Here's a quick guide to get you started:

  1. First, get WooCommerce Protected Categories.
  2. Install and activate the plugin.
  3. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Protected Categories and enter your license key.
  4. Change any settings such as customizing the text on the password WooCommerce login page, and hide protected categories from the public areas of your store.
  5. Now, go to the product category that you want to hide behind the WooCommerce login page. You'll find this in Products → Categories. The plugin has added a new 'Visibility' section with options to password protect the category or make it private. Choose 'Protected' and either password protect the category, or restrict it to specific users or roles.
  6. Repeat step 5 for all the categories you want to protect.

Finally, test your WooCommerce protected categories from different customer login scenarios. For example, try it when you're logged in and out of the website. Also, try it before and after you log in to a category.


Option 4 - Create a login-only store

WooCommerce store login

WooCommerce Private Store forces customers to log in to your WooCommerce store before they can see your shop page, products, categories, or any other store content. It's a simple but effective plugin to hide WooCommerce from public view, without affecting the public parts of your site.

By logging into their user account or entering a simple password on the WooCommerce private store login page, customers can unlock the store and access the products and other content inside. Your public users won't even know you have a WooCommerce store unless you decide to link to the WooCommerce login page. (In which case, they will be able to see the WooCommerce login page but none of the content behind it.)

How to hide your whole WooCommerce store behind password protection or a user login form

The plugin knowledge base contains full setup instructions for WooCommerce Private Store. I've also provided details below. Setting it up literally just takes a few minutes:

  1. Buy the plugin from https://barn2.com/woocommerce-private-store.
  2. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Private Store.
  3. Enter your license key and change any settings such as customizing the WooCommerce login form text. Either choose a password to password protect WooCommerce, or tick the 'Logged In Users' option to automatically unlock it for logged-in users or specific roles.

Once you've saved the settings page, your whole e-commerce store will be protected. Customers will have to log in or enter the password before they can see ANY WooCommerce content such as the main shop page, products, categories, etc. Your WooCommerce content will also be blocked from search engines, so it's a simple yet secure way to make WooCommerce private.

WooCommerce Protected Categories or Private Store?

I realize that the plugins mentioned in options 4 and 5 are quite similar. You can use them in similar ways but they can also be used very differently in terms of WooCommerce login options. Check out my article and quiz on which WooCommerce protection plugin to use.


Option 5 - WooCommerce auto-login by URL

Finally, you might want an easier way for your WooCommerce store's customers to log in.

WordPress and WooCommerce auto login plugins provide a dynamic link that automatically logs customers into their accounts. This saves customers from having to remember or store usernames and passwords. All they need is their personal auto-login URL.

You can use this option with options 1, 2, 4, and 5 listed above.

For full instructions, check out our separate step-by-step tutorial on how to set up WooCommerce auto-login URLs.


What type of WooCommerce login do you use?

As you can see, there are many types of WooCommerce login designed for different types of stores. I hope this guide has helped you to choose the right login method for your WordPress site and to set it up properly.

How do you allow customers to log in to your site? Are there good WooCommerce plugins I've missed? What pitfalls did you come across and what would you advise other WooCommerce users? Please add your comments below.

This article will help you choose the best WordPress client area plugin to create a WooCommerce private area.

It compares 2 plugins: WooCommerce Private Store and WooCommerce Protected Categories. We'll look at both plugins, their features and what sort of websites they are intended for.

This will help you to choose the right plugin for your own WooCommerce client area. You can then get your chosen plugin and start setting it up!

Quiz - Help me choose a plugin!

WooCommerce private area plugins - a quick summary

WooCommerce Private Store hides all elements of WooCommerce, so your whole store will be private and hidden behind a single password. You can have a shared password for everyone, or a separate password for each customer. Alternatively, you can automatically unlock your WooCommerce customer area for logged in users or specific user roles.

WooCommerce Protected Categories hides specific categories within your store, and the products within those categories. The rest of your store can remain public. There are several ways to protect categories with this plugin. You can password protect categories, or make them visible to certain logged in users or roles.

Here's a video guiding you through both WooCommerce private area plugins. You can also read the information below to help you choose the right one.

Which private area plugin is best for you?

To choose a WordPress client area plugin for your WooCommerce site, read these 2 lists. Think about which list best applies to you.

Do you:

Make WooCommerce Private WordPress Plugin
  • Sell the same products to all your customers?
  • Want to complete a completely hidden WooCommerce private shop, with no public area? The rest of your website such as the homepage will still be public, but all elements of your shop will be private.
  • Need the convenience of a simple password to unlock your whole store which you can give your customers?
  • Want your WooCommerce store to be hidden from guest users and visible to logged in users?
  • Require all parts of WooCommerce to be 100% hidden from your menus, widgets, site search, search engines, sitemaps etc. including the main shop page, categories, products and tags? (Note: You can still have a public link to the login page, or you can hide this too.)

If this is you then I recommend WooCommerce Private Store.

Do you:

  • Sell different products to different customers?
  • Want public AND private areas of your WooCommerce store?
  • Need to password protect specific categories, or hide categories so that only specific users or roles can see them?

If this is you then I recommend WooCommerce Protected Categories.

How do I use these plugins?

The first port of call is to read the WooCommerce Private Store documentation and WooCommerce Protected Categories documentation. We've also provided some useful tutorials on using the WooCommerce private area plugins in different ways:

It's time to create your own WooCommerce private area

I hope this article has helped you to choose a WooCommerce private area for your store.

WooCommerce Private Store   WooCommerce Protected Categories

Private WooCommerce Members Only Shop WordPress Plugin

Today we've released a new WordPress plugin to create a private WooCommerce members only shop. The plugin, WooCommerce Private Store, locks down the whole of WooCommerce while keeping the rest of your website public. It's the perfect way to create a private online shop to sell products exclusively to your members.

We've developed the new WooCommerce members only plugin in response to demand from users of our Password Protected Categories WooCommerce plugin. The aim of that plugin was to let people protect specific areas within a WooCommerce shop. We were surprised at the number of customers using it to protect their WooCommerce whole store. While we supported customers in finding ways to achieve this, it wasn't really ideal. It was missing crucial features such as hiding protected products from search engines.

The new WooCommerce Private Store plugin offers a dedicated way to make WooCommerce private. It has all the features that you need to hide an entire WooCommerce shop so that only your members can see it.

Get WooCommerce Private Store or read our tutorial 'How to Build a Private WooCommerce Members Only Shop'

What does the WooCommerce members only plugin do?

The members only plugin transforms any WooCommerce website into a 100% private online shop.

It does this by hiding all elements of WooCommerce from public view. There are 2 ways to hide WooCommerce, which can work together or separately:

  1. You can password protect WooCommerce. Customers must enter a correct password to unlock your private store. You can create 1 or more passwords, e.g. one for everyone to share, or a separate password for each customer.
  2. Alternatively, you can set it up so that the private WooCommerce store is automatically unlocked for logged in user or specific user roles.

Either way, the plugin protects all the pages  created by WooCommerce. This includes the main shop page which lists all your products, the individual product pages, product category pages and tag archives. It also protects other content added by WooCommerce such as shop-specific widgets and menu items.

Everything in your WooCommerce members only shop is only visible to customers who have unlocked the private store. For everyone else, it's as if the e-commerce part of your site doesn't even exist.

Your products, categories, tags etc. are hidden from search engines so they can't be indexed. They're hidden from your XML sitemap. The shop pages are also hidden from the WordPress search on your website. This means that if someone uses the search box on your site, your products and other WooCommerce content won't appear on the search results page.

How does the WooCommerce password protection work?

Whenever a customer tries to access part of the members only WooCommerce shop, they'll see a login page where they must enter the correct password to continue. (You can customise the text that appears above the password entry form and on the 'Submit' button.)

Once the customer enters the correct password, the entire members only WooCommerce store is unlocked for them. They can then navigate through the WooCommerce shop as usual - viewing the shop page, categories, products and buying online.

What sorts of website need a members only store?

WooCommerce Private Store PluginIt's useful for any e-commerce site that needs to sell products to a specific group of pre-approved people. This might include:

  • WooCommerce wholesale shops for approved trade distributors.
  • WordPress membership websites.
  • Clubs and organisations selling branded merchandise to members only
  • Company websites selling workwear to their employees via a private e-commerce area.

Will anyone know my members only WooCommerce shop exists?

It's up to you whether to include any links to your members shop on your public-facing website.

If you like, you can add a link called 'Trade Login' or 'Member Login' to your menu, sidebar, header or similar. That way, members can click the link to view the store login page and unlock the shop. Public users will be able to see the link, but they can't get past the password protection page.

To hide WooCommerce completely, you don't have to include any links to your shop. Give your members the link to your private shop page and no one else will know it exists!

Can people find my private members only products in search engines?

Nope - the plugin takes care of all that. Once you activate the plugin, your product pages, category archives, tag archives and other WooCommerce content is automatically noindexed and hidden from search engines.

How do I create a private members only shop?

The WooCommerce members only plugin is really simple to use. You can create a private WooCommerce shop in minutes.

  1. Set up WooCommerce and add your products, categories in the normal way - just as you would for a public online shop.
  2. Install and activate the WooCommerce Private Shop plugin.
  3. Go to the settings page, add your license key and choose a password for your members only store.
  4. Either add a 'Member login' link to your website or give the URL to your members along with the password.

And that's it! The WooCommerce members only plugin will take care of the rest.

Use the Documentation in the knowledge base to learn how to configure the hide WooCommerce plugin in more depth. For example you can change the text on the private WooCommerce login page.

Can I hide specific areas of my WooCommerce store?

The new WooCommerce members only plugin is just designed to protect your entire online shop. If you just want to hide parts of your WooCommerce shop then you need our Password Protected Categories for WooCommerce plugin instead. This lets you protect specific areas within WooCommerce while also having a public e-commerce store.

Tutorial: 3 ways to create a WooCommerce members only shop.

I love the plugin! Can I earn commission for reselling it?

Absolutely! Check out our WordPress Plugins Affiliate scheme and sign up to get 30% commission for reselling our members-only plugin, and our other premium plugins too.

Where can I get the plugin?

The WooCommerce Private Store plugin is available on our website. Get it today and set up your WooCommerce members only shop in minutes!

GET WOOCOMMERCE PRIVATE SHOP

WooCommerce customer login plugin formWe've added a new WooCommerce customer login feature to our popular plugin 'WooCommerce Password Protected Categories'. It lets you create a hidden or private product category for each customer.

This means that you can now choose between 2 plugins to create a WooCommerce login:

  • WooCommerce Password Protected Categories - Perfect for protecting specific areas of your WooCommerce, which will run alongside your public shop. With this plugin, different customers can access different product categories. Or you can give multiple customers access to a single password protected category - the choice is yours.
  • WooCommerce Private Store - Make WooCommerce private by hiding your entire online store from public view. With this plugin, all your customers will have access to the same products within your private WooCommerce shop.

This post is about how to use WooCommerce Password Protected Categories to create individual customer logins, with different products categories for each customer.

Read the complete guide to all the WooCommerce login options.

What sort of websites need a WooCommerce customer login plugin?

A WooCommerce customer login plugin is suitable for any online store that has different products for different customers. Here are 2 case studies to illustrate how customer-specific products might be used.

Client login for a photographer's website

Professional photographers can use WooCommerce Password Protected Categories to sell the images from their photoshoots. It works like this:

  1. The photographer undertakes a photoshoot for a specific client. This might be wedding photography, a family photoshoot or corporate photography.
  2. After the photoshoot, the photographer creates a password protected WooCommerce category for that client. They add each photo as a product in this category (depending on their pricing structure etc.).
  3. The photographer notifies the client that their photos are available on the website and gives them the password for their WooCommerce category.
  4. The client visits the website and clicks a 'Client Login' link. This shows them the WooCommerce customer login form added by the plugin.
  5. The client enters the password into the login form and are automatically redirected to the category containing their photos. They can browse the photos and order online. If they give the password to others, such as their wedding guests, then they can order photos from the protected category too. The photos will remain private and hidden from public view. Only people with the password will ever know the hidden products exist.

Check out our tutorial of how to hide products in WooCommerce.

Company branded workwear for an industrial clothing seller

Another popular use case is company-branded workwear. An industrial clothing manufacturer may have a public WooCommerce store selling specialist clothing such as fire retardant workwear. Most of their customers probably use the public categories, but they may have deals with certain companies to provide branded versions of their products. For example, a company might order personalised versions of their workwear with its logo and brand colours, for an agreed price.

You can use WooCommerce Password Protected Categories to add the personalised clothing as products in a password protected category which is only available to the relevant company. They can click a 'Trade Login' link on the website, enter their password and be directed to the WooCommerce category with their branded workwear. The company can then order the customised items - and products from the public site at the same time, if they wish - without anyone else knowing they exist.

Check out our tutorials on how to use use Password Protected Categories as a WooCommerce wholesale plugin, or wholesale store with customer-specific categories.

How does the customer login form work?

The WooCommerce Password Protected Categories plugin now includes an option to create a central customer login page.

How do you create a customer login page?

There are 2 ways to create your WooCommerce customer login page. This is also covered in the Password Protected Categories knowledge base.

Method 1 - Select your client login page

  1. Go to the plugin settings page at WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Password Protected Categories. (find this at: /wp-admin/admin.php?page=wc-settings&tab=products&section=protected-cats)
  2. Click on the dropdown list next to 'Category Login Page'. Select the page where you want your WooCommerce customer login form to appear.
  3. Scroll down and click 'Save changes'.

WooCommerce customer login page

This will automatically add a shortcode to the page you have selected and the customer login form will appear.

Method 2 - Add the category login shortcode

For an even more flexible option, simply add the following shortcode to any page, post or text widget:

[category_login]

This will add a login form where customers can enter the password for their protected WooCommerce category.

WooCommerce customer login page

A lot of sites will want to use the shortcode to create a WooCommerce sidebar login widget. This lets people log into their private category wherever they are on your website:

WooCommerce sidebar login

You can even customise the login form wording...

You can add other content above or below the shortcode as needed. Just go to the page, post or widget where you added the login form and add your other content.

You can also customise the message that appears within the customer login form as follows:

[category_login message="Add your custom message here."]

...And add private sub-categories for each customer

The above instructions tell you how to create a single WooCommerce product category for each customer. The plugin also lets you divide the private shop for each customer into sub-categories. For example:

  • A photographer might create a main category for each customer, with a sub-category for each of their photoshoots.
  • An industrial clothing seller might have a main category for each company they provide branded workwear for. This might be sub-divided into categories for office wear, heavy duty wear etc.

To create customer-specific sub-categories:

  1. Create a main top level category for each customer. Do this in Products > Product Categories in the WordPress admin. Select 'Password protected' and choose a password.
  2. Next, add all the sub-categories for that customer. Select the main category for that customer as the 'Parent'. Leave the sub-categories set to Public.
  3. Add the customer's unique products to the relevant category and sub-categories.
  4. You also need to set up your WooCommerce category pages to display sub-categories so that customers can navigate to their other categories. Do this in WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Display (find it here: /wp-admin/admin.php?page=wc-settings&tab=products&section=display). Under 'Default Category Display', choose 'Show subcategories & products' if you want the customer's main page to show both products and sub-categories. Or choose 'Show subcategories' if you just want their sub-categories to appear so that they have to click on one to view the products within.
  5. Click 'Save changes'.

How to show sub categories in WooCommerce

How did people create customer-specific products before?

Most WooCommerce stores have various products which are available to the public. We developed the WooCommerce Password Protected Categories plugin nearly a year ago to let people protect or hide some or all of their product categories.

The plugin has proved very popular. It's used for various types of website ranging from WooCommerce wholesale stores to shops with customer-specific products.

Until now, the only way to create customer-specific products was to give each client a secret link to their password protected category. This worked fine, but a lot of plugin users have asked us for a central WooCommerce customer login page. This is now available and I hope this article helps you to create your own login page for customers to access hidden categories.

Where can I test the WooCommerce customer login plugin?

We've added a WooCommerce Login page to the Password Protected Categories plugin demo. If you enter the password 'letmein' then you'll be directed to the Clothes category. The password 'teatime' will direct you to the Food category.

GET THE PLUGIN

We have created a video tutorial explaining how to use our WordPress password protect plugin to protect a WooCommerce category. The plugin lets you add password protections to a category and its products, or restrict it to specific logged in users or roles. Watch this alongside reading the knowledge base.

WooCommerce Password Protect pluginThe tutorial tells you how to create a WooCommerce password protected category and private category in WooCommerce. It also explains the logic behind the plugin and how once you have protected a category, it will automatically protect all its products and any sub-categories too.

Here's a written tutorial for those of you who don't like videos:

Written transcript of WooCommerce Password Protect Category video

Before we learn how to password protect a WooCommerce category, you need to get the plugin on our website. Download the file and install it in the usual way for a WordPress plugin (Plugins → Add New → Upload), and also add the license key from your confirmation email.

Once you've got that all set up, you should have WooCommerce and WooCommerce Protected Categories installed on your website. You need both these plugins in order for WooCommerce Password Protect Category to work.

How to password protect a category in WooCommerce

Next go to Products → Categories in the WordPress admin. This is the usual page where you can create a WooCommerce category. If you've got an existing website then you probably have categories on the right already - that's fine. The process for creating a WooCommerce password protected category is exactly the same whether it's a new category or an existing one.

Let's great a new category. In the 'Add New Category' section on the left, add the following:

  • Category name - e.g. 'Clothes'
  • Slug - this is the last part of the category URL, e.g. 'clothes'

If you scroll down, you'll see that there's a new section at the bottom called 'Visibility'. This is what the WooCommerce Password Protect Categories plugin has added and it's not there by default in WooCommerce.

To password protect a WooCommerce category, you simply tick the 'Protected' option and enter a password, which can be anything you like. You can also set the category to only be visible to certain logged in users or user roles. Then click 'Add New Product Category'.

Click the plus (+) icon to add multiple passwords for a category. This lets you give different passwords to different customers.

This will add your new category in the list of categories on the right. In the 'Visibility' column, you can see that it is labelled 'Password protected'.

You can also restrict categories to specific users or entire roles. That way, they can automatically see the hidden content as soon as they log into their account. They don't need to enter a separate password.

Password protect sub-categories

You can also add sub-categories. If you have a sub-category, it will automatically share the same password. You don't need to password protect it - it just happens automatically.

Let's do this now and create a new category called 'Shoes'. I'm going to select the Parent as 'Clothes', and mark it as Public as I don't need to password protect it. Because this is a child category of a password protected category, it will be password protected even though it doesn't have its own password.

The great thing about that is that if you give your customers a password for the parent category, they can use it to access any of the products in that category, the child category page and any of the products in the child category. Customers only need to enter the password once and that whole area of the website will be unlocked for them.

That's much better than password protecting each individual product, which would be a nightmare for the customer because they'd have to enter the password for every single product they want to view. Not ideal!

If you want to create more complex structures for a password protected category, you can add other protected categories with their own password. For example, you might have a 'Furniture' WooCommerce category which is separate from the 'Clothes' category. You would add a different password to protect the Furniture category. That will work alongside the Clothes category and each will have a completely different password to protect it. If you give the customers who buy your clothes the password for the Clothes category, they will be able to access the Shoes category because it's a child category of Clothes. However they cannot access the Furniture category which is protected separately.

This is a good way to lock down lots of different types of WooCommerce store. For example you might use a password to protect a Trade section of your WooCommerce website and give the password to your trade distributors. You could give them each their own category and their own password. Or whatever the use case for you.

WooCommerce Password Protected Category settings

There are various settings for the WooCommerce Password Protect plugin in WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Protected Categories. These let you control how your protected WooCommerce categories appear on the main Shop page and in navigation menus and widgets. You can also customize the text on the password entry page.

Wrapping up our WooCommerce password protect tutorial

So that's how you set up the plugin and password protect a WooCommerce category. Give the password to your customers and they can buy from the protected categories.

For more information, check out our tutorials on how to hide a whole WooCommerce store and make it private, and how to use it as a WooCommerce wholesale plugin. If you want to protect an entire store, it's also worth looking at our dedicated private shop WooCommerce plugin.

Or sign up as an affiliate and earn 30% commission for recommending the plugin!