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How to Import Sample Products in WooCommerce

Learn how to import sample products in WooCommerce to quickly set up and customize your online store for testing and development.

Updated over 3 months ago

Importing sample products into your WooCommerce store can help you quickly set up your shop and understand how product data is structured. This is especially useful for testing layouts and functionalities and customizing your store before going live.

This article will guide you through the steps to import sample products in WooCommerce, making it easier to get your online store up and running efficiently.

WooCommerce stores start empty by default, so you can create products and set up WooCommerce to fit your needs.

If you’d like to see what a store full of sample orders and products looks like, follow the steps below to import WooCommerce sample data.

Download the WooCommerce sample files:

The sample data for WooCommerce is in a file called sample-products.csv or sample-products.xml, located in the WooCommerce plugin folder in woocommerce/sample-data/. You can get it in two ways:

  • Download the WooCommerce plugin.

  • Unzip the .zip and find the files in the woocommerce/sample-data folder.

Import Demo Products with the Setup Wizard

When first setting up WooCommerce, the Setup Wizard takes you through all the necessary steps to prepare your store for selling.

One of those steps, Personalize your store, includes the option to import some demo products.

WooCommerce set up wizard

Note: You won't see this step if you already have products in your store.

Import via WooCommerce Products

  1. Go to WordPress Dashboard → Products → All Products.

  2. Select Import.

  3. Run Importer. An Import Products screen will appear.

    Import products from a CSV file

  4. Select Choose file and then select the sample-products.csv file

  5. Click the Continue button.

  6. The Column Mapping screen appears. You don't have to change anything on this screen.

    Product column mapping

  7. Scroll down and Run the Importer.

Import via WordPress Importer

  1. Go to WordPress Dashboard → Tools → Import.

  2. Select WordPress.

  3. Run Importer.

  4. Select Choose file and then select the sample-products.xml file you downloaded.

  5. Upload file and import.

  6. Import the default wooteam author, create a new user, or assign the posts to an existing user.

  7. Tick the box to Download and import file attachments. If ticked, this will import all sample product images to your site.

    WordPress impor tool

  8. Click on the Submit button.

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