Tiered and quantity pricing in WooCommerce: bulk discounts that work
By Mariusz Szatkowski · Updated: 2026-06-20
Selling more units per order is one of the cleanest ways to raise average order value, and quantity discounts are how most stores do it. WooCommerce, on its own, sells everything at a single price per product. To reward customers for buying more, you need tiered pricing. This guide explains how tiered, quantity and volume pricing works, when it helps, and how to present it so shoppers actually buy the larger pack.
What Tiered Pricing Is
Tiered pricing sets the per-unit price by quantity. Instead of one fixed price, a product has a small table of quantity bands, each with its own price:
- 1 to 4 units at the standard price
- 5 to 9 units at a lower price
- 10 or more at a lower price still
The terms tiered, quantity and volume pricing all describe this same mechanism. The goal is simple: make a bigger order the obviously better deal, so the shopper rounds up.
Why It Raises Average Order Value
A single price asks the customer to decide yes or no. A tiered price reframes the decision around how many. When the saving from the next band is visible, many shoppers move up to reach it, which lifts the units per order without any extra traffic or discount on small orders. It is most effective for consumables, supplies, components and anything bought in repeat quantities.
Show the Bands on the Product Page
The discount only works if the shopper sees it before the cart. A price table on the product page, listing each quantity band and its price, does that job. It removes the guesswork: the customer can read exactly what ten units cost versus five, and decide on the spot.
A table that is rendered on the server keeps this fast. There is no script to download and run, and the table reserves its own space, so it does not shift the layout as the page loads. Tiers for WooCommerce renders its quantity table server-side with no jQuery, and applies the discount off the regular price.
Simple Quantity Breaks Versus Wholesale Rules
Most stores start with plain quantity tiers that apply to everyone. As the catalogue or the customer base grows, the rules get more specific:
- different prices for wholesale, retail or other customer roles
- per-product overrides where one item needs its own table
- category-wide rules instead of editing products one by one
- B2B wholesale pricing and scheduled price changes
The free quantity table covers the common case. Role and group pricing, per-product overrides, category rules and scheduling are where a paid edition earns its place; Tiers PRO adds these and extends the free plugin rather than replacing it.
Tiers Versus Default WooCommerce
Core WooCommerce sells each product at one price, with no quantity breaks. Here is the difference for tiered pricing specifically:
| Capability | Default WooCommerce | Tiers |
|---|---|---|
| Price by quantity | One fixed price per product | Quantity and volume tiers |
| Price table on product page | None | Server-rendered table of bands |
| Discount applied automatically | Manual sale price only | Off the regular price at each tier |
| Role / customer-group pricing | No | Yes (PRO) |
| Per-product and category rules | No | Yes (PRO) |
| Performance | n/a | No jQuery, server-rendered |
| Cost | Free (core) | Free (GPL); PRO adds role and B2B rules |
The Short Version
Tiered pricing turns a yes-or-no purchase into a how-many purchase, and it is one of the most reliable ways to lift average order value in WooCommerce. Show the quantity bands in a clear, server-rendered table on the product page, start with free quantity tiers, and add role-based or wholesale rules once your pricing gets more specific.