You are planning to open an online business in woocommerce or already have one. So, product types, custom post types, and woo-commerce orders are three key elements you need to know about.
Why?
To handle your whole online business, you will come to these terms mostly. Also, there is a close connection between products, custom post types, and woo-commerce orders. Simply put, in WooCommerce, custom post types help you create different kinds of products, and these products are connected to orders, so you can keep track of sales easily.
Let's dive deep into products, CPT, and woo-commerce orders and see the post-relationship between them.
WooCommerce Products
WooCommerce is a popular tool that turns a WordPress site into a fully functional online store, and the items you want to sell. In WooCommerce, a product is anything you can offer to customers. For example a shirt or a book, an ebook or a music download.
- WooCommerce lets you handle different kinds of products. You may have products that are sold as-is, like a lamp or a coffee mug.
- Then there are variable products, which have options like size or color. Such as a T-shirt available in small, medium, or large and in red, blue, or green.
- You can also set up grouped products if you want to sell a set of kitchen tools together!
Also, if you're selling something that isn’t physical like a membership access or a music file, you can do that too!
WooCommerce helps you put whatever you want to sell on your website, manage these items easily, track how many you’ve sold, and even keep an eye on your stock levels.
Custom Post Types
Custom Post Types, or CPTs, are a way to add your own specific type of content on a WordPress site.
If you have a website for a cooking school and you want to add recipes, chef profiles, and cooking classes as different sections. Each of these can be a Custom Post Type.
Creating a Custom Post Type lets you specify the information fields and layout to exactly what you need. For recipes, you might want fields for ingredients, cooking time, and difficulty level. For chefs, maybe you want to include a biography, specialty, and their favorite dishes.
Using CPTs means you can manage all these different types of content how you want rather than trying to fit everything into the same standard post format. To do that simply, you can use our Custom Post WooCommerce Integration plugin from TinySolutions.
WooCommerce Orders
WooCommerce Orders are like the digital version of a customer walking up to your checkout with a basket full of items. When someone decides they want to buy something from your WooCommerce store, a physical product, a digital download, or a service, an order is created to track and manage that purchase.
First the customer selects items and completes the checkout process. Then woocommerce creates a record. This record includes all the important details like what was bought, how much it cost, who bought it, and where to deliver it. The most important is the payment status.
With woocommerce orders you can view all your orders in one place and handle all the transactions or payment status. As an admin woocommerce orders make the online store to run smoother than before.
What is the Post relationship between products, custom post types, and woo-commerce orders?
When you manage an online store with WooCommerce, your products, custom post types (CPTs), and orders are intertwined. The features ensure smooth operations and a great user experience.
Starting with products! These are what your customers see and decide to purchase. Each product is stored in WordPress as a specific post type, with details like price, descriptions, and categories. Now, when a customer places an order, WooCommerce creates an order. This order is a record that ties directly back to the product or products the customer chose to buy.
Custom Post Types (CPTs) expand this system. While products are a default post type in WooCommerce. CPTs help you to create new types of posts for different content or items you may want to add in your store. For example, you could have a CPT for membership plans, service bookings, or even event tickets.
The relationship comes into play when these CPTs interact with orders.
How?
For instance, if someone purchases a membership plan, this is a CPT. The transaction is processed through the WooCommerce order system, just like any product. This means the order will track this purchase, handle the payment, and even adjust the membership status.
Moreover, you can use CPTs to add custom information to products.
This post relationship makes sure that everything, from the online store to handling orders in the background, works smoothly together to create a strong e-commerce system.
Products | Custom Post Types (CPTs) | WooCommerce Orders |
Items are available for purchase on a WooCommerce site. | Customizable content types for diverse data organizations. | Records of customer purchases and transaction details. |
To display and sell physical or digital goods. | To extend site capabilities and manage non-product content. | To track and manage the purchasing process. |
Listed in shop pages, categorized, and can be purchased. | Used for memberships, services, or other custom data. | Generated when a customer completes a purchase. |
Integral to order creation, products become part of orders. | It can be linked to products and included in orders. | Summarizes products bought, quantities, and payments. |
Variants, attributes, and other options can be defined. | Fields and formats can be tailored to specific needs. | Status updates, customer notes, fulfillment tracking. |
Inventory tracking, pricing, and product details. | Can store custom data relevant to the business model. | Manages payment processing and customer data. |

Verdict
The setup with products, custom post types, and WooCommerce orders works really well. It lets you customize your product listings and keep your sales organized in one place. It’s a smooth system for managing an online store.