WooCommerce: How to Bulk Generate Coupons Without a Plugin

There are times when doing manual work – such as creating a WooCommerce coupon – is too time consuming. Imagine you need to bulk generate 1,000 coupon codes – sure you have 2,000 minutes at your disposal to do it all by hand?

Well, today, we’ll take a look at how to bulk generate coupon codes from the WordPress backend by using a simple PHP “for“. Once the function triggers, it will just be a matter of seconds!

Enjoy!

Here’s how I bulk created 100 coupons in a few seconds with a simple snippet. If you need to generate thousands of them, make sure you don’t exceed the maximum WordPress load time – in this case I recommend running the function N times as opposed to using a $number_of_coupons greater than 1,000.

PHP Snippet: Bulk Create Coupon Codes @ WordPress Dashboard

Note: in order to trigger the function, you must go to any WordPress admin URL with the “bb-gen-coupons” URL parameter e.g. /wp-admin/admin.php?bb-gen-coupons. This will make sure the coupons are generated.

/**
 * @snippet       Bulk Generate Coupons @ WordPress Admin
 * @how-to        businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-customization
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 6
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_action( 'admin_init', 'bbloomer_generate_coupons_admin' );

function bbloomer_generate_coupons_admin() {	
	if ( isset( $_REQUEST['bb-gen-coupons'] ) ) {		
		if ( ! current_user_can( 'manage_woocommerce' ) ) {
			wp_die( 'You do not have permission to bulk generate coupons' );
		}		
		$number_of_coupons = 100; // DEFINE BULK QUANTITY		
		for ( $i = 1; $i <= $number_of_coupons; $i++ ) {
			$coupon = new WC_Coupon();
			$random_code = bin2hex( random_bytes( 8 ) ); // 16 CHARS PHP 7+ ONLY
			if ( wc_get_coupon_id_by_code( $random_code ) ) continue; // SKIP IF CODE EXISTS 
			$coupon->set_code( $random_code );
			$coupon->set_description( 'Coupon generated programmatically (' . $i . '/' . $number_of_coupons . ')' );
			$coupon->set_discount_type( 'percent' );
			$coupon->set_amount( 20 );
			$coupon->set_minimum_amount( 1 );
			$coupon->set_individual_use( true );
			$coupon->set_product_categories( array( 54, 55 ) );
			$coupon->set_usage_limit_per_user( 1 );
			$coupon->save();			
		}	
	}
}

Where to add custom code?

You should place custom PHP in functions.php and custom CSS in style.css of your child theme: where to place WooCommerce customization?

This code still works, unless you report otherwise. To exclude conflicts, temporarily switch to the Storefront theme, disable all plugins except WooCommerce, and test the snippet again: WooCommerce troubleshooting 101

Related content

Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza. Follow @rmelogli

8 thoughts on “WooCommerce: How to Bulk Generate Coupons Without a Plugin

  1. This is so great! I love it.

    Is there any way to define one product it can only be used on.

    Also can it be set to be used once and then expire? And be used within a particular date range?

    Thanks a lot!
    Scott

    1. Scott, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

  2. Hello, the coupons generated using the guide do not have the “Promo Code Usage Limit” parameter, which is automatically set to infinite.

    1. I’m sure you can add an argument to set that limit

  3. Hi, code works fine, thanks.

    I was wondering how easy it could be to make the code all in capital and in this format: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

    Any clue how to do that easily?
    Thanks
    Matthias

    1. Well at the moment I generate random codes. If you modify this, you can give it the format you want:

      $random_code = bin2hex( random_bytes( 8 ) ); // 16 CHARS PHP 7+ ONLY
      
  4. Hi,

    Great article! What if you wanted to do just the opposite and bulk delete the coupon codes?

    1. Hello Josh, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

Questions? Feedback? Customization? Leave your comment now!
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If you are writing code, please wrap it like so: [php]code_here[/php]. Failure to complying with this, as well as going off topic or not using the English language will result in comment disapproval. You should expect a reply in about 2 weeks - this is a popular blog but I need to get paid work done first. Please consider joining the Business Bloomer Club to get quick WooCommerce support. Thank you!

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