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        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 6
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */

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 PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file and CSS at the bottom of its style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files - if you need more guidance, please take a look at my guide "Should I Add Custom Code Via WP Editor, FTP or Code Snippets?" and my video tutorial "Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?"

Does this snippet (still) work?

Please let me know in the comments if everything went as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting.

If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 17,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates and 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance!

Need Help with WooCommerce?

Check out these free video tutorials. You can learn how to customize WooCommerce without unnecessary plugins, how to properly configure the WooCommerce plugin settings and even how to master WooCommerce troubleshooting in case of a bug!

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.

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

  1. 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
      
  2. 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!

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