A leg of ham has no fixed price: every piece weighs something different. This is how we built the Lujo Gourmet store so customers know what they will pay before they order.
Most online stores sell products with a unit price. One T-shirt costs the same as the one next to it. With products sold by weight, that is not the case.
Lujo Gourmet is the official importer and distributor of Cinco Jotas acorn-fed Iberian ham in Argentina. A leg weighs between 6 and 8 kilos, and each one has its own price. On top of that, prices are set in US dollars and customers pay in Argentine pesos.
Price per kilo in the catalogue
In the ham store, the leg and the shoulder show the price per kilo, in dollars and in pesos. It is the only price that can be compared across products before choosing a piece.
The leg and the shoulder show the price per kilo. The blister pack and the bar show their unit price.
The weight is chosen on the product page
In WooCommerce, each leg is a variable product. The attribute is the weight, from 6.25 to 8 kilos in 250-gram steps, and each weight has its own price.
When the customer chooses the weight, the product page shows the total for that piece. A 7-kilo leg, for example, cost 1,820 dollars on the day we took these screenshots.
Once the weight is chosen, the product page shows the total for the piece.
Why the total only appears on the product page. If the catalogue showed the price of the smallest piece, customers would face a higher total when they made their choice. Showing the price per kilo first and the total afterwards avoids that surprise.
The currency: dollars and pesos
Prices are entered in dollars. The cart converts them to pesos at the official Banco Nación exchange rate, which updates automatically.
This way the team does not have to touch the prices every time the dollar moves, and customers see in pesos exactly what they will pay.
The order summary in pesos and payment through Mercado Pago.
Payment
The customer builds the order, submits it and pays through Mercado Pago, using the order number as the reference. For a product of this value, the team can review each order before dispatching it.
What to decide before you start
Which products are sold by weight and which by unit.
Which weights are offered, and in what increments, based on the pieces that usually arrive.
Which currency the prices are set in and where the exchange rate comes from.
What happens if the piece that arrives weighs something different from the one ordered.
ProjectLujo GourmetThe finest ham in the world, with a brand to match.View the project
Joaquín Martinez Herrera 3 min read
