Guide · 7 min read
How to sell wallpaper by the roll on Shopify
Wallpaper is sold by the roll, but customers think in walls. They know their wall is 4 metres wide and 2.4 metres high; they don't know how many rolls that takes, especially once the pattern has to line up. Here's how the number of rolls is worked out, why the pattern repeat matters so much, and how to let your product page do the sum for them.
Three ways to sell wallpaper
1. Sell rolls and let customers work it out
The product is one roll, and customers type how many they want. It needs nothing extra, but it leaves the hardest part to the customer. Many forget the pattern repeat, order too few, and then can't get more from the same print batch. Others play safe, order too many, and send rolls back.
2. A rolls table in the description
A table of "wall width × height → rolls" is better than nothing. It can't cover every wall, though, and it has to be different for every pattern repeat, so it is usually written for the smallest repeat and comes out short on the big ones.
3. A roll calculator on the product page
The customer types their wall width and height. The calculator uses this paper's roll size and pattern repeat, works out the rolls, and adds them to the cart with the wall size on the order. This is what the rest of this guide sets up.
Working out the rolls
Take a wall 400 cm wide and 240 cm high, and a standard roll of 53 cm × 10.05 m. The wall needs 400 ÷ 53 = 7.5, so 8 drops. Without a pattern, each drop is the height plus 10 cm for trimming, 250 cm, so a roll gives 4 drops and the wall takes 2 rolls. With a 64 cm pattern repeat, each drop is rounded up to the next matching point, 256 cm, a roll only gives 3 drops, and the same wall takes 3 rolls. Try your own:
Set the pattern repeat to 0 to see the difference it makes. Large repeats on narrow, tall walls can add a whole roll.
The rules that prevent short orders
A few rules turn the basic sum into one you can trust:
- Round every step up. Part of a drop is still a drop, and part of a roll is still a roll. Only the drops per roll round down, because a short offcut can't be used.
- Add a trim allowance. About 5 cm at the top and bottom of each drop, so 10 cm in all, gives room to trim to an uneven ceiling or skirting.
- Use each paper's own repeat. The repeat belongs to the design, so it should be stored on each product, not typed by the customer. Offset (drop) matches waste a little more than straight matches; a common rule is to add half a repeat per drop.
- Don't subtract doors and windows. Small openings rarely save a whole drop, and customers who subtract them are the ones who run short.
- Suggest one spare roll. Rolls are printed in batches whose colour can differ slightly, so a roll bought later may not match. A spare covers mistakes and future repairs.
Setting it up with a calculator
Here's how it looks with MeasureLab, the calculator app we make. The same ideas apply to any calculator app.
- Store each paper's roll size and pattern repeat on the product, as product metafields (for example custom.pattern_repeat in cm). Most wallpaper shops already keep this for the product page.
- Open the product in MeasureLab and add two inputs: Wall width and Wall height, in cm or inches, with sensible minimums and maximums.
- Read the repeat from the product in the Product data card, so one calculator works for every design and each one uses its own repeat.
- Price the rolls with a formula: drops needed from the width, drops per roll from the roll length and the height rounded up to the repeat, then rolls × the price per roll. The price per roll can come straight from the product's own Shopify price, so you keep managing prices in Shopify.
- Add a "How to measure" guide beside the size boxes: measure each wall at its widest and tallest point, and add the walls together.
- Publish, then place the calculator block on your product page in the theme editor.
The order then shows the wall size the customer typed and the number of rolls it worked out, and the price is checked again at checkout.
Questions
How many rolls of wallpaper do I need?
Divide the wall width by the roll width and round up: that's the drops you need. Divide the roll length by the drop length and round down: that's the drops per roll. The drop length is the wall height plus about 10 cm, rounded up to the pattern repeat. Rolls = drops needed ÷ drops per roll, rounded up.
Why does the pattern repeat change the number of rolls?
Every drop has to start at the same point in the pattern so the strips line up. With a large repeat, each drop is cut longer than the wall to reach the next matching point, so each roll gives fewer drops. In the example above, a 64 cm repeat turns 2 rolls into 3.
Should I subtract doors and windows?
Usually not. Small openings rarely save a whole drop, and customers who subtract them often run short. Calculate the full wall and let the spare cover mistakes.
Why should customers order all their rolls at once?
Wallpaper is printed in batches, and the colour can vary slightly between batches. Rolls bought later may not match, so it's worth ordering everything, plus one spare, together.
Can I sell custom-size murals the same way?
Murals printed to the exact wall are usually priced by area instead: width × height × a rate per m², often with a minimum. The square metre guide covers that.