Sales By Country includes an optional set of AI features that turn the country report into plain-language insight: a written summary of the selected period, ranked recommendations, a question box you can type into, and automatic alerts when a country moves away from its usual sales trend.
These features were added in version 1.6.8. If you do not see a Sales by Country tab under WooCommerce → Settings, you are on an earlier version and need to update.
What’s included
| Feature | What it does | Needs an API key? |
|---|---|---|
| AI Insights Summary | A short written overview of the period — totals, the countries driving them, and what changed. | Yes |
| Recommendations | Countries worth acting on, ranked by opportunity, each with a suggested action. | Partly — works without a key, using built-in wording |
| Ask a Question | Type a question in plain language and get an answer from your own report data. | Yes |
| Country Anomaly Alerts | Flags countries that spike, drop, go quiet, or appear for the first time. | No — runs entirely on your server |
To turn them on, see Setting Up AI. For exactly what leaves your site and what never does, see AI Data & Privacy.
Where it appears
All of these appear on the report itself, at Analytics → Sales by Country, stacked above the existing chart and country table. Each panel follows the date range, country type (billing or shipping) and currency you have selected, so the insight always matches the numbers on screen.
Panels hide themselves when they have nothing to say — for example, the anomaly panel does not appear when no country is deviating from its trend, and the Ask box only appears once a key is saved.
Who can use them
| Action | Required capability |
|---|---|
| Enable AI, save an API key, choose a model, test the connection | manage_woocommerce |
| See the insight summary and recommendations, and ask questions | manage_woocommerce |
| See country anomaly alerts | view_woocommerce_reports or manage_woocommerce |
In practice this means Administrators and Shop managers can use every AI feature. A user who can view reports but is not a shop manager sees anomaly alerts, but not the summary, recommendations or question box — which also means they cannot spend money against your API key.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| No AI panels appear on the report at all | Confirm you are on 1.6.8 or later, that Enable AI Insights is ticked at WooCommerce → Settings → Sales by Country, and that a key is saved for the selected provider. |
| There is no Sales by Country settings tab | Either the plugin predates 1.6.8, or your user lacks manage_woocommerce. |
| Panels are enabled but nothing generates | Your server may not be able to reach the provider. Outbound HTTP must be allowed — some managed hosts block it by default, and a security plugin or the WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL constant can disable wp_remote_post. Use Test connection on the settings screen to confirm. |
| Anomaly alerts are missing but the other panels work | Anomaly alerts appear only when a country is actually deviating, and need enough history to build a baseline. They are unaffected by the Enable AI Insights setting. |
| A colleague cannot see the panels you can | They likely have view_woocommerce_reports but not manage_woocommerce. See the capability table above. |