Optimized a WooCommerce Website with 37,786 Products

The client’s WooCommerce store, featuring 37,786 products, was facing severe performance issues, especially on mobile devices. The homepage took over 30 seconds to load, resulting in:

• High bounce rates

• Cluttered UI with overwhelming product displays

• Low mobile conversion rates

Goals

• Drastically reduce load times

• Streamline navigation

• Improve user engagement

• Boost conversions

• Maintain a seamless and intuitive shopping experience

We conducted a comprehensive performance audit to identify bottlenecks, then implemented targeted optimizations:

Key Improvements

• Reduced homepage product display from 294 products (6 sections × 49 products) to 60 products (6 sections × 10 products) for a cleaner, more focused layout.

• Enabled lazy loading for images and product sections using the Intersection Observer API, deferring off-viewport content.

• Optimized product images by:

  • Converting to WebP format (reducing size by up to 80%)

  • Implementing responsive srcset for device-appropriate image delivery

• Simplified homepage design with:

  • A clean grid layout (5 products per row)

  • Intuitive CTAs like “View More” and “Shop Now”

  • Mobile-specific CSS adjustments for better UX

• Removed unused CSS and JavaScript by:

  • Minifying and combining assets

  • Deferring execution

  • Eliminating render-blocking resources

• Optimized database queries by:

  • Cleaning up transients, orphaned metadata, and unused entries

  • Implementing object caching for faster data access

• Preloaded critical assets like:

  • Fonts

  • Above-the-fold images

  → Resulting in significantly improved Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

• Performance Auditing
  Utilized tools like Google Lighthouse, GTmetrix, and browser developer tools to analyze and pinpoint performance bottlenecks.

• Lazy Loading
  Implemented using the Intersection Observer API to defer loading of off-viewport images and content, improving initial page speed.

• Image Optimization

  • Converted images to WebP format (up to 80% size reduction)

  • Used srcset for responsive image delivery across devices

• Caching & Code Optimization

  • WP Rocket: for minification, file combining, removal of unused CSS, and JS deferral

  • WP-Optimize: for cleaning up transients, orphaned metadata, and unnecessary database entries

  • Redis: enabled object caching for faster server response and reduced query load

• Platform
  Built on WooCommerce powered by WordPress

• Mobile homepage load time reduced from 30 seconds ➝ 1.2 seconds

• Google PageSpeed Score

  • Mobile: 20 ➝ 98

  • Desktop: 45 ➝ 100

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) dropped from 8.5s ➝ 2.4s

• Bounce rate decreased by 52%

• Average time on page increased by 70%

• Mobile conversions rose by 35%