WooCommerce is a widely used WordPress-based platform for small to medium size businesses. While it is a good platform but not suitable for large eCommerce. Because it does not have the scalability that large eCommerce requires, which is the fundamental reason for this limitation of WooCommerce.
WooComerce is unable to manage the volume of customers and orders that big businesses receive. Additionally, it lacks abilities like order management and enterprise-level security which is the main goal of big companies.
In this article, we will discuss the main reasons why WooCommerce is not recommended for large eCommerce.
Why WooCommerce is not Good for Large eCommerce?
Open-Source eCommerce Plugin
The wooCommerce plugin is written for a small website so it doesn’t scale and has performance issues. Finding the best eCommerce plugin is quite difficult because the market has both official and unauthorized varieties.
Unexpected results could happen from the simultaneous use of several eCommerce plugins. It is difficult to identify the underlying cause when this occurs.
Another issue is with payment gateways. If the gateway isn’t popular then using it is troublesome because it lacks adequate testing and could mysteriously stop functioning with an upgrade.
Complex Infrastructure
Handling an eCommerce site is totally different from a content-based website. Because of eCommerce’s dynamic nature, the AWS clusters can’t escape you from never-ending problems. All the planning will fail if your infrastructure can’t scale. Since eCommerce traffic is so unpredictable, there is a requirement for application optimization.
Complicated Admin UI
When you use third-party plugins and services together that are important to a fully functional eCommerce presence, WordPress & WooCommerce offer a complicated admin UI. This is not to say that these issues cannot be fixed; it just means that a thorough UX design effort is required to make the management interface usable.
Some of the work would require catering to the navigation and other default settings that plugins set up by default, which can make maintenance a never-ending task.
Database Structure
WooCommerce’s foundation relies on WordPress’ adaptable database structure, which is a wonderful way to quickly expand data models. But when it comes to any form of data manipulation or querying, it inherently fails.
The WooCommerce project is working on a proprietary data structure that will scale much better in order to remedy this. But until it’s done, it’s difficult to say how well this will work.
However, there is a danger because of the way WooCommerce add-ons or other parties interact with the data structure. This implies that utilizing a single poorly constructed plugin could have a detrimental effect on overall performance.
For instance, WooCommerce is now unable to provide any sort of reporting. Store administrators who neglect to specify an end date on their reports have brought down the large database clusters
Paid Extensions
Although WooCommerce is a free plugin, there are numerous commercial extensions available, some of which are quite important. Extensions for subscription services, inventory management, marketing, and reporting can be quite helpful, especially as your business expands, even though many of the others aren’t as immediately crucial.
Cons of Using WooCommerce for eCommerce
- It is a lengthy process to install add-ons to expand the functionality because the research takes time.
- It’s not like you just install and use it immediately like another online store service. Here you have to configure everything.
- To give your store a nice look, you have to configure all parts of WordPress including the right theme.
- If you want a good-looking store, it takes a lot of time.
Wrapping Up
WooCommerce is a first choice if you run a small business or just want to sell a few items on your current WordPress website. It is easy, handy, and free. It might not have the cutting-edge capabilities you require if you establish a large eCommerce site with thousands of products. For this, you need a customized solution. Moreover, if you have an issue with the WooCommerce shipping method, you can check our detailed guide on the WooCommerce shipping method not working. Do you run a store using WooCommerce? Do website owners need to be aware of anything else before installing and utilizing it on their website? Ask in the comments section below!