How to set up a product catalog in WooCommerce: a simple guide

Why You Should Pay Attention to the WooCommerce Catalog

The catalog is not just a page with a list of products. It’s a tool that either leads the buyer to the cart or leaves them frustrated. The better the logic of categories, visual representation of products, and navigation are thought out, the higher the conversions and average spend.

According to Nielsen Norman Group, users decide whether to stay on a site or leave within the first 10 seconds. If, during those seconds, they have to search for filters or figure out what the product grid looks like, the chances of retaining them drop rapidly. WooCommerce allows flexible catalog customization, but this flexibility is like a knife: it must be skillfully used.

Here are the tasks a well-configured catalog performs:

• Guides the user to the desired product in 2–3 clicks.
• Reduces the number of bounces and abandoned sessions.
• Increases the time spent on the site.
• Improves SEO through proper structure of categories and URLs.

Successful eCommerce projects give this section of the site maximum attention even before the start of sales. For example, ZARA uses an automated sorting system by categories and popularity, dynamically updating the product grid based on demand. This approach allows better control of customer transitions from the homepage to conversion.

Preparing for Setup: What You Need to Know in Advance

Before starting to create products and catalog structure, it is important to ensure that all the basics are correctly set up. WooCommerce allows for a lot — but that’s why it’s easy to make mistakes at the start. Therefore, it’s important to take a closer look at how the preparation for settings is done. Our task is to provide a detailed guide on how to proceed.

Selecting a WooCommerce-Compatible Theme

A theme is not just a design. It is the foundation that determines how the catalog will look, how quickly the pages will load, and how convenient it will be for users to work with filters, categories, and product cards.

When choosing a theme, consider:

• Compatibility with the latest version of WooCommerce.
• Optimization for mobile devices.
• Availability of built-in templates for the store page.
• Loading speed (important for SEO and UX).
• Ability to customize the grid, product cards, catalog header.

Popular themes for WooCommerce that work well with the catalog:

• Astra — lightweight, fast, supports catalog expansion.
• OceanWP — a versatile theme with extensive customization options.
• Flatsome — one of the most popular for online stores, features an element builder.

It is important to test the theme before implementation, especially in a large store. Install a demo version, check how the catalog looks, whether it lags on mobile, and how the filters work. Worse than an old theme — only a new one that broke everything.

Basic WooCommerce Settings

After installing the WooCommerce plugin, you need to go through the basic configuration. This is a foundation, without which the catalog simply will not function correctly. The installation is accompanied by a visual wizard, but some parameters are often skipped.

Here is what you must configure:

1. Store location — affects taxes, shipping, and currency.
2. Default currency — for Ukrainian entrepreneurs, it’s most often hryvnia or dollar.
3. Measurement units (weight, dimensions) — essential for filters and deliveries.
4. Store pages — WooCommerce creates them automatically, but it’s worth checking (cart, checkout, account).
5. Product types — simple, variable, virtual, downloadable.
6. Shipping methods and taxes — especially important for correct display at checkout.

Once the foundation is set up, you can move on to the most interesting part — creating products and the catalog structure. It’s like the foundation of a house: without it, there’s no point in discussing furniture or wall colors.

Product Creation: Which Data is Critically Important

A product card is not a questionnaire, but a sales tool. Whether a customer clicks the “Add to Cart” button depends on which fields are filled out, how the information is structured, and how clearly everything is presented. It’s necessary to fill in only what really influences the buyer’s decision. The key is the balance between sufficient informativeness and simplicity of presentation.

WooCommerce allows adding many attributes, but if the product card is overloaded, the user simply won’t finish reading it. According to Baymard Institute statistics, over 56% of users leave the product page if the description is confusing or too short. Thus, the focus should be on structure.

Mandatory elements of a product card

To make a product card sell, it must include the following mandatory blocks:

• Product Name — clear, without unnecessary adjectives like “super”, “new”.
• Price — clearly stated, preferably with the old price if there’s a discount.
• Main Image and Gallery — at least 3 photos from different angles, of good quality.
• Description — short (up to 500 characters) + extended with technical specifications.
• Category — for SEO and convenient navigation.
• SKU (Article Number) — useful for inventory and orders.
• Product Condition — new, sale, promotion (via badges).

Adding a limited number of “selling” elements also works: promotion timer, stock counter, reviews. But they should be introduced sparingly — no more than one additional block on the card.

How to Work with Variable Products

One product, but several variants — standard for eCommerce. Variable products in WooCommerce allow you to avoid duplication and create a neat, flexible catalog. However, newcomers often create a separate product for each color or size. This confuses buyers, complicates management, and harms SEO.

Creating a variable product involves a basic template + variations. For example, you sell hoodies. You have 3 colors (black, white, gray) and 4 sizes (S, M, L, XL). WooCommerce allows you to create one card with all these combinations instead of 12 separate products.

How to properly implement variable products:

• Create attributes (colors, sizes) in Product → Attributes.
• Assign them to the appropriate products.
• Activate “Variable product” in the product type.
• Create combinations — manually or automatically.
• Add a unique price, image, SKU for each variation if needed.

This approach allows you to easily manage stock availability, update prices and discounts, filter products by colors and sizes. Convenient for buyers and saves a lot of time for the owner.

Categories and Filters: How to Make the Catalog Convenient

When there are more than ten products on the site — categories and filters are a must. It’s not just about convenience, but also about saving the shopper’s time. When a person sees a logical structure and quickly finds what they need — they not only buy but also return. A catalog without structure is like a warehouse without shelves: something’s there, but it’s hard to find.

WooCommerce allows you to create categories, subcategories, tags, and attributes. All these need to be used systematically. Categories are responsible for the main site structure. For example: “Men’s Clothing” → “Jackets” → “Winter”. Separate pages with SEO optimization can be created for each of these to improve indexing.

Structure of Categories and Subcategories

To ensure the user doesn’t get lost in the branches, it’s important to adhere to a maximum of three levels of nesting. The deeper the immersion — the greater the chance the user will leave. The structure should be equally understandable on both computer and mobile.

Rules for Building an Effective Category Structure:

• Main categories — a maximum of 7–9, otherwise the menu looks overloaded.
• Category names — clear and simple: not “Trendy Items of the Season” but “Dresses”.
• Subcategories logically stem from the parent ones: “Accessories” → “Watches”.
• Use descriptions for main categories (100–150 words) with keywords.

Follow these rules to efficiently structure categories and subcategories.

Setting filters for users

Filters are a tool that helps shorten the path to purchase. If set correctly, users only see relevant products and don’t waste time on unnecessary items. The most commonly used filters are by price, color, size, brand, and product availability.

WooCommerce doesn’t have a flexible filtering system as standard, but it’s easily added with plugins. The best plugins for this are WOOF – WooCommerce Products Filter, YITH Ajax Product Filter, Filter Everything. They allow creating smart filters that work quickly and look neat.

Key principles when setting up filters:

• Use only attributes that are truly needed (do not create a “shoelace length” filter).
• Avoid excess options — no more than 5–7 main filters on a page.
• Add the ability to combine filters without reloading the page (ajax filtering).
• Check the appearance on mobile — filters often look terrible or don’t work at all.

Strong structure plus smart filters equals a powerful sales tool that works on its own. There’s nothing better for eCommerce than a site that helps sell instead of interfering.

Product display on the main page, in categories, and in search

Users don’t read websites — they scan them. And it’s the visual display of products that determines whether a visitor will click on a card or close the tab. Therefore, the placement, grid, and logic of the display should work like a storefront in a store — captivating at first glance. A different approach is needed for the main page, categories, and search, but everything should be part of a single system.

In WooCommerce, you can manage product display through theme settings, special Gutenberg blocks, or plugins. Elements like “Featured Products,” “Best Sellers,” or “New Arrivals” are often used on the main page — this allows visually managing traffic and stimulating sales of specific positions.

How to set the appearance of the product grid

The product grid is not just a set of cards but a navigation tool. It should be adaptive, fast, and understandable even at first glance. Minimalism works better than graphic chaos.

Here’s how to make product display as effective as possible:

• Use an even grid (3 or 4 columns for desktop, 2 for mobile).
• Limit the amount of information in the preview: name, price, action button.
• Add hover effects to display an additional photo or a “Quick View” button.
• Use badges: “Hit”, “New”, “Discount” — they work on emotion.
• Use lazy-load to speed up loading for long lists.

This approach will help you achieve significant results in engaging customers.

Product Sorting — What the Buyer Sees

Proper sorting is when the items first in line are those that the user most frequently searches for. If they’re looking for a winter jacket and see beach shorts — the sale won’t happen. WooCommerce allows you to manage sorting: by default, by price, rating, novelty, popularity. But you need to decide which option will be the starting one.

Users are accustomed to certain logic: first new items or popular ones, then — filters. It’s important to give the possibility to change the sorting independently, but also correctly set the priority by default.

Key tips for sorting:

• Don’t leave “by default” if it shows items without a system.
• Set sorting by popularity or new items as the default.
• Add sorting by ascending and descending price — it’s convenient for the budget segment.
• Check sorting in search: it should consider relevance, not just the alphabet.

After changing the sorting logic from “default” to “most popular”, the Blue Tomato store saw a 12% increase in conversions in categories where users were previously more likely to stop browsing after the first 5 products.

When product display is done properly, the client feels like you’ve “hit the mark”. This builds trust in the site even before the first order. Because when it’s convenient, there’s no desire to look for another seller.

SEO Optimization of the Catalog for Search Engines

WooCommerce out of the box provides decent starting opportunities for SEO, but the catalog won’t reach the top positions on its own — you need to work on it. Smart structure, proper titles, clean URLs, and speed — these are the four pillars that elevate you in Google’s results. If you don’t pay attention to them from the start, you’ll end up paying for ads for what could have been done for free.

In the catalog, each category is a potential page that can be ranked. But only if it is optimized. Most entrepreneurs make one of two mistakes: either they don’t add descriptions to categories, or they write generic template texts. Google ignores them. But pages with descriptions, keywords, and a clear structure, on the contrary, get indexed and drive traffic.

How to Optimize URLs, Titles, and Meta Tags of Products

Each product, each category, each tag is a separate page. And if they have awkward URLs or duplicate titles, the chances of getting to the top are minimal. But this isn’t a problem if you act systematically.

Here are the basic principles of SEO settings for the WooCommerce catalog:

• The URL should be short and readable: site.com/jackets/winter, not site.com/product-category/123.
• Category headings — with a keyword: for example, “Winter jackets for men.”
• Meta description — up to 160 characters, with a call to action or advantage: “Buy winter jackets at affordable prices. Free delivery across Ukraine.”
• Product title — unique, not just “Black jacket M”, but “Men’s winter jacket, black, size M.”
• H1 on the category page — unique, without repeating words from the Title.

Follow these principles to optimize the catalog.

Microdata and loading speed

Many focus only on keywords, forgetting the technical side of SEO, which is critically important. If a site takes 5 seconds to load, Google will not promote it. Without microdata, the search engine simply doesn’t understand what content you’re presenting. WooCommerce allows adding schema.org microdata; ignoring this can cost you rankings.

Microdata helps display prices, ratings, and availability in search results, making snippets more noticeable. Speed affects not only positioning but also behavioral factors: users won’t wait more than 3 seconds.

What needs to be done technically:

• Install an SEO plugin (e.g., Rank Math or Yoast SEO) to generate meta-data and sitemaps.
• Add schema.org markup for products (via a plugin or theme code).
• Enable caching and image optimization (e.g., WP Rocket, Smush, LiteSpeed Cache).
• Use a CDN to speed up loading (Cloudflare or BunnyCDN).
• Test the site in PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals—Google now ranks with UX metrics in mind.

Without technical optimization, SEO remains just a theory. But with the right optimization, the catalog works like a magnet for search bots and customers.

Examples of Catalog Setup from Practice

No theory works without live examples. It is cases that allow us to see how WooCommerce catalogs transform business in real life. Some increase sales through simple structures, others through personalized filters. The main thing is not to copy mindlessly but to take the logic behind the decision. From there, adapt it to your product, niche, and audience.

In this section—two cases of brands successfully utilizing the potential of WooCommerce catalogs. One through category examples, the other through search and UX interface.

Case Study of Gymshark: How Catalog Structure Impacted UX

Gymshark is a British sportswear brand that quickly grew from a garage to million-dollar volumes. In the early stages, the catalog consisted of chaotic categories such as ‘new arrivals,’ ‘favorites,’ ‘trending colors.’ Everything looked stylish but was confusing.

After a complete redesign, they conducted a user behavior audit, tested navigation on various devices, and implemented a linear-functional structure: “Women” / “Men” → “Clothing” → “Jackets,” “T-shirts,” etc. The categories received clear SEO titles, descriptions, and header photos.

Results:

• Reduction in bounce rate by 28%.
• Increase in conversion by 16% among mobile traffic.
• Improvement in SEO rankings of categories on Google for queries like “mens gym hoodies” and similar.

After implementing the new navigation, Gymshark noted that the average time spent on the category page almost doubled — from 42 to 79 seconds. This is a clear signal: the catalog started to “engage” the user.

What IKEA did in WooCommerce for search optimization

Despite its scale, IKEA uses WooCommerce for some local projects. This allows testing new products or working with a limited assortment — for example, in experimental online zones for specific regions.

In one of these projects, the company faced a problem: users got lost in the search. There were many similar names (“white table,” “white dining table,” “table white 120 cm”), but the WooCommerce algorithm without improvements did not account for context, and relevance suffered.

The team implemented the following solutions:

• Installed the AJAX Search for WooCommerce plugin, which suggests results even before the query is completed.
• Added autocomplete and suggestions based on popular queries.
• Organized product names according to a uniform template: category + key feature + size.

After this:

• The time to click through from search reduced from 11 to 5 seconds.
• The number of completed sessions through search increased by 21%.
• Bounce rates decreased — users did not close the page after a poor search result.

The IKEA team noted that it was the automated search suggestions that influenced the completed sessions metric. Customers did not have to enter the full product name — the suggestion appeared before the third word. This shortened the path to purchase.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Even experienced WooCommerce users sometimes make the same mistakes. Beginners — even more so. Mistakes in catalog settings often seem trivial but collectively decrease efficiency significantly. When a visitor cannot find the right size, when the ‘Buy’ button disappears off-screen, or when filters don’t work on mobile — you lose money without even noticing.

The worst part is that many mistakes become apparent only after you’ve already lost traffic or sold less than you could have. But all are fixable. And often do not require additional costs, just attention and a little time.

Excessive detail or lack of it

When a product card turns into an encyclopedia or, conversely, has just one line — both options are bad. Too much technical information is intimidating and unread. Too little — causes distrust. The task is to find a balance.

Common mistakes:

• Huge, unstructured description (wall of text).
• Lack of features or incomplete product information.
• Repeated product names in different categories.
• Non-unique descriptions copied from supplier websites.
• Using jargon or complex language without necessity.

All these mistakes result in potential customers being scared away and turning to competitors, where everything is clearer and more transparent.

Neglecting the mobile version of the catalog

More than half of purchases are now made via smartphones. And WooCommerce in its standard theme is not always optimized for mobile. If filters don’t open, buttons are displaced, and the grid breaks — the user simply leaves. They don’t care why it’s like that — they need to buy quickly. This is not only a matter of design but also navigation convenience.

Different accents are needed for the mobile version. Photos should load quickly, filters should be hidden in an intuitive menu, and buttons should be large and accessible without zooming. It’s important not to rely solely on theme adaptability — everything needs to be checked manually.

Key tips:

• Check the catalog display on smartphones of different sizes.
• Optimize image sizes — no more than 100 Kb for previews.
• Use mobile filter menus that open with a swipe or button.
• Bring CTA buttons (add to cart) higher on the screen.
• Avoid horizontal scrolling—it decreases conversions.

The mobile version isn’t just a downsized copy of the desktop. It’s a separate reality where every second and every click counts. And here, the winner is the one who thinks of the user first.

Tools for Automating Catalog Management

When you have 20 products, manual updates are manageable. But once your catalog grows into the hundreds, manual work becomes chaos. That’s where automation tools come in. They save hours, reduce human error, and let you focus on growth — not repetitive tasks.

WooCommerce is a flexible system that supports import/export, syncing, scheduled updates, and even database integration. But for everything to run smoothly, you need to pick the right plugins and know how to configure them properly.

Plugins for Product Import/Export

If you need to upload products in bulk or regularly update inventory, manually editing every item becomes exhausting. The better solution is using CSV files and automation — especially relevant for dropshipping or working with large suppliers.

Top import/export tools:

• Product CSV Import Suite — the official WooCommerce plugin with full support for variations and custom fields.
• WP All Import — one of the most flexible tools, works with any fields and supports scheduled updates.
• WooCommerce Store Exporter — ideal for quickly exporting catalogs, generating price lists, or sharing data with partners.

CSV format makes it easy to edit your catalog in Excel or Google Sheets, then import it back with just a few clicks. For large stores, this is an essential feature.

After switching to regular automated imports via WP All Import, Parts Town reduced inventory update time from 6 hours per day to just 40 minutes per week. This allowed them to add 15,000 new SKUs in just 2 months.

ERP or CRM Integration

Real business begins when your online store is connected to the backend. This enables synchronization of orders, stock levels, pricing, statuses, and even logistics. In large companies, you simply can’t operate without ERP — you need full visibility: what sold, when, how much, where delays happen, and which products are underperforming.

WooCommerce can be integrated with dozens of ERP and CRM systems — either directly, via Zapier, API, or with dedicated plugins. The complexity depends on the system, but the benefits always justify the effort.

Popular integration methods:

• Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat) — ideal for simple connections between WooCommerce, Google Sheets, Pipedrive, Bitrix24, etc.
• WooCommerce ZapERP, TradeGecko (now QuickBooks Commerce) — full-scale ERP connectors for inventory, purchasing, and customer analytics.
• Bitrix24 WooCommerce Integration — plugin for syncing orders, clients, and deal statuses.
• Custom API — for tailored solutions and complex business models.

When all systems speak the same language, your business breathes freely. The catalog becomes not just a product list, but a vital part of a powerful, streamlined sales engine.

BigBuy, which operates across 60+ marketplaces, integrated WooCommerce with SAP Business One ERP via API. This allowed them to unify inventory, procurement, and orders in a single system — and cut manual work by 70%.

Summary and Practical Recommendations

A product catalog in WooCommerce isn’t just a “drawer full of items” — it’s the real decision-making hub for the customer. Its structure, content, sorting logic, and speed all influence whether the customer hits “Buy” or walks away to a competitor. A store owner should think not like a webmaster, but like a sales director: every catalog element should drive revenue.

Practical steps for launching a WooCommerce catalog:

• Choose a theme that supports catalog customization and mobile responsiveness.
• Enable variable products to avoid duplication and provide more flexibility.
• Create a logical category structure with descriptions, SEO titles, and attributes.
• Add filters for faster search — especially important for mobile.
• Optimize all catalog pages for SEO: URL, meta tags, schema markup.
• Set up product import via CSV or plugins to allow for scaling.
• Sync the store with your CRM/ERP for easier order management.

So, we’ve covered the full journey — from initial setup to SEO optimization and backend integration. With this foundation, a store owner can build not just a catalog, but a scalable, high-performing commercial system. Even with just 10 products now, the right structure lays the groundwork for years of growth.

According to BuiltWith analytics, as of 2025, over 8% of all online stores worldwide run on WooCommerce. This is the largest market share among all CMS platforms, making WooCommerce not just popular, but a true standard in small and medium business e-commerce.

Conclusion: A Catalog That Sells Is a Choice, Not a Coincidence

A well-configured catalog doesn’t appear by accident. It’s the result of dozens of decisions made during setup, configuration, and testing. And within those decisions lies the key to increasing sales. WooCommerce provides the tools, but it’s the entrepreneur who decides whether to turn them into a business engine — or leave their potential untapped.

A catalog always reveals how well the owner understands their customer. When the product grid is clear at a glance, filters work flawlessly, and product names aren’t riddles — the shopper feels cared for. And that’s the moment trust forms — the first step toward loyalty and repeat sales.

Ask yourself: would it be convenient for you to shop in your own store? If the answer is “yes” — you’re on the right track. If not — it’s time to open WooCommerce and bring order to it. Your future profit lies hidden in the lines of code, category names, and product descriptions. Don’t postpone — optimize your catalog to make it sell.

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