Making a large catalogue navigable.
WHY THE DEFAULT IS NOT ENOUGH
WordPress search matches titles and content crudely. A customer searching for a SKU, a partial name, or an attribute frequently finds nothing.
FILTERING
Attribute-based filters let customers narrow by size, colour or price. These require global attributes applied consistently.
Several plugins provide filter widgets. Choose one that filters without reloading the whole page, and test it on a phone.
SEARCH
A dedicated product search plugin improves relevance considerably: searching SKUs, descriptions, categories and attributes, with suggestions as the customer types.
PERFORMANCE
Filtering and search generate uncached database queries. On a large catalogue they are among the heaviest things your shop does.
Test with your real catalogue size, not with twenty sample products.
PRACTICAL ADVICE
Put the most useful filters first: price and the one attribute customers care about most
Show how many products match each option Check what customers actually search for, and make sure those terms return results
