Online store of household goods: wide range, clear navigation
The development of an online home goods store rests not on the number of items, but on the fact that the assortment is heterogeneous: the pan, the curtain, and the organizer do not have any common characteristics. Therefore, the catalog here is collected in groups, and each group receives its own set of filters. At the end of July 2026, we took measurements from live stores with a similarly diverse nomenclature: the catalog for 300 items gives the first response in 235 ms, for 5,830 - in 506.9 ms, and for 5,561 - in 801.2 ms. The size of the price does not decide anything here.
the number of filter sets, not the number of products
after a free audit
Price
30
Guarantee
days after project sign-off
the number of filter sets, not the number of products
What drives the estimate
300, 1,213, 5,561
Catalogs with a colorful assortment in our dimension
and 5,830 items
235-801.2
The first server response in this sample
ms at 143.6-350.4KB HTML
from zero to 3.3 records per address
Repeat the addresses in the site maps
25–45
Term
working days from the approval of the TK
50%
Conditions
down payment, two rounds of edits, 30 day warranty
Who it's for
Situations where this service delivers results
Scenario 1 of 4
You sell tableware, textiles and storage in one store
The three groups are three different sets of characteristics. In dishes, the buyer selects by volume and material, in textiles - by size and fabric composition, in storage - by dimensions and capacity. A common filter for all three groups does not narrow the selection at all, so we divide the catalog into groups even before design.
We'll review your situation in a free audit
Scenario 2 of 4
Orders come in direct mail, and the price lies with the supplier
The manager asks for the color, size and department number every time. The store transfers this to the checkout: the buyer himself chooses the option and branch of Nova Poshta and pays by card. This is not an increase in sales, this is the manual labor removed from each order.
Scenario 3 of 4
The assortment moves with the season and promotions
Textiles and decor change faster than tableware. Scheduled price import keeps prices and balances fresh without manual interruption. Fair margin: the exchange does not correct the account - if the balances with the supplier are inaccurate, the site will carefully show the inaccurate data.
Scenario 4 of 4
The site already exists, but the buyer does not reach the product
The pattern is repeated: one filter for the entire catalog and the product located in three sections under three addresses. For a garden tool store, we measured 4,236 sitemap entries for 1,300 unique addresses—an average of 3.3 occurrences for each.
What's included
Complete list of work and what you get as a result
Catalog by purpose and space: the buyer enters from the "for the kitchen" side, not from the brand name side
Your own set of filters for each product group — volume and material for dishes, size and composition for textiles, dimensions for storage
Card with material, dimensions, volume and completeness in separate fields: these same fields then feed the filter and comparison
Selections for buyer scenarios - for the kitchen, for the bathroom, for storage - as separate entry points from advertising and search
Price import with mapping of fields and updating of balances according to the schedule so that the manager does not interrupt the prices with his hands
Payment: LiqPay, WayForPay, Privat24, monobank, cash on delivery - exactly the ways your buyer pays
Delivery: Nova Poshta, Ukrposhta, courier, self-delivery and the free delivery threshold, visible in the shopping cart before checkout
Technical SEO: CNC, canonical for items in multiple sections, sitemap without duplicates
JSON-LD micromarkup: Store, Product, BreadcrumbList — without it, an extended snippet is basically impossible
Analytics: GTM, GA4, product viewing events, cart additions, and purchases — otherwise, there is nothing to optimize
Transfer: access, written instructions, passing the administration with your manager on a live order
Terms: 50% down payment, two rounds of edits at the design stage, warranty period of 30 calendar days
When this service isn't right
What's not included — so there are no surprises at delivery
Copywriting of product descriptions
Subject shooting of the assortment
Filling the catalog manually beyond the agreed volume
Post-launch advertising
Hosting, domain, acquiring
Free audit: we analyze a heterogeneous catalog
The main difficulty of this niche is the range in which the pot, the curtain and the organizer are next to each other. They do not have a common filter, and this is where stores often become inconvenient. The audit shows how to lay out the catalog so that the buyer gets to what he needs.
What we measure
Assortment groupsHow many product groups and what characteristics each one needs. This determines the number of sets of filters, and therefore the labor intensity.
Catalog volumeWe count on the site map and cross-check with regular search, we show the discrepancy. For reference, in the medium-sized catalogs we measured, that's between 3,145 and 5,830 items.
Duplicate addressesHow many entries of the site map belong to one address - in a heterogeneous catalog, the product is often located in several sections at once.
Speed and weightThe first response and the weight of HTML. Measured benchmarks for catalogs of this scale: 506.9–547.3 ms with 212.1–333.1 KB of markup.
Language versionsDo both make it to the sitemap. In the directory we measured, this was done neatly: separate site maps for each language, 6,234 addresses each.
Payment and deliveryHow many ways are connected and whether there is a threshold for free shipping - in a niche with a small average check, it directly affects the amount of the order.
What you get
Document by the numbers: catalog volume by two methods, duplicates, speed, HTML weight, payment and shipping.
A proposal for a catalog structure with sets of filters for each product group.
List of technical findings of the current site.
Conversation for 30–40 minutes on the document.
Timeline: 2-4 working days
Why is it free
Because in a diverse catalog, the volume of work is determined by filters, not the number of products, and you can see this only by looking at the real assortment.
What's next
After the audit — the amount and term by stages with dates, contract, invoice, report.
Short form: your contact and site URL
Contract, act and 30-day warranty
Every project gets a written contract: scope, deadlines, amount, acceptance procedure. After delivery — act and invoice, then 30 calendar days of warranty.
Sole proprietor & bank transfer
The contractor is a registered sole proprietor. Payment by invoice with closing documents.
Rights & access — yours
Code, design and materials transfer to you after full payment. Domain, hosting, repository and analytics are registered to you.
Client portal instead of email chains
During the project you get access to a portal: contracts, invoices, acts and project status in one place.
European clients
Among our work — projects for Norway, Bulgaria, Moldova and Spain.
Verifiable numbers
Every case in the portfolio comes with a link to a live site and a technical measurement.
Audit first, then pricing
There is no price list on the site intentionally: the scope of the same work differs multiples between clients.
We say "no" when unsure
If the task isn't ours or the deadline is unrealistic — we tell you upfront.
What affects the price
Why two seemingly identical tasks are priced differently
Number of product groupsEach group is its own set of characteristics, its own filter and its own card logic. Three groups and twelve groups give different projects even for the same number of goods.
Price statusA file with categories, characteristics and links to photos is loaded by import in hours. The price, where the characteristics are hidden in the text description or are in the PDF with a picture, is sorted by hand — it is a separate line of the estimate and a separate term.
Second languageNot only the translation of the interface is increasing, but also the amount of content to be maintained. Technically, you need a correct hreflang and a separate sitemap for each language, otherwise the two versions compete in serving each other instead of two audiences.
Payment and deliveryEach gateway is a setup, a test order, then a commission and a line in the reconciliation. Ten logos in the footer don't sell anything: what counts are the ways in which your segment pays.
DesignA ready-made theme with a selection of colors and blocks keeps the lower term limit. They add days for design and layout to their brand layouts — and this is where the schedule runs out more often than in programming.
Communication with the accounting systemOne-way import of prices and balances is basic work. Two-way exchange of statuses and reserves takes place in a separate stage: there is a window between exports, in which a position can be bought twice, and with each update of the CMS or accounting, the exchange has to be completed.
Process steps
Transparent stages with approval at every step
Total duration:25–45 days
1
Brief and terms of reference
3-5 working days
We analyze the assortment by groups, the processes of the manager, payment and delivery. The output is a TK, based on which the estimate is calculated and the work is accepted.
2
Map of product groups and filter sets
3-5 working days
The most important stage is precisely in this niche. For each group, we record which characteristics the buyer chooses, which fields will become a filter, and which will remain in the description. Here we decide how many selections there will be according to the scenarios.
3
Prototype and design
5-8 working days
Home, category with filter, card, cart, checkout. The card is drawn according to an already approved set of fields: it is more expensive to revise it after layout than to agree on this step.
4
Assembly of the store
8-13 working days
Theme layout, catalog, cart and checkout, admin roles, payment, shipping, and return pages, free shipping threshold in cart.
5
Price import and specification layout
4-8 working days
Mapping of fields, test filling, distribution of attributes by groups, comparison of the number of cards by two methods — site map and standard search — and schedule of updating prices and balances.
6
Integrations, analytics, transmission
2-6 working days
Payment and shipping with test order, GTM and GA4 with cart and purchase events, JSON-LD, canonical and sitemap, TTFB measurements and HTML weights, admin pass with manager.
Did not find your case?
Describe how it works on your side — we will tell you whether “Development of an online store for household goods” fits and what it means in your situation. No brief and no call: one question, one answer.
Technologies & integrations
What we build on and what it connects to
Stack
OpenCart 4.x is set by default, this is a branch that is being developed
OpenCart 3.x — when you need a module without assembly under 4.x; the choice is fixed in the TK before the start
PHP and MySQL — cheap hosting and any contractor after us; downside: PHP version to keep an eye on, we've seen warstores on 7.3.33 without support since December 2021
nginx, HTTP/2, HTTPS — the first response and parallel loading of resources
OCFilter with different sets of filters by group — limitation: filters produce a combinatorial number of addresses, so canonicals and indexing rules are prescribed immediately, not after the fact
Delayed loading of images — helps the photo catalog, but does not reduce the weight of the markup itself
Integrations
LiqPay
WayForPay
Privat24
monobank
postpaid
Nova Poshta
Ukrposhta
Meest Express
self pickup
Google Tag Manager
GA4
Google Ads
Meta Pixel
Instagram Shopping
Telegram
Viber
Catalog by groups versus one filter for the entire store
How this option differs from the alternative
One common filterOur approach
How the buyer narrows down the choicesfields common to all groups remain price and brand, the selection is almost never narrowed downcharacteristics of their group: the volume of the pot, the composition of the fabric, the dimensions of the box
Labor intensityless work at the start, post-launch processing is a separate projectdepends on the number of groups: each requires its own set of fields
Addresses produced by the filtercombinations of parameters enter the index with thousands of almost identical pagesindexing and canonical rules are prescribed before filling the directory
Product cardeverything in the description is in plain text - it is impossible to filtermaterial, dimensions, volume and completeness in separate fields, they feed the filter
New product groupthe new product type either does not fit into the existing fields or breaks the filtera set of fields is added, the directory is not reworked
Cases
Tasks and results in numbers — all metrics measured by us
supplier of a colorful assortment from China, about 6,000 items
Task
The catalog of products from completely different groups had to remain searchable — and in two languages at once.
Solution
OpenCart 3 for nginx, two language versions with a separate sitemap for each, BreadcrumbList, FAQPage, WebSite and SearchAction markup.
Result
5,830 products — the figure was arrived at by two methods: the standard search yielded 58 pages of 100 positions plus 30, the site map — 6,234 addresses in each of the two languages, a total of 12,468. TTFB 506.9 ms at 333.1 KB HTML. Measured on 07/31/2026.
garden tool shop
Task
The buyer searches both by purpose and by brand, so one item lives in several branches of the catalog at once.
Solution
OpenCart for HTTP/2 with HSTS, LiqPay, invoice, cash on delivery and payment in installments, Nova Poshta and Ukrposhta, feeds to Rozetka.
Result
About 1,213 cards and 70 categories. The sitemap weighs 1.18 MB: 4,236 records for 1,300 unique addresses, an average of 3.3 repetitions per address — the product is indexed under several paths at once. TTFB 625ms at 350.4KB HTML. Defect: there is no Product and BreadcrumbList markup on the main page, only Organization. Measured on 07/31/2026.
a store of irrigation systems with a small, uniform nomenclature
Task
Knees, couplings and tees in the photo do not differ - the buyer distinguishes them only by their characteristics.
Solution
OpenCart 3 on nginx with brotli compression, OCFilter in categories, tree with four levels of nesting, six shipping methods and three payments at checkout.
Result
300 products in 40 categories at 4 levels - traversal by pagination and combining the output of internal search on 18 requests gave the same set of identifiers, 0% discrepancy. TTFB 235ms median of five measurements, main weighs 143.6KB uncompressed and 22.5KB in brotli. Defects: /sitemap.xml gives 200 and 0 bytes, no analytics. Measurement 01.08.2026.
retail store of care products, more than 5,000 items
Task
A retail catalog with thousands of items is an example of how a technical base sinks without maintenance.
Solution
OpenCart, one language, microdata Organization and PostalAddress. Our external dimension, not our own development.
Result
5,561 products by regular search: 55 pages of 100 items and 61 for the last one. TTFB 801.2ms at 153.8KB HTML - markup is light and response is the slowest in the sample: the server's fault. Defects: /sitemap.xml returns 200 with 0 byte body, no carrier named on shipping page. Measured on 07/31/2026.
What we need from you
We can't start without this — best to prepare in advance
1Price with categories and characteristics. For different groups, the characteristics will be different - so be it, there is no need to reduce them to a common denominator.
2Photo of goods. For a small assortment, pictures of the supplier are enough; We do not take objective photography into the work.
3A list of characteristics for each group, by which the buyer actually chooses. This is the longest point on your end and the most important to the filter.
4Shipping rules and free shipping threshold, if you have one.
5Access to hosting and domain — or consent to have hosting selected by us.
6One person with the right to approve the directory structure. Without it, the stage of the group map stops.
If something is missing — let us know, we'll help you gather it or do it as a separate task.
FAQ
Most frequently asked questions — with concrete answers
We have very different products - how do you even make a filter here?
Not one filter for the entire store, but a separate set of characteristics for each product group. Dishes are selected by volume and material, textiles by size and fabric composition, storage by size and capacity. Trying to reduce everything to a single set leaves the price and brand in the filter, that is, makes it useless. It is the number of such sets, and not the length of the price, that determines the scope of work. A fair limit: on a catalog of several hundred items, complex filtering gives little - there a clear category tree works better.
The product is in several sections at once - is this a problem?
This becomes a problem when each path generates a separate address. The search engine bypasses copies instead of new pages, and signals are divided between duplicates: instead of one strong page, three weak ones are obtained, which also compete with each other for the same query. Treated canonical at the main address and a neat sitemap generator. The spread in our measurements is complete: a furniture catalog for 76 items has 88 addresses in the map and no repeats, a store for gardening tools has 4,236 entries for 1,300 addresses. I warn right away: after cleaning, the number of pages in the index drops for some time, and this is a normal course of events, not a deterioration.
We have two languages - how can we not breed duplicates?
Correct hreflang plus a separate sitemap for each language. A measured example of a neat implementation: a catalog of 5,830 products, two language versions, 6,234 addresses in each map. The opposite example from the same sample is a store whose sitemap included only a Ukrainian-language branch, while the Russian one, announced in hreflang, did not go there at all. A fair boundary: UI translation is not a go-to-market, local payment, shipping and support are required there, and machine translation of the catalog does more harm than good.
Does the free shipping threshold really raise the check?
It works when the buyer sees it before registration and understands how much is left to buy. Therefore, we withdraw the amount both in the basket and on the card. We will not name the specific increase in the average check: we do not have our own measurement of this indicator, and we will not pass off other people's numbers as our own. What can be said is that the mechanism is visible, and the stores that use it put a banner on the threshold of the main store. Separately about shipping: the retail store we measured did not list any carriers on the shipping page. It's not a small thing, it's a reason to abandon the cart.
How quickly can you fill the catalog?
It depends on the price, not on our speed. Automatic import fills thousands of items in hours - but only if the file has categories, characteristics and photo links. If they are not there, the filling becomes a separate service with its own term, and it is more honest to agree on this during the audit than to discover it in the middle of the project. In no case will the import do the layout of the characteristics by groups: it is manual work, and it takes 4-8 days.
How long does development take and what does the deadline depend on?
25–45 working days from approval of technical specifications, six stages. The two longest ones are the 8-13 day shop build and the product group map along with the feature breakdown. If the price is already structured by groups and the characteristics are listed in separate columns, the term runs along the lower limit. If not, time is not consumed by programming, but by decisions about what exactly the buyer chooses in each group - and you make these decisions, we only make them.
Buyers search with words - will a catalog search work?
We set up the standard OpenCart search and check it on real requests, and the WebSite and SearchAction markup gives a chance for a site search window right in the Google output - this is how it was done in the catalog for 5,830 items from our sample. A separate benefit that isn't often thought about: Internal search queries are the most accurate list of what you're being asked for and what you're not being asked for. Fair boundary: Search helps someone who already knows the name. The one who still chooses works with categories and filters, and in several dozens of positions search is almost never used.
What about the terms of payment for work and the guarantee?
Advance payment of 50% at the start, the rest — after acceptance before the start. Two rounds of edits at the design stage are included in the cost if the edits are within the approved TOR. Thirty calendar days after acceptance, we correct errors free of charge on our part - this is the warranty period according to the contract, and it does not cover new additions and the consequences of independent changes in the code by third parties. Contract, account, act.
Send the price and list of characteristics for each product group.
The answer is a catalog map with sets of filters for your groups, a list of technical findings and a work plan by stages with dates. If a simpler solution is enough for your assortment, you will hear about it in the first email.
From measured casesAbout 1,213 cards and 70 categories
There is no price list on the site on purpose: the same work differs several times over between two clients, and a “from” figure explains nothing in that case. First a free audit — we count your pages, duplicates and speed — then we name the sum and the deadline and fix both in the contract.