As a webshop owner, it’s tempting to import a huge amount of products into your webshop. More than 50,000 in some cases! But what if I told you that your webshop is literally about to explode? Let’s take a look at how your website infrastructure works and why it is not wise to import that many products into your WooCommerce store.
Server vs Database
Your website consists of two main components: a server and a database. The server entails your website files like PHP, JavaScript and CSS. On the other side you have your database where all the data is stored, like customers, orders and logs. In order to have both a server and a database, you need a hosting provider
Shared Hosting
With shared hosting, you share server resources with dozens of other websites. This can be problematic. Imagine John has 10,000 visitors and Mike has 100,000 visitors, then Mike’s website automatically slows down John’s website. This is not ideal for your webshop.
Managed VPS
If we look at managed VPS, you basically have your own server. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, which means that you have dedicated resources. This is a much better option because you don’t have to share resources with other websites, so the performance of your webshop is not affected and therefore performs better.
Examples of Hosting Providers
Some examples of shared hosting providers are STRATO, Mijn Domein and Vimexx. On the other hand, examples of managed VPS providers are Cloud86 and Hostinger. It is important to choose what suits you best.
Why you shouldn’t populate your database
The WordPress database has only one table for all important data, such as: your orders, customers, products, pages and so on. This is the wp_posts and wp_postmeta table. You can imagine that with so much different data, this database table will quickly fill up. This will affect the performance of your website and can lead to delays in processing certain tasks, such as updating products. In short, your website will no longer perform as it should and will continue to lag behind.
Technical and business considerations
Not only is it smart from a technical point of view to not import so many products, but also drom a business point of view. If you have more than 50,000 products in your webshop, you may not even know how to provide customer service anymore. When a customer has a specific question about a specific product, you want to be an expert in the products you offer.
So choosing a niche is smarter!
What should you do?
To be successful with dropshipping and WooCommerce, you should at least invest in a managed VPS with at least two CPUs. CPUs are the computing engines on your server and determine how fast it can handle tasks and processes. Also, make sure that you import far fewer than 50,000 products into your store. WordPress simply can’t handle more than 50,000 products, even if you have invested heavily in dedicated servers and other resources.
So, if you are looking for success in your webshop, choose quality over quantity. Invest in the right infrastructure and focus on a niche. This will help you not only provide better customer service but also grow your webshop.
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