Typical situation: a store on OpenCart slows down with a catalog of 50,000 products, and migration to Shopify is impossible due to specific custom attributes. Craft CMS is an open-source content management system on Yii2, and its commercial plugin Craft Commerce allows creating a catalog of any complexity without template limitations. Unlike monolithic platforms, we don't impose a theme or structure: everything is built through a flexible system of fields, sections, and Twig templates, including headless mode. Over five years, we have deployed more than 30 stores on Craft Commerce, and none required core rewrites. Operational cost savings for maintaining such a store amount to 20–30% compared to similar solutions. Get a consultation for your project.
Problems We Solve
The first problem is N+1 queries when displaying a catalog with variants. If you have 1,000 products, each with 5 variants (size, color), a naive query generates 5,001 SQL queries. This leads to a TTFB of over 3 seconds. We use Eager Loading via with() and withTransforms() for images, reducing the number of queries to two. This mechanism is built into the core and requires no additional plugins.
The second problem is attribute flexibility. Standard platforms do not allow creating custom fields for each product type. In Craft Commerce, each Product Type has its own Field Layout, which allows storing different sets of characteristics for clothing, electronics, and food in a single catalog. For example, shoes need size, width, material, while laptops need processor, RAM, disk space. This is implemented without hacks.
The third problem is cart performance. With a large number of Line Items, session storage becomes slow. We move the cart to Redis and configure the Queue for background tasks. Compare storage options:
| Storage Method | Performance | Setup Complexity |
|---|---|---|
| PHP Sessions | Low (up to 1,000 Line Items) | Minimal |
| Redis | High (up to 100,000 Line Items) | Medium |
| MySQL | Medium | Low |
For projects with many concurrent users, Redis is the optimal choice. Implementing Redis costs roughly $50 per month for a small instance and reduces database server load by up to 40%.
Why Craft Commerce is Better Than OpenCart for Complex Catalogs
OpenCart does not support product variants as independent elements—each variant requires a separate product. Craft Commerce uses Product Variants, each of which is an element with its own SKU, price, and stock. This simplifies managing thousands of size combinations. Compare in the table:
| Criterion | OpenCart | Craft Commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Product Variants | Flat table | Nested elements |
| Custom Fields | Only for the entire product | For each product type |
| GraphQL API | Third-party plugin | Native (Craft Pro) |
| Multi-currency | Additional modules | Built-in |
| Promotion Management | Basic discount | Sales + Discounts |
How We Do It: Stack and Config
We use the current stack: PHP 8.3, MySQL 8, Redis, Nginx. Typical .env configuration:
CRAFT_ENVIRONMENT=production SECURITY_KEY=256-bit-random-key DB_DRIVER=mysql DB_SERVER=127.0.0.1 DB_PORT=3306 DB_DATABASE=craftstore DB_USER=craftuser DB_PASSWORD=securepassword For headless scenarios, we integrate Next.js via Apollo Client. Example product query:
query ShopProducts($type: [String], $limit: Int, $offset: Int) { products(type: $type, limit: $limit, offset: $offset) { id title slug variants { id sku price stock ... on clothing_Variant { size { label value } color { label value } } } } } Work Process
We break setup into stages, each with clear artifacts:
- Analysis — audit of the current catalog, identification of business rules (taxes, shipping, discounts).
- Design — development of Product Types structure, variant matrix, attribute map.
- Implementation — installation of Craft Commerce, configuration of Product Types, integration of Stripe gateway, writing custom modules (controllers, validation).
- Testing — verification of all checkout scenarios, load testing of the cart.
- Deployment and support — configuration of Redis cache, monitoring via New Relic, handover of access to Control Panel and documentation.
Implementation Details of Custom Module
For specific business logic (e.g., discount calculation by formula), we create a module on Yii2 that is connected via config/app.php. This allows extending functionality without modifying the Craft Commerce core.
What's Included in the Work
We deliver:
- Documentation — architecture description, instructions for filling the catalog.
- Access — to Control Panel, server, repository.
- Training — a 2-hour session for content managers.
- Support — 30 days of post-production warranty, including bug fixes.
Order Craft Commerce setup and get a ready-made online store with optimized performance.
How to Set Up Multi-Currency Without Headache?
Craft Commerce Pro supports multi-currency out of the box. Simply set rates in config/commerce.php:
'paymentCurrencies' => [ 'USD' => ['rate' => 1], 'EUR' => ['rate' => 0.92], 'RUB' => ['rate' => 90.5], ], And add a currency switcher on the frontend. All prices, discounts, and taxes are recalculated automatically. This feature alone can increase international sales by 15–25%.
Estimated Timelines and Cost
- Basic installation + 1 Product Type + checkout: 1 to 2 weeks, starting at $3,000.
- Full-featured store with 3–5 product types, discounts, multi-currency: 4 to 6 weeks, starting at $8,000.
- Headless store (Craft GraphQL + Next.js frontend): 6 to 10 weeks, starting at $15,000.
- Migration from another platform: 4 to 8 weeks, depending on catalog size, starting at $5,000.
A typical project costs 2–3 times less than a similar one on Magento, with an average saving of $10,000–$20,000. The investment pays off in 6–12 months. To evaluate your project, write to us — we will analyze the architecture and offer a solution with quality guarantee and two-year support.