Actisafe
Catalog consolidation: 400-page site collapsed into 20 structured product groups with B2B gated pricing.
Desktop and mobile referencesOperatorIndustrial safety and storage supplier
Inherited Structure400+ SKUs scattered across brittle templates
Risk ClassRevenue-critical (catalog scale failure)
Observed Failure ModeAdmin paralysis and layout breaks on basic price edits
TrajectoryNonlinear admin cost, pricing errors, and revenue risk under growth
Continuing with one-page-per-SKU would have compounded breakage and turned routine price changes into revenue risk. Control required collapsing the catalog into structured product groups.
Template CouplingWooCommerce templates tightly coupled to page-builder layouts over time
Scale FrictionEach new SKU increased admin friction instead of scaling linearly
Storage Bloat2GB server storage limit triggered by unattached media duplication
Access ParadoxProduct specs locked behind login, but client needed "teaser" visibility
Catalog CollapseConsolidated 400+ products into ~20 variable product groups
Custom Query EngineImplemented fp-product-query-core to bypass heavy Woo queries for filtering
Guest Mode LogicCreated custom "Guest Mode": Price HTML swapped for Login link ($0.00)
Freight DecouplingDecoupled freight data from layout to ensure accurate shipping calcs
The Problem
Standard WooCommerce patterns and plugins would have increased fragility, query cost, and long-term maintenance risk when handling complex B2B gating and flattened variations.
The Fix
Built a bespoke query engine (fp-product-query-core) to drive this interface. Exposes child variations as first-class citizens, allowing specific attribute filtering (Material, Color) and enforcing server-side price removal for guests—all without the performance hit of standard loops.
Layout FragilityPricing edits triggered layout breakage in live templates
Developer DependencySKU-level changes required developer intervention
Storage SaturationStorage ceilings reached due to duplicated media artifacts
Heavy Membership PluginsHeavy membership plugins (MemberPress) for simple price gating
Full Custom LaravelFull custom Laravel build (timeline/budget mismatch)
Legacy SKU StructureLeaving legacy SKU structure (maintenance cost too high)
Before400+ loose pages, broken layouts on edit, unverified freight data
After20 structured parent products, variations grouped by attribute, safe admin edits
Theme IsolationChild theme isolation preferred for critical Woo templates
Custom WidgetsCustom widgets preferred over plugin bloat for catalog navigation
Image Size ControlUnused image sizes disabled to strictly bound storage growth
Freight NormalizationFreight data normalized (weight/dims), unblocking shipping automation
Gated Pricing LogicGated pricing logic hard-coded into the stack (guests cannot buy)
Taxonomy TruthSingle source of truth established for product taxonomy
Stabilization and migration complete. Platform now supports incremental catalog expansion without reintroducing structural risk.
Role: Technical Lead / Developer.
Mandate: Fix the catalog, gate the pricing, ensure scalability.
Operator Identity
Built and fixed by one person.
You work with Nolan Phelps directly. He does the diagnosis, scope, build, fixes, and handoff himself.
No sales layer. No project manager. No outsource chain.
Since 2017WinnipegWordPress rescue
