Fanquip

Snapshot

Operator: Industrial ventilation supplier.
Inherited structure: 52 active plugins, 294 requests per page.
Risk class: Systemic (Plugin sprawl & Checkout instability).
Observed failure mode: Admin paralysis, payment redirects (302s), catalog fragmentation.
Trajectory: Compounding technical debt and unmanageable admin friction.

Verdict

The platform was functioning as a plugin colony rather than a commerce engine. Stabilization required aggressive reduction of surface area, tracing payment failures to probable vendor constraints, and defining a survivable data model.

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Timeline: ~5 weeks Budget: ~$15k AUD Mandate: Stabilization & Catalog Normalization

SectorIndustrial air movement
StackWordPress, Elementor Pro, WooCommerce (Legacy)
LifecycleAudit & Stabilization

Stabilization
Performance audit
Incident response
Catalog strategy

Structural constraints

52 active plugins creating non-deterministic conflict chains.
294 HTTP requests per page load (6.6MB transfer) on desktop.
23 separate font files loaded, including duplicates.
WooCommerce data model fragmented (attributes hidden in simple products).
Payment gateway (PayWay) triggering 302 redirects instead of transactions.

Evidence

Checkout redirects (302) persisted across environments and test servers, strongly indicating upstream vendor constraints.
150+ pages flagged with multiple H1 tags.
"Tablet mode" navigation broke at <1200px.

Leverage moves

Executed "Audit 2.0": A forensic keep/kill analysis of the plugin stack.
Narrowed PayWay failures to probable vendor-side constraints (keys/merchant ID) after ruling out local environment defects.
Defined a "Staging-First" update SOP to prevent live regressions.
Defined the catalog normalization model (Variable Products > Simple Products).

Decision log

Defer heavy scripts (HubSpot) until user interaction.
Consolidate simple products into variable products (roadmap).
Halted code debugging once failure reproduced on clean environments; escalated to vendor config validation.

Update discipline

Staging first, always.
Backups taken before DB updates.
Cache cleared only after verification.

Ruled out

Adding "speed optimization" plugins (would mask root cause).
Immediate full rebuild (stabilization required first).
Ignoring payment errors as "user error."

Irreversible outcomes

Defined: Catalog data model (attributes vs separate SKUs).
Shipped: Update hygiene SOP (Staging -> Live).
Shipped: Plugin audit and keep/kill list.

Maintenance delta

Updates became predictable via documented SOP.
Spam volume reduced via honeypot implementation.
Elementor crashes resolved via cache/regeneration protocol.

Status

Stabilization phase complete. Roadmap defined for performance and catalog repair.

Role: Technical Lead / Audit. Mandate: Stop the bleeding, define the fix.

Industrial & Operations