WooCommerce Design, Development & 6 Years of Ongoing Maintenance

Client: Emma Custom Rifles

Industry: Specialist Firearms & Shooting Equipment — E-Commerce

Location: United Kingdom

Website: Visit Live Site →

Platform: WordPress / WooCommerce

Services Delivered:

• WooCommerce Website Design & Development
• Monthly Website Maintenance & Support

Engagement Type: Project + Long-Term Ongoing Retainer — 6 Years

Emma Custom Rifles is a specialist UK firearms dealer offering a broad and complex product range — guns (rifles, shotguns, air guns, pistols, revolvers, actions and barrels), optics (rifle scopes, thermal, night vision, spotting scopes), accessories (ammunition, gun cabinets, sound moderators, reloading equipment), knives, and custom gun stocks. They also offer specialist services including gun repairs, bespoke ammunition, estate and insurance work, and custom rifle builds.

What They Needed:

• A professional, fully functional WooCommerce store capable of handling a large, multi-category specialist product catalog
• A design that reflected the expertise and credibility expected by serious shooting sports customers
• Compliance-aware product presentation for a regulated industry
• A reliable long-term maintenance partner to keep a complex WordPress/WooCommerce store running securely and reliably

Selling firearms and related products online in the UK comes with specific requirements around product presentation, compliance notices, and responsible retailing. The website needed to handle this carefully while still functioning as a professional e-commerce store.

What We Built:

We designed and developed a complete WooCommerce store from the ground up for Emma Custom Rifles — built to handle the complexity of a specialist firearms and shooting equipment catalog while presenting a professional, trustworthy storefront to customers.

Design:

The design needed to reflect the specialist, professional nature of the business — appropriate for a discerning customer base of shooters, hunters, and collectors who expect credibility and expertise from their firearms dealer.

Key Design Decisions:

• Professional, authoritative aesthetic appropriate for the firearms sector
• Clean product presentation prioritising detail and specification
• Clear department and category navigation for a large multi-category catalog
• Trust signals — phone number, email, and account access prominent in header
• Specialist services clearly presented alongside the product catalog
• News & Updates section for product arrivals and business news
• FAQ section addressing common customer queries

Development:

WooCommerce Store Setup:

• Full WooCommerce installation and configuration
• UK-specific payment gateway integration
• UK shipping configuration
• Tax settings for UK retail
• Customer account and order management

Product Catalog Architecture: Given the breadth and specificity of the product range, building the right catalog structure was critical.

Category Structure Built:

Guns:

• Actions / Barrels
• Air Guns
• Archive
• Combination
• De-commissioned / Obsolete
• Pistols
• Revolvers
• Rifles
• Shotguns

Optics:

• Binoculars
• Night Vision
• Red Dot & Laser
• Rifle Scopes
• Spotting Scopes
• Thermal
• Trail Cameras

Accessories:

• Ammunition
• Bipods
• Dioptre Sights
• Gun Cabinets
• Gun Cases
• Lamps
• Mounts & Rings
• Reloading
• Sound Moderators

Knives:

• Fixed Blade
• Folding
• Lockable
• Multi Tool

Miscellaneous:

• Books
• Custom / Gun Stocks
• Oddities
• Range Finder
• Rifle Magazines
• Sticks & Shooting Aids
• Special Offers
• Wanted

Services Section: Separate from the product catalog, we built a dedicated services section covering:

• Standard and Bespoke Ammunition
• Estate & Insurance Work
• Gun Repairs / Alterations
• Maintenance Services
• Custom Rifle Builds

Key Pages Built:

• Homepage
• Shop / category pages (full hierarchy)
• Individual product pages
• Services pages (each service separately)
• FAQ page
• News & Updates (blog)
• My Account (customer portal)
• Contact page

Compliance Considerations: Product listings and the overall store were built with appropriate care for the regulated nature of firearms retail in the UK — including age verification notices, appropriate product descriptions, and responsible retailing presentation.

What We Do Every Month:

For 6 years, we have been Emma Custom Rifles’ WordPress and WooCommerce maintenance partner — keeping a specialist e-commerce store with a large product catalog and active customer base running reliably and securely.

Security & Updates:

• WordPress core updates applied and tested
• WooCommerce updates managed safely
• Theme and plugin updates with compatibility testing
• Security monitoring and scanning
• SSL certificate monitoring and renewal
• Malware scanning and removal (if required)
• Admin access and user role monitoring

Performance & Stability:

• Database optimisation and cleanup
• Cache management
• Uptime monitoring
• Error log review and resolution
• Image optimisation checks
• Plugin conflict monitoring

Backup Management:

• Scheduled automated backups
• Offsite backup storage
• Backup integrity verification
• Restore testing

Ongoing Support:

• Bug fixes and technical issue resolution
• Product and category update assistance
• New product listing support
• WooCommerce order management assistance
• Post-update testing across desktop and mobile
• Responsive support for day-to-day technical queries from the Emma Rifles team

6 Years of Reliable Support:

• Multiple WordPress and WooCommerce major version upgrades handled safely
• Large product catalog maintained and growing
• No major security incidents
• Consistent site stability throughout