After installing a WooCommerce demo, you might run into an issue where your shop pages and products are only visible when you’re logged in as an admin. Instead of seeing your products, regular visitors are greeted with a message like: “Great things are on the horizon. Something big is brewing! Our store is in the works and will be launching soon!”

This is a common scenario when your WooCommerce store is stuck in “Coming Soon” mode, a feature intended for site development. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the steps to fix this visibility issue and make sure your store is accessible to all visitors.

Scenario: WooCommerce Demo Store Visibility Issue

You’ve just installed a WooCommerce demo to set up your online store. Everything seems to be working fine when you’re logged in as an admin—you can browse products, visit the shop page, and configure settings. However, when you log out or visit the site in incognito mode, the shop page is hidden behind a “Coming Soon” message, preventing potential customers from exploring your store.

This issue occurs because WooCommerce’s “Coming Soon” mode is likely enabled, restricting access to your shop pages. While this mode is useful during development, it needs to be disabled once your site is ready to go live.

Step-by-Step Guide to Fixing WooCommerce Demo Store Visibility:

Accessing the WordPress Dashboard:

• Log in to your WordPress admin panel by going to https://yourwebsite.com/wp-admin.
• Navigating to WooCommerce Settings.
• Once in the admin panel, go to WooCommerce > Settings.
• Disabling “Coming Soon” Mode.
• Click on the Site Visibility tab within the WooCommerce settings.
• You’ll see an option for “Coming Soon” mode. If it’s enabled, Select Live.
• After making this change, be sure to click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Testing the Visibility

Log out of your admin account and visit your website as a regular user or in an incognito browser window. Check to see if the shop pages and products are now visible to everyone.

Why This Happens and How to Prevent It

The “Coming Soon” mode is automatically enabled in WooCommerce for new stores or when using certain demo installations. It’s designed to keep the site hidden from the public while you work on it. However, if left enabled after you’re ready to launch, it can prevent users from accessing your products and shop pages.

To prevent this from happening in the future:

• Regularly Check Site Visibility Settings: Ensure “Coming Soon” mode is disabled once your site is live.
• Monitor Cache Settings: After any significant changes to your store, always clear your cache to avoid old settings being displayed.