Not sure if this answers your question, but then again your question is opinion based and open for interpretation: we cannot possibly know all the specifics of your data structure and design format. Technically this is probably doable with Data Merge, but do note that does come with some limitations.
I've done quite a few product catalogues and it was all manual work. Sometimes, it was in 10+ languages. Yes, it was very tedious, but I charged for huge number of hours, so that was beautiful. Yes, you can probably automate some of the work with Data Merge or some third party plugin. However I expect every plugin out there to have specific limitations, regardless of their marketing.
Also, plugins will only be able to generate repetitive product positioning. You won't be able to break out the page flow with call outs, highlights and template exceptions, chapter breaks, if your plugin dumps everything into a grid top to bottom.
However, if a perfect grid of products is sufficient in terms of design, then Data Merge would be my first choice. No plugins.
From my personal experience, every time I added plugins to InDesign in the past, the entire app became wonky. Just experimenting with 2 or 3 plugins to see "if it works", can totally damage your InDesign install. Yes, you can remove the plugins, but that won't be fun.
Even if somehow you make it work, be prepared for a suprise every time you get an InDesign update from Adobe. Some people end up re-installing their entire system, because Adobe apps stop working for "random" reasons.
In my workflow that is an absolute major no-no, because I switch between many clients and everything is urgent and I cannot afford to work with a buggy InDesign.
If something takes 100 hours, its probably more lucrative to get an assistant and charge for the entire 100 hours.
