Storefront Is Loading Slowly

A slow storefront costs you sales, because shoppers leave before a page finishes loading, so speed is worth treating as a real problem rather than a minor annoyance. Most of what makes a store slow is within your control: the size of your images, the number of apps running on the page, and any heavy third-party scripts you have added. The work is to find which of these is weighing the page down and reduce it, then confirm the page feels faster. This article walks those causes in the order that usually gives the biggest improvement for the least effort.

What usually makes a store slow

A few causes account for most slow storefronts, and you can influence all of them.

• Large images are the most common cause, since a page that loads many full-size photos has far more to download than one using right-sized images.
• Too many apps each add their own code to the page, and several running at once can slow every visit even when you rarely use them.
• Heavy third-party scripts, such as extra tracking or widgets you pasted in, run on every page load and can hold up the rest of the page.
• A heavy or misconfigured theme can add weight of its own, on top of your content.

Before you begin

• This work is not done on one screen. You measure on your own storefront, resize images under Products and in your brand assets, review apps on the Apps page, and look at the theme itself under Online Store > Themes.
• Your role includes Edit products to resize product images, and Edit online store for the theme.
• You can open your storefront on more than one device or connection to compare how it feels.

Steps

1. Measure the problem first

Open your storefront on a normal connection and note which pages feel slow and where the delay is, such as images appearing late. Measuring before you change anything means you can tell afterwards whether a change actually helped, rather than guessing.

2. Right-size your images

Replace oversized images with versions no larger than they need to be for where they appear. Images are usually the heaviest part of a page, so this is the change that most often makes the biggest difference. See Managing Product Images for the Media section of the product editor, where product images are added and replaced, and Brand for your logo and cover assets.

3. Reduce the number of apps

Review your installed apps and remove any you no longer use, since each one can add code to the page. Fewer apps means less for each visit to load. See Social Marketing Apps for how apps are managed.

4. Remove heavy third-party scripts

If you have pasted in extra tracking or widget code, remove anything you do not truly need, since each script runs on every page load. Keep only the scripts that earn their place, such as a pixel you rely on. Pasted scripts usually sit in the theme's code rather than on a settings screen, so Edit Theme Code shows where to find them.

5. Review your theme

Consider whether your theme is adding weight, and try a lighter or updated theme if the storefront is still slow after the steps above. See Themes.

6. Test again

Reload the storefront in a private browser window and compare it to how it felt before. A private window avoids a cached view, so you are measuring the real load rather than a copy your browser already saved.

If the storefront is still slow

If you have right-sized your images, removed the apps you do not use, cleared out third-party scripts you do not need, and the storefront is still slow, contact Tanqory support. Tell them which pages are slow, what you already changed, and whether it is slow on more than one device and connection, since a page that is slow everywhere points somewhere different from one that is slow only for you.

Verify the result

• The pages that felt slow now load noticeably faster on the same connection.
• Images appear promptly rather than filling in well after the rest of the page.
• The improvement holds in a private browser window, not just on your own cached view.

Best practices

• Upload images no larger than they need to be, since oversized images are the most common cause of a slow store.
• Keep only the apps you actually use, so each visit is not loading code for tools you have abandoned.
• Add third-party scripts sparingly, because each one runs on every page and adds to the load.
• Recheck speed after adding an app, a script, or heavy images, so you catch a slowdown when you introduce it.

Next steps

• Themes
• Social Marketing Apps
• Brand

Related articles

• Managing Product Images
• Conversion Rate Over Time