Shopify is convenient, but out of the box it’s rarely fast. Bloated themes, a pile of apps, and oversized images quietly drain your conversion rate. Here’s how to fix the things that actually matter.
1. Cut the apps you don’t need
Every Shopify app injects its own JavaScript and CSS into your store — whether you use it on a given page or not. Audit your installed apps. Remove anything you’re not actively using. This is usually the single biggest win.
2. Compress and resize your images
Product photos are the heaviest thing on most stores. Serve them in modern formats like WebP, size them to the dimensions they actually display at, and lazy-load anything below the fold. Don’t upload a 4000px image to show it at 600px.
3. Choose a lean theme
Heavy, feature-stuffed themes look great in the demo and load slowly in production. A clean, well-coded theme beats a maximalist one every time. If your theme is the bottleneck, switching is worth it.
4. Minimize third-party scripts
Chat widgets, review apps, analytics, retargeting pixels — each one adds weight. Keep only what earns its place, and load non-critical scripts after the page renders.
5. Know Shopify’s ceiling
Here’s the honest part: Shopify gives you limited control over the underlying code. You can get a Shopify store from sluggish to decent, but hitting a true 100/100 PageSpeed score is very hard on the platform. If speed is core to your business, a custom-coded storefront with Stripe checkout will outperform Shopify on every metric.
When to go custom
If you’re losing sales to slow load times and you’ve already trimmed apps and images, the platform itself may be the limit. We build custom storefronts that score 100/100 and stay yours forever.
This is general guidance — your store’s specifics may need a closer look.