10 quick wins to speed up your Shopify store today

It might not be something you've thought much about, but the speed of your Shopify store has a direct impact on how many people buy from you. It's not just a technical detail. It affects your customer experience, your sales, and even your Google rankings.

How many times have you clicked away from a website because it took too long to load? Research shows it can take people just one second to lose patience and bounce. Even improving your load time by 0.1 seconds can increase conversions by up to 8.4 per cent.

The good news is, you don't need to do a full redesign or rebuild to get faster. These 10 practical changes are easy to implement and can make a real difference to your store's performance.

1. Optimise your images

Uncompressed or oversized images are one of the biggest culprits behind slow-loading pages.

• Use WebP instead of JPEG or PNG. It's lighter but still high quality
• Compress images with apps like TinyIMG or Crush.pics
• Upload images at the exact size you need. Don't rely on your theme to resize them
• Enable lazy loading so images only load when the customer scrolls to them

Sorting your images is often the quickest way to speed things up and can cut load times by 30 to 50 per cent.

2. Remove unnecessary apps

It's easy to keep adding new apps to your store, but each one adds code that can slow things down.

• Audit your current apps and remove any that aren't essential
• Look for multi-purpose apps that replace several single-use ones
• Check if your theme already includes the same functionality
• Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to see the before and after impact

Most store owners find they can remove at least three or four apps without losing anything important.

3. Simplify your theme

If your theme is cluttered or overloaded with features, it can slow things down significantly.

• Choose a lightweight, performance-focused theme like Dawn or an optimised premium one
• Keep homepage sections focused and prioritise what matters most
• Avoid unnecessary animations or sliders
• Remove custom code or apps that aren't delivering clear value

Clean, simple stores tend to load faster and feel more professional to customers.

4. Limit third-party scripts

Marketing tools, tracking scripts, and popups all add code that takes time to load.

• Stick to the scripts you really need, such as Google Analytics or essential chat support
• Load scripts asynchronously where possible
• Delay non-essential scripts until after the page has loaded
• Use Google Tag Manager to manage them efficiently

Less clutter means a faster experience for your customers.

5. Make the most of Shopify's content delivery network (CDN)

Shopify automatically uses a global CDN to deliver your content quickly, but you can still get more out of it.

• Avoid using apps or features that prevent caching or rely on real-time updates
• Don't overload your homepage with large files or interactive content
• Use additional tools like NitroPack if you need more advanced optimisation
• Regularly test your store's speed using tools like GTmetrix or WebPageTest

Making sure caching and delivery are working smoothly helps returning visitors get lightning-fast load times.

6. Minimise redirects

Redirects are often necessary, but too many of them can slow things down.

• Check for unnecessary or outdated redirects, especially http to https or www versions
• Fix any internal broken links
• Avoid redirect chains, where one redirect leads to another
• Use Shopify's built-in redirects wisely, not for every minor change

Keeping your site's structure tidy helps browsers load pages more directly.

7. Preload key resources

Preloading lets the browser know which files are most important and should be fetched first.

• Preload critical CSS or fonts
• Use rel="preload" tags to reduce layout shift and speed up rendering
• Make sure any render-blocking scripts are handled properly
• Talk to your developer about preloading custom assets if you use any

This one is a little more technical, but it can make a noticeable difference to how quickly your pages feel ready.

8. Clean up your theme code

Over time, themes can get messy, especially if they've been customised a lot.

• Remove unused sections, blocks, or snippets from your theme files
• Streamline Liquid logic and avoid unnecessary loops or if statements
• Delete legacy code from apps or features you no longer use
• Test your changes on a duplicate theme to be safe

Even a few small edits here can shave seconds off your page load time.

9. Keep your fonts simple

Fonts can have a surprising impact on performance, especially if you're loading lots of variations.

• Stick to one or two font families at most
• Only load the weights and styles you actually use
• Use system fonts where possible for instant loading
• Avoid mixing Google Fonts with custom font hosting

Fast-loading fonts make your store look just as good, with much less effort.

10. Monitor, test and keep improving

Speed isn't a one-time fix. It's something to check in on regularly.

• Run tests using PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, or GTmetrix
• Use Shopify's built-in speed report for a quick overview
• Track your bounce rate and conversions to measure real results
• Revisit your apps and theme every few months to see what can be improved

A little regular housekeeping goes a long way towards keeping your store fast and healthy.

Final thoughts

Speed affects everything, from how people experience your site to how many of them end up buying. But most of these improvements don't require advanced tech skills or expensive developers to carry out. Start small, pick a few things to fix today, and keep testing. Even small changes can make a big difference to your results.

And if you're all about speed, Meldeagle automates your entire Shopify product management workflow. Get in touch for a free, jargon-free consultation and enjoy a 14-day trial with no obligation whatsoever. Just fast, stress-free product management, sorted.