Call us Today: 0330 058 5621

Email Us

How to Improve E-commerce Site Speed

03/03/2020 | Share:

Did you know that the speed of your website can have a serious impact on the success or failure of your e-commerce business? As an e-commerce business, you’re completely reliant on the successful performance of the website. Alongside taking care of your website and keeping it running smoothly, you should also make sure the site is not slow loading.

A slow loading web page can have negative impacts on your search engine optimisation, which is crucial if you want to be discovered organically. Google has also stated that their browser Chrome “may identify sites that typically load fast or slow for users with clear badging.” This means that before a user even clicks on a website, they’ll already know what to expect.

Until this happens, users can still become frustrated when sites load slowly and as a result, this only adds to the bounce rate.

Determine current website speed

The first thing to do is to run your website through a website speed test tool, such as GTMetrix, Pingdom or Google Pagespeed Insights. All you need to do is enter the URL of your e-commerce site and the tools will present you with an overview of the current site speed.

If you obtain a high score (on both mobile and desktop) and you’re happy with it, then that’s great. Just be sure to regularly keep an eye on it. If the website is running slower than you’d expect, there may be some things you can do that don’t require a website developer.

Change server hosting

Make sure your website server is capable of hosting your site. If you’ve grown your e-commerce business recently, it may be that you’ve outgrown your current website’s server limitations.

If you’re serious about being as fast as possible, the best option is to opt for a high-quality dedicated server hosting. When multiple websites are hosted on a shared server, events on these websites can impact your own. For example, if a website that shares your server becomes overloaded, this can bring your own website down until it is fixed.

Avoid code-heavy websites

Some website design tools such as Wix allow you to easily edit the design of your website, without the need for knowing any coding. The drawback to this WYSIWYG approach is the large amount of code it actually generates. For an e-commerce site with lots of products and a checkout, the code can build up quite substantially. The more code there is, the more there is for a web browser to load.

The best way to avoid code-bloated websites is to invest in a bespokely designed website. Without the unnecessary code, the overall site performance will noticeably improve. Remember, it only takes a short few seconds to put people off.

And a bespoke website doesn’t mean you can’t edit the content how you want. A bespoke website can still have a content management system such as WordPress but, not using a WYSIWYG theme! For a fast-loading build have your website coded on the WordPress platform in bespoke php markup!

Reduce Image Size and Quantity

E-commerce sites tend to have a lot of images – after all, how will people know what they’re buying? But a lot of images means there’s more to load, so how do you keep the site running smoothly without affecting the user experience?

The key to reducing image file sizes is by compressing the images using a compressor tool. Compressor.io is a free online tool you can use to do this.

Reducing the quantity of images can also help improve the site speed. See if you can deliver the same experience and message by using fewer images, although it’s not always possible.

Reduce redirects

If you have a popular product (that gains a lot of website traffic) which has now been discontinued, you’ll want to pop a redirect into that URL. You don’t want your website visitors to be hit with a dead-end, because they’ll complete their product search elsewhere.

However, redirects take a little time. It’s barely noticeable, but once you start stacking up redirects one after the other, it can begin to slow down the user experience. Try not to create a chain of redirects.

Infinite Scroll

How you display your products can have an effect on the page loading time. People ideally don’t want to be loading new pages after scrolling through a few products, but they also don’t want to have to wait for a page with 100 products on to load. A solution to this would be to invest in an infinite scroll.

Infinite scroll only loads the rest of the page’s content when the user reaches the end of the current content. You can decide how much it loads each time. Try to find the middle point to avoid frequent loading or long loading times.

Regular monitoring

Our last tip is to invest in regular performance monitoring. By keeping all of the above in mind as you go along and regularly keeping track of how your website is performing, you can avoid having to make major changes later down the line. For example, it’s much easier to compress an image before uploading to your site rather than having to go back and compress a whole batch that you missed.

More from Blog

  • How to Acquire Customer Testimonials

    03/08/2019

    How to Acquire Customer Testimonials

    How Customer Testimonials Drive Customer Acquisition In today’s competitive marketplace, customer testimonials are a valuable asset for businesses. They provide social proof, helping build trust and credibility by showcasing the positive experiences of real customers. Testimonials not only attract new customers but can also be repurposed for marketing campaigns, social media posts, and other marketing materials. Whether you’re looking to gather your first testimonial or want to …

    Read post
  • 5 Top Tips for Selling Online

    06/12/2016

    5 Top Tips for Selling Online

    A bit of planning and a few small tweaks here and there can make a big difference when it comes to making your E-Commerce site a success. Here are a few top tips to help you sell more online. Choose the Right E-Commerce Platform With so many options out there, it can be hard to know where to start. Most businesses would be best to start with …

    Read post
  • 3 Ways To Promote Your E-commerce Business Offline Without Breaking the Bank

    26/02/2017

    3 Ways To Promote Your E-commerce Business Offline Without Breaking the Bank

    Traditional offline marketing activities are notoriously difficult to track in respect of return on investment, however that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything to promote your e-commerce business offline. In this blog we look at ways to create word of mouth opportunities and develop relationships which will promote your e-commerce business within the wider local community. 1.  Have you considered helping a local charity? A local charity …

    Read post
  • Growing Your ECommerce Business: Essential Steps to Take the Next Leap

    02/06/2022

    Growing Your ECommerce Business: Essential Steps to Take the Next Leap

    Scaling an ecommerce business can feel challenging, especially if you’ve reached a plateau in your online business. However, by embracing key strategies, you can grow, engage new audiences, and elevate your online store in a competitive online marketplace. From assessing your current business model to investing in the latest ecommerce software, these steps will guide your ecommerce store to new levels of success. Assess Your Current Position …

    Read post

Categories

We value your privacy

We use cookies and similar technologies to personalise content and ads, provide social media features, and analyse traffic. You can choose to accept all cookies, reject non-essential ones, or manage your preferences by category.

To learn how Google uses your data, see Google’s Privacy & Terms. For more details, see our Cookie Policy.

Essential

Essential cookies are small data files stored on your device by websites to ensure their proper functionality. They are crucial for core activities like page navigation, secure access, and saving preferences. Without these cookies, the website would not perform as expected, compromising your user experience. Essential cookies do not store personal information or track browsing activities beyond the website.

Wordpress

wordpress_test_cookie

Cookie set by WordPress to check if the cookies are enabled on the browser to provide appropriate user experience to the users

devicePixelRatio

Used to make the site responsive to the visitor’s screen size.

tk_qs

JetPack sets this cookie to store a randomly-generated anonymous ID which is used only within the admin area and for general analytics tracking.

tk_lr

Jetpack - Stores the unique identifier for the publisher to enable Jetpack to collect data.

tk_or

Jetpack - Stores the unique identifier for the publisher to enable Jetpack to collect data.

tk_r3d

JetPack installs this cookie to collect internal metrics for user activity and in turn improve user experience.

tk_tc

JetPack sets this cookie to record details on how user's use the website.

wp-settings-

Used to persist a user’s wp-admin configuration.

wporg_logged_in

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user.

wporg_sec

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user.

wporg_locale

Used to persist a user’s locale configuration.

welcome-

Used to record if you’ve chosen to hide the “Welcome” message at the top of the corresponding blog.

showComments

Used to determine if you prefer comments to be shown or hidden when reading the site.

trac_form_token

Used as a security token for cross-site request forgery protection.

trac_session

Used to keep anonymous session information.

codexToken

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user. Only set if you select “Keep me logged in” when logging in.

codexUserId

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user.

codexUserName

Used to check whether the current visitor is a logged-in WordPress.org user.

camptix_client_stats

Used to track unique visitors to tickets page on a WordCamp site

wp-saving-post

Used to track if there is saved post exists for a post currently being edited. If exists then let user restore the data

comment_author_

Used to tracked comment author name, if “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” is checked

comment_author_url_

Used to track comment author url, if “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” checkbox is checked

wp-postpass_

Used to maintain session if a post is password protected

wp-settings-time-

Time at which wp-settings-{user} was set

tix_view_token

Used for session managing private CampTix content

jetpackState

Used for maintaining Jetpack State

jpp_math_pass

Verifies that a user answered the math problem correctly while logging in.

stnojs

Remember if user do not want JavaScript executed

wordpress_logged_in_

Remember User session

Marketing

Used to determine a user’s inclusion in an experiment and the expiry of experiments a user has been included in.

ad_storage

ad_user_data

ad_personalization

analytics_storage

Social

Social cookies enable social media features on websites, such as sharing content and social media logins. They can track your activity across different sites for targeted advertising. These cookies enhance your online experience by facilitating content sharing and engagement on social platforms.