How to Optimize Your Magento and Shopify Stores for Better Performance

• By Simon Walker
• 10-01-2025
• E-commerce

For any website owner, the performance is the topmost consideration. Despite investing considerable resources, merchants often complain about issues such as slow loading times, inefficient code, and poor load distribution. This leaves the website owner and the target audience equally frustrated.

Instead of wasting valuable resources, we recommend merchants follow a targeted approach. In this article, we will list the top tips to optimise your Magento and Shopify stores for better performance. These tips will cover areas that will generate the greatest impact on store performance.

Magento vs Shopify

You may be wondering that Magento and Shopify are two very different eCommerce platforms. For example, Shopify is a fully hosted platform, meaning the store owner doesn’t have to concern themselves with hosting or the design aspects. Magento is an open-source platform. It gives the merchant greater control over various store aspects, including the hosting and database.

While there’s no doubt that they are different platforms, the same tips are applicable to both. Only the implementation method would differ. For instance, to convert images to WebP format in Magento, you will need a Magento 2 WebP extension because the platform does not have native support for this format. In contrast, Shopify provides out of the box support for WebP.

We do recommend conducting a detailed performance test prior to implementing the below tips. This will help you assess if the strategies are effective, or you require further steps. Google’s PageSpeed Insights is the perfect tool for this purpose. After implementing the tips, run the tool again. This will help you compare the before and after performance.

Top 9 Tips to Enhance Magento and Shopify Store Performance

1. Optimise the Images

Since we mentioned images in the above example, let’s focus on optimising the images first. In most cases, stores are full of images in outdated formats such as JPEG and PNG which are quite large. Since eCommerce stores are image heavy, the outdated formats contribute to slow loading times. The best image format, at least for eCommerce stores, is WebP.

For the unversed, Google introduced this format in 2010 to boost website performance. WebP images are 26% smaller than PNG and 25-34% smaller than JPEG. Imagine every image on the website now up to 34% smaller than before. This will boost the website’s loading speed significantly. As mentioned earlier, you will need a Magento 2 WebP Image extension to convert images to WebP.

2. Choose a Fast and Reliable Hosting Provider

Yes, we know that Shopify is a fully hosted platform. However, it doesn’t mean that you cannot change the hosting to another company. If you feel that Shopify’s own hosting solution is throttling your performance, shift to another company right away. You can opt for a dedicated server or any other cloud hosting provider.

Nevertheless, we don’t recommend changing the hosting right away. Instead, first focus on the theme. Debutify and Booster offer amazing lightweight themes which ensure optimal resource utilisation. If you notice a discernible improvement in store performance just by changing the themes, don’t change the hosting provider.

Instead, after changing the theme, tweak the in-built settings to further boost the performance. In the case of Magento, there are numerous companies that are specialists in Magento hosting. Before finalising any company, we recommend going through the reviews and cross-comparing features.

This will help you make the right decision. But just like with Shopify, think hard and fast before changing the hosting company. The reason is that although moving to a new hosting provider seems like a straightforward process, issues can arise. To avoid unnecessary downtimes and loss of data, focus on tweaking the in-built settings.

For example, enable cache in Magento, set up a CDN, and replace extensions with custom development. We will discuss all these points in further detail below. The fundamental idea is that both platforms offer numerous ways to boost website performance. Thus, use those methods first before making any drastic changes.

3. Enable Cache

Instead of retrieving data from the server every time, the browser simply retrieves the information from the temporary storage area (cache) on the user’s device. However, you need to enable cache in Magento and Shopify to benefit from this feature.

How to Enable Cache in Magento 2

• Step 1: Login to the Admin Panel
• Step 2: Go to System
• Step 3: Go to Cache Management
• Step 4: Select the checkbox for the cache which you wish to enable and then click on ‘Enable’ from the dropdown menu. Click ‘Submit’ to finalise the changes.

How to Enable Cache in Shopify

Go to Shopify Admin ???? Online Store Settings ???? Preferences ???? Enable Browser Caching ???? Save Changes.
Reduce HTTPS Requests

We need to understand what an HTTPS request is to move forward. In simple terms, an HTTPS request involves a handshake between client (browser) and the server. The purpose is to transfer data from the server to the client. If there are too many requests, the website’s performance will be poor.

In contrast, lower number of requests translate to much improved performance. Therefore, merchants need to reduce the number of HTTPS requests, and it is quite easy to do so. In Magento 2, there’s an option to combine CSS and JavaScript files to reduce the number of HTTPS requests.

For example, by combining 10 CSS files into a single file, you can very well imagine the performance boost. To merge CSS and JavaScript files, follow the below instructions:

• Login to the Magento 2 Admin Panel ???? Stores ???? Settings ???? Configuration. Now, expand the Advanced tab which is visible on the left panel.
• You will see multiple options such as Admin, System, and Developer. Click on ‘Developer’. To enable merge CSS in Magento 2, you need to expand the CSS Settings and then set ‘Yes’ in the Merge CSS Files setting. Do the same for JavaScript settings. Click on ‘Save Config’ to save the changes.

In Shopify, merchants have little to no control over backend operations because it is a fully hosted platform. It doesn’t mean that there is no way to reduce the HTTPS requests. Instead, there are other ways to do so. For instance, Shopify store owners can use a theme that is optimised for performance.

Similarly, optimising the images and using CSS sprites for icons can boost store performance. Based on our experience, we also recommend lazy loading external media. This ensures that media does not load right away, thereby reducing the time it takes to load the webpage.

5. Mobile Optimisation

As you can see, mobile devices account for the greatest share of traffic and order. Therefore, it makes sense to dedicate the maximum time and resources to mobile optimisation. The first thing you need to do is have a responsive theme. Before finalising any theme, test the theme across different devices. It will help you identify potential issues that require urgent attention.

Secondly, website navigation must be mobile-friendly. Remember, the screen size is quite small on mobile devices. If you clutter the screen with too many buttons/items, users will have a challenging time navigating it. They may be trying to tap on the ‘X’ button but end up tapping the ‘Y’ button. If this happens 3,4 times, they will hesitate to return to your store which is the last thing any store owner wants.

6. Regular Updates

Another thing to focus on is to regular update the platform, theme, and extensions. The updates include bug fixes, new features, and a lot more. For example, the new update may optimise the database and code structure. In turn, this will have a noticeable and significant impact on loading times. Also, updates ensure streamlined resource management, thereby ensuring smoother website navigation. Avoid downloading beta updates since they can cause issues.

7. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Lastly, we recommend using a CDN, especially when your store is targeting multiple geographic locations. A CDN serves the user through a server closest to their location. This reduces burden on the primary server and improves loading times significantly. Users don’t have to wait long periods for the website to load. This enhances the user experience, while reducing bounce rates.

Of course, serving multiple geographic locations is not the only requirement for using a CDN. It can come in handy for several other use cases, including when your store is hosting large media files. Certain online stores upload detailed product videos to help users make an informed decision. Using a CDN in this situation can improve loading times and ensure minimal buffering.

Furthermore, if your store is prone to seasonal spikes, consider setting up a CDN. For example, with BFCM (Black Friday, Cyber Monday) around the corner, shoppers are on the lookout for exciting discounts. If your store offers discounts and deals, you’ll notice a sizeable increase in website traffic. To ensure that the website does not go offline, use a CDN to manage traffic spikes.

8. Audit Apps and Extensions

While third party apps and extensions help add new features, they can degrade the store’s performance. Therefore, whenever installing third-party add-ons, ensure they come from a reliable developer. Also, remove add-ons that are redundant or can be easily replaced with custom code.

There are several reasons to do so. First, unreliable apps suffer from what we call ‘code bloat’. They add unnecessary CSS and JavaScript elements which can degrade performance. For example, a live chat support extension will add the feature to every webpage despite not being used rarely by the visitors.

Additionally, there can be a conflict between the apps/extensions. From our experience, we can recall various examples where merchants used 2 or 3 SEO apps/extensions. Their reasoning was that it boosted SEO performance. However, it is not the case as using multiple apps for the same purpose is bound to create issues.

The overlapping features will lead to performance degradation. More importantly, using multiple SEO plugins can create conflicting sitemap rules. This will not just impact website performance, but also visibility. Therefore, consider using only a single app for a specific purpose.

The best advice we can give you is to prefer quality over quantity. Using 3 or more apps/extensions for the same purpose will not do you any good. Instead, it will just undermine store performance, search visibility, and the user experience. Hence, use a single app even if it costs a sizeable financial investment.

9. Use a Better Search Engine

We are not referring to Google, Yahoo, Bing, or others here. Instead, we are talking about internal search engines. Suppose you are running a Magento 2 store selling electronic items. Of course, electronics is a very fast field, ranging from household items to gaming consoles.

To speed up the search, a potential customer searches for their desired item using your store’s search button. If the results take too much time to show up, do you think the user will wait around? The answer is no. Modern consumers are impatient or time sensitive. In other words, they’ll simply move to another website.

This is also confirmed by research. According to a Forbes article, 40% visitors quit a website if takes longer than 2 seconds to load, while another 47% quit in case of 3 seconds. In short, 87% users quit a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Although 3 seconds don’t seem much, they are quite long for your audience.

Given how internet speeds are improving worldwide, it won’t be long before 1 second or even less becomes the new norm. Therefore, store owners should use a powerful internal search engine to boost performance. Magento merchants should opt for ElasticSearch, while Shopify merchants can utilise in-built features.

Conclusion

This concludes our article on optimising Magento and Shopify store performance. By following the above tips, you’ll notice a significant performance boost. We recommend you run another test using the Google PageSpeed Insights once you are done implementing the changes. You’ll notice the difference yourself.

Nevertheless, if you believe that there’s still some major work to be done, we recommend reaching out to a professional Shopify or Magento development company. They have the required resources and experience to turbocharge your store, helping it realise its full potential.