We audit a lot of Shopify stores. The same issues come up again and again. The good news is most of them are fixable without rebuilding your entire site.

The Usual Suspects

App Bloat

Every app you install can add JavaScript to your storefront. Some add a lot. That free reviews app? Probably loading 200KB of JavaScript on every page. The chat widget? Another 150KB. That countdown timer you used once? Still loading.

Check your apps. Uninstall anything you're not actively using. For the ones you keep, check if they're loading on pages where they're not needed.

Unoptimised Images

We regularly see product images that are 5MB each. Your customers don't need 4000x4000 pixel images on a product grid. Use appropriate sizes, serve WebP format, and lazy load anything below the fold.

Theme Cruft

Themes come with features you might not use. Carousels, mega menus, animation libraries—if you're not using them, they might still be loading. A theme audit can identify what's being loaded unnecessarily.

Quick Wins:

check_circleAudit installed apps: Remove unused ones, check impact of remaining ones
check_circleCompress images: Use TinyPNG or similar before uploading
check_circleLazy load: Images, videos, and embeds below the fold
check_circleReview third-party scripts: Analytics, chat, tracking pixels
check_circleFont loading: Limit custom fonts, use font-display: swap

How to Measure

PageSpeed Insights is a starting point, but real user data matters more. Check your Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console. Look at your analytics for mobile vs desktop performance—mobile is usually worse and that's where most of your traffic probably comes from.

When to Rebuild

Sometimes the theme is fundamentally the problem. If you're on an old theme that wasn't built with performance in mind, incremental fixes only go so far. A rebuild on a modern theme (or headless) might be the better investment.

What We Do

Our performance audits identify exactly what's slowing your store down, with prioritised recommendations based on impact and effort. Sometimes it's an afternoon of cleanup; sometimes it's a bigger project. Either way, faster stores convert better.