Why is my Shopify store loading very slowly?

Shopify Discussion
1

My Shopify store has become very slow. Pages take a long time to load, which affects the user experience. I’ve already cleared my browser cache and checked my internet connection, but the issue persists. Has anyone experienced this, and what steps can I take to improve my store’s speed?

2

Hi there, Can you share the link to your store?

You can check at https://pagespeed.web.dev/ by entering your store’s URL, and it will run a diagnostic to determine what’s causing your store to be slow

3

Hi @snowday

Welcome to the Shopify Community! Please share your store URL and password (if it’s password-protected), so I can check and provide you with the exact solution.

Best regards,
Devcoder :laptop:

4

Hey @snowday

Welcome to the community!

As mentioned by @Mateo-Penida , test your website on https://pagespeed.web.dev/ and see that what exactly is causing the website speed to be slow.

In most of the cases, it’s unused CSS and Javascript and high quality images that takes long to load so test it and you’ll have an idea of what exactly to fix.

Happy to help if you need any.

Best,
Moeed

5

Try narrowing the slowdown before changing theme code. Test the homepage, a collection page, and a product page separately on mobile, then compare them with a preview of a duplicated theme where nonessential app embeds are disabled. If the preview is much faster, add the embeds back one at a time. If both are slow, focus first on the Largest Contentful Paint element, often the hero or main product image, then fonts and third-party scripts.

Also test in an incognito window and on a second device. Clearing your cache only changes your own browser, while slow app or script work affects shoppers. Fix the biggest mobile bottleneck first, then retest the same URLs so you can see whether the change actually improved load and interaction time.

7

Hi @snowday

If you haven’t been able to identify the issue from the suggestions shared above, I would try the following:

First, connect through a VPN service such as NordVPN and test your store from several different countries. This can help you determine whether the slowdown is affecting everyone or whether it may be related to a specific CDN region, server location, or routing issue.

Second, download Screaming Frog SEO Spider. The free version allows you to crawl up to 500 URLs, which is often enough for a smaller Shopify store. Pay particular attention to the Images tab to identify large files that may be slowing down page load times.

You should also review any 3xx redirects. If you find redirected URLs, check which internal links are pointing to them and update those links so they point directly to the final destination URL. This reduces unnecessary redirects and can improve both performance and crawl efficiency.

Best regards!

8

Hello @snowday

A slow Shopify store can happen for a few different reasons, so I’d suggest checking it step by step instead of only clearing browser cache.

Here are a few things you can try:

  1. Run your store through Google PageSpeed Insights and check what it says for mobile speed.
  2. Check if your theme has too much custom CSS/JavaScript or unused code.
  3. Review installed apps and remove any apps you no longer use, because some apps can add extra scripts.
  4. Compress large product/banner images before uploading them.
  5. Use WebP images where possible, as they are usually smaller and load faster.
  6. Avoid uploading oversized images if they are only displayed in a small section.
  7. Check your homepage sections — too many sliders, videos, animations, or large images can slow things down.

Images are one of the most common reasons for slow loading stores. If you have many large product images or banner images, compressing them can make a noticeable difference.

You can also use a file manager/image optimization app to help with this. For example, File Manager & Image Optimizer can help organize media files, compress images, fix missing alt text, and find unused files.

I’d start by testing the site in PageSpeed Insights first, then optimize images and remove unused apps/scripts based on the results.

9

I’d use Claude to go over your theme code and identify the slowest parts and optimze them… Clearly, it’s images uncompressed, videos uncompressed, etc…

10

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I have already checked everything, including running the PageSpeed Insights test, but unfortunately the issue is still not resolved. The store is still loading slowly.

Could you please help me identify the exact cause or suggest the next troubleshooting steps?