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The download speed of ecommerce sites has greatly improved over the
years because of the wider availability of faster Internet service. But many
retailers still struggle with making their sites run quickly.
The unfortunate truth is that retailers can design a
user-friendly site, but if it takes time to load, consumers will not likely
shop there. By some accounts, even a 1-second delay can have a material impact
on revenue for online retailers.
In this article, I will explain 10 ways to increase the speed of
an ecommerce site.
1.
Reduce Size of Page
The page size in measured in kilobytes. It includes all elements
on a page — images, JavaScript, CSS. The smaller the page size, the better.
Avoid embedding big objects or images on a page; build your pages by keeping
load times in mind. Page size can be measured easily by saving the page on your
computer as a web archive folder from the browser. Then measure the size of the
folder.
Try to keep page load times to 3 seconds or less, unless your
ecommerce site requires richer graphics to generate revenue. In that instance,
find the right balance between losing shoppers due to slow load times versus
gaining customers due to richer graphics.
2.
Use a Content Delivery Network
If you have customers around the world, consider a content
delivery network. It caches the content on servers located in different parts
of the world, which reduces load times. This would help, say, a customer in
Hong Kong, who could load a page from a server in China, versus hitting the
master server in U.S.
3.
Use Caching and In-memory Technology
Utilize caching or in-memory technologies to avoid accessing a
database unnecessarily. These technologies can temporarily store in memory a
full ecommerce product catalog, all customer information, site-search indexes,
and other information, which would avoid calls on the database. The technology
utilizes the RAM available on a server and stores data in it. Since
input-output operations are typically 10 times faster on RAM than a hard disk,
this helps improve performance.
4.
Compress Data
Use Gzip or other compression software to reduce the size of the
data sent to a browser. The compression is done on the server side, before
returning data based on the client request. This requires changing server
configuration files, which takes developer expertise. Before enabling data
compression, however, make sure your shoppers do not use older browsers, such
as Internet Explorer 4, as Gzip is not compatible.
5.
Specify Image Dimensions
Specify height and width for images so that the browser can
create placeholders for the images, to load the page and the images
simultaneously. Retailers often create an image without specifying the
dimensions of the image on the page. This forces the browser to load the image
entirely before it can start another task, which takes more time.
Simple height and width attributes for each image makes the
browser understand the size of the image and it can make room for the image
while also loading other parts of the page. Additionally, automatically alter
image sizes for different types of devices – laptop, tablet, or smartphone.
6.
Optimize Platform Configuration
If you use an ecommerce platform — hosted or licensed —
determine available configurations to improve page load times. Most platforms
offer minor tweaks that can lead to significant gains. For example, the default
configuration that comes with Magento supports file compression, a content
delivery network, and other speed enhancements. A retailer’s Magento
administrator can make these platform optimizations.
7.
Use Fewer ‘Round Trips’
Minimize the number of “round trips” to the server by combining
multiple files. For example, instead of accessing multiple JavaScript files
separately, first combine them into a single file and then access the server.
This forces the browser to make one request versus making multiple trips, which
will reduce load times. There are several tools and techniques available to
help with this, such as CSS Sprites, which enables the loading of multiple
images in one request.
8.
Monitor Site Speed
Check the speed of your ecommerce site periodically to
proactively resolve issues. If a page is taking more than 3 seconds to load, it
likely needs improving. There are many tools to measure and diagnose site
speed. These include Pingdom, Yahoo’s YSlow, and Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
The examples below show the speed score of leading ecommerce sites
using Google’s PageSpeed Insights from a laptop. A score of 85 and higher means
that the site is performing well. Only Ebay appears to meet this threshold,
however, with Overstock and Amazon close behind.
9.
Avoid Redirects
Minimize redirects on your site if you have to use them. Each
redirect is a separate request to the server that increases load times. Often,
retailers continue to maintain redirects from old links to the new ones. These
redirects should be removed when most shoppers have started accessing the new
URLs directly.
10.
Use Fast Hosting Servers
Size your hosting server — i.e., RAM, hard drive storage, CPU
speed — to meet your traffic requirements. This challenge is commonly seen with
retailers that have grown, but still use a smaller server (or shared servers).
Ask
your hosting provider to size the server based on peak user load, probable
traffic growth in the next year, and memory requirements. Then set up email
alerts if the defined thresholds — such as peak traffic loads — are exceeded.
This will tell you to resize your server.
