Brendan Tully0 Comments
April 26, 2022
According to a bunch of different studies online you can lose 7%+ on your conversion rate with each second that your site takes to load. That’s probably just a made-up stat but slow sites do lose visitors and poor site speed does impact conversion rates and checkouts quite dramatically.
In this post we break down the fastest Shopify themes in detail – themes we’ve used and have first-hand experience with and would recommend when working with clients.
If you’re in a hurry and want to skip reading pages and pages, the fastest Shopify theme on the market right now is Turbo Theme from Out of the Sandbox.There are a bunch of options below but for most sites, one of these two is probably the best choice when looking to build something lightning-fast or redesign a site AND have a site with a high conversion rate. The full list of these we’ll talk through is detailed below.
Table of Contents
You probably already know that website speed is important. Site speed impacts Google rankings, it impacts user experience, and ultimately conversion rate. The bottom line, faster sites get more traffic and make more money.
People get pretty frustrated with slow websites and if you’re like most people, when a website is slow you’re pretty quick to click away and go elsewhere.
Speed is certainly important but is only one component of several when we look at the broader performance of your site in terms of conversion rate or selling stuff.
Other important elements include the design and design flexibility, support from the theme developer, how mature the theme is (an older theme will be less buggy usually), and also quite importantly, conversion, product page, and other e-commerce features which all can impact conversion rate.
Faster themes are smaller – smaller in weight, which means it has less code. They also have cleaner CSS and fewer CSS files, which means there’s less to download and process on the device, and there’s less javascript so the browser doesn’t have to work as hard to display the page.
Essentially a faster theme renders faster. Getting the stuff from the web servers is one part of speed, and the second part is how quickly the site actually renders which is a technical way of saying “displays the page”.
Generally, Shopify infrastructure is quite fast already so the “hosting” component of speed is largely taken care of, unlike other platforms like Woocommerce or Magento.
The faster Shopify themes both render fast and are quick to download. The actual file size (technically called page weight) is much smaller so the amount of stuff to download is much smaller, and its speed of rendering is much faster.
There are several steps you can take to speed up your site – we talk about them in detail in this article on Shopify Speed Optimization, the steps that will move the needle the most (other than theme speed) are:
If you have an existing site and want to see how fast it loads right now, try SiteSpeedBot.com, our next-gen website speed test tool. It’ll give you detailed recommendations on how to speed up your site (for FREE) in under 60 seconds.
Let’s get into the list of fast Shopify themes and templates in more detail:
A game-changer, as they call it, the Flex theme is one of the newest Shopify themes (released in August 2019) from the Out of the Sandbox team of developers who have a terrific streak of creating fast and gorgeous-looking themes for Shopify.
The Flex theme was built on the ideas of the highly successful Turbo theme. The team behind it did a very good job asking users what they want to see improved and then implemented all of that into the Flex!
This theme is designed to give you more control over your online store and offers you a wealth of options to choose from and customize your site at will.
The multiple layout and section options, additional granular settings control, and easy implementation of custom CSS are all included in this mighty package of one of the best and fastest Shopify themes out there. With Flex as your wingman, you’ll be able to configure your Shopify site in numerous ways!
Flex gives you the option to choose between 12 styles. You can get a taste of them through the demo shop and see which one you like best! This is truly the theme for any type of eCommerce site. Whether it’s clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, arts and crafts, items for interior design, or tech gear, it will all be perfectly rendered with this theme!
The fellows over at Out of the Sandbox have come up with the Demo Shop Import Feature, which allows you to get started on a theme much faster than usual! This feature allows you to fast track a shop setup based on a demo shop of your theme. This will apply all of the settings, layouts, sections, and content of the theme (used in the demo shop) to your own theme.
The almost unlimited number of customization options will allow you to be as creative as you want with your Shopify site.
You can start from the beginning or use the already pre-built six demo shop layouts for building your homepage – either way, it’s all been designed to be as easy and versatile as possible!
The advanced CSS options of Flex allow you to add customized CSS elements to different sections directly through the theme editor.
This means that you won’t have to leave the page when creating new CSS classes or target other elements within the section you’re in.
You can add visual elements to your site by using Flex’s versatile icon library. You can use them for different sections and parts of your site, for example, for the Announcement Bar, the new Icon Bar, as well as the Featured Promotions, and Text Columns with Icons.
Speaking as a whole, this is one of the best and fastest Shopify themes you can find on the market! If you want to have a top-notch eCommerce site that you’ll be able to customize at will, as well as always have your back covered with a high-quality developer’s team and customer support, then you should definitely not miss out on the Flex theme!
More details at outofthesandbox.com
Okay, so next on our list is the Turbo theme. You can’t mention Flex without mentioning Turbo, right?
The Turbo theme is another popular choice among users from the team behind Out of the Sandbox.
You might’ve guessed already, at least judging by the name, but this is THE theme for the optimal speed performance of your Shopify site. The extraordinary loading speed of the browser and the functionality of the caching will make your eCommerce site super-fast, resulting in satisfied visitors and even more satisfied potential customers!
This is a theme that gives you plenty of features that others simply don’t have. Among them are functional sidebar filters, product sorting, and also color swatches below the product thumbnails. Turbo also provides you with full-width banners on your collection pages.
As we mentioned earlier, the team behind the Turbo theme designed it with the goal of it being a fast theme. This is arguably the best theme optimized for speed that you can find out there!
That being said, this theme includes two options from the performance setting (located in the theme editor) that you can choose from Sport and Ludicrous.
The Sport option will give you all the performance-enhancing features you’ll need for your site, such as smart image loading, infinite scroll and ‘load more’, refined quick shop, and ‘minified’ CSS, and HTML. There’s only one exception to this and it’s the page preloading option.
But, this is where Ludicrous comes up! The Ludicrous option gives you the full package including the option for preloading pages. (as a side note here, you can achieve a similar outcome with other themes using the JS library from https://instant.page
So if your site experiences technical difficulties with the Ludicrous mode, stemming from certain third-party apps or custom-made code, then you can always turn to the Sport mode.
Turbo is a fully-loaded theme designed for shops with high volume and large catalogs (including Shopify Plus merchants).
However, it can also be used for any kind of shop size that wants great loading speed, high functionality, superb user experience, and cutting-edge visual design.
Boostertheme isn’t as mature as some of the Out of the Sandbox themes but it’s still lightning fast.
One thing we like about this theme is its focus on conversion-boosting features with a number of e-commerce features that would otherwise require apps. For example, they have social proof sale widgets and some excellent upsell and cross-sell functions that many other themes are missing. There are a bunch of other features that boost conversion too.
Something that’s often missed in the quest for speed is that speed is just one factor of many when it comes to online marketing and often more important elements that support conversion rates and sales are often ignored in the quest to be the fastest site possible. That’s the wrong approach, after all, the fastest website is an unformatted HTML page but that’s not going to sell anything!
This is a fantastic theme if you’re looking for a fast theme AND to be really aggressive and on the front foot with your e-commerce marketing efforts.
10 out of 10 for the CRO and e-commerce functionality of this theme. The theme is well-priced and will save you a whole bunch of money on third-party e-commerce CRO apps. There are several live demo sites available on their homepage where you can see much of this functionality in action.
More details at boostertheme.com
Shella is a multipurpose Shopify theme that’s super-fast and highly responsive, sporting some premium features for a really solid price.
This theme is marketed as a theme that’s predominantly oriented towards fashion sites, mostly meaning apparel, shoes, and accessories, but it’s definitely more than capable of operating other types of eCommerce stores. The newest update of the theme includes 4 new skins that are just perfect for furniture, electronics, cosmetics, and cookware online stores!
Regardless of the type of online business you have, Shella is the flexible theme every eCommerce entrepreneur will love. A lot of it has to do with its pre-built content, in fact. Shella comes with more than 80 pre-designed pages and 15 different homepage variants!
With an elegant and minimalist design that can easily fit your particular business, this is a theme that’s regularly updated so it’s always up to date with the newest stylistic and developers’ trends.
Expand your business worldwide and speak your customers’ language! Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu are the most widespread RTL writing systems right now and Shella supports all of them!
The Shella theme also gives you the option for layouts with full-screen sliders, as well as video players on which you can show your products.
With this theme, you definitely won’t be short of options for displaying your products. The variety of eCommerce templates will allow you to customize both the individual product pages, but also the product category pages.
Don’t want to use the pre-built content? Then feel free to use the builder tool and make custom designs at will. You can also design unique banners, custom slideshows, and your own color schemes and make your store stand out in the vast sea of online businesses.
Shella is an SEO-optimized theme that’s one of the fastest on the market. Speed will help you improve your rankings in Google’s search engine and will definitely make up for more satisfied customers, which is why Shella is a great choice for a theme.!
Well, we just had to include Shopify’s best-seller for 2019! Yes, Fastor is the one. It’s a great, cutting-edge Shopify theme that’s super fast and offers plenty of features to make your head spin!
Fastor is another theme that can be used on different types of eCommerce sites. It has whooping 87 pre-made demos ready to be used at any moment! You can use them for online stores selling sports equipment, electronics/computers, lingerie, jewelry, other types of fashion apparel and accessories, toys, games, cleaning equipment, fine living, architectural services, baked goods, and even martial arts, you name it!
This easily customizable theme will give you all the freedom you need to design your own site style and tinker with the pre-built demos if you’re not really in the mood for building styles from scratch.
The live search option also has an auto-complete feature which really helps visitors out in entering the right info so they can find particular products on your site.
Another option gives you the ability to customize the settings for product filters and make it even easier for shoppers when they’re searching for a specific item.
Fastor is a theme that’ll provide your visitors and your customers with a super-fast site-loading experience. It contains a clean, compressed code that’s specifically designed to make your site load as fast as possible. CSS and js files are put in one file and don’t contain any spaces, making your site load super-fast.
Use the notification option to engage users and improve your customer conversion rates. With the popups tool, you’ll be able to show visitors new products and bring them to their attention. You’ll also be able to encourage them to share the products you’re offering on various social media platforms.
Fastor is a versatile Shopify theme that provides a premium speed-optimized user experience. As a site owner, it gives you plenty of room for choice and options for customizations so you can create a unique and recognizable style for your eCommerce venture.
Fastor has lots of impressive features that we didn’t have space to cover here. As we mentioned above, it’s a multi-concept theme, meaning it can be used for a variety of specific businesses. And it can also be used for a more general type of store with more general-looking layouts that can fit all kinds of businesses if that’s closer to your own online venture.
Whatever it is, Fastor has you covered with speed, functionality, and style!
More details at themeforest.net
Debutify is a Shopify theme optimized for all niches and designed to boost the conversions and overall performance of your website or online store. It’s, in fact, considered the highest-converting Shopify theme that you can get for free and that’s also suitable for all types of products and industries.
Debutify has a clean design and excellently displays your products’ details. It’s mobile-friendly too – largely thanks to its mobile-optimized layout that gives customers an outstanding shopping experience on their mobile devices.
With the free version, you get some basic features that are essential for your online store. For example, you get a customizable default layout and design that’s easy to navigate and edit. You can customize it as you wish on the user-friendly dashboard even if you’ve never done this before. You can choose among other designs as well, and change the color of your website elements.
With the premium plans, on the other hand, you get access to even more features. The “Starter” plan gets you 3 more features, including add-to-cart animation, cart countdown, and cart discount. The “Hustler” and the “Guru” plans are more expensive and include all 28+ features such as:
The Debutify theme is fully optimized for dropshipping, print-on-demand, and brand stores, so it’s suitable for all industries and niches. It’s a one-click installation theme that requires only your Shopify URL, and after installation, you’ll have no issues whatsoever with customizing its designs, even if you’re a newbie. And lastly, let’s not forget that this is a highly converting theme that’s also considered one of the fastest Shopify themes out there, so you can make the most out of your sales.
If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to boost their sales, you can either give Debutify’s free version a go or try some of the premium plans for free for up to 2 weeks.
More details at debutify.com
There are so many themes out there it’s impossible for us to list them all. The themes on this list are both lightning-fast and popular but they may not be for everyone.
As we’ve stated a few times in this article, speed is only one factor of many when it comes to your broader online marketing.
If none of the themes on this list suit what you’re looking for, take a look at these two alternate options:
The Shopify Theme Store where there are some fantastic themes available many of which will load very fast.
Themeforest which is a theme marketplace that caters to many different CMSes including Shopify. I’d be a little bit more wary of choosing a theme from here as ideally, you want a mature theme that will be supported for a long time. There are plenty of great options available but you may need to do some digging.
So, folks, this is where we end this article on the fastest Shopify themes. We know the list is small, but we made sure to include the best of the best on the online themes market.
If you’re looking for more help with your Shopify speed head over to our friends at SpeedBoostr or HeyCarson – they’re both specialists in Shopify Speed Optimization and can help you speed up your site over and above what a fast theme will do out of the box.
If you’re looking to DIY your Shopify Speed Optimization, this post on Shopify Speed & Speed Optimization will definitely have some improvements you haven’t thought of.
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