Answer
Jul 17, 2022 - 10:33 AM
Courtesy: Pixabay
Pictures are vital to eCommerce stores because they help store owners build expectations in their target customers. But besides building expectations, sellers also have to worry about one thing, and that’s site optimization.
Pictures contribute about 21% to the average site’s weight, but that could even be higher for an eCommerce store. But that only leads to problems like increased load time, higher bounce rate, and poor conversions.
Optimizing your images is definitely the way to go if you want your eCommerce store to attract, retain, and convert customers as well as rank on Google. And speaking of Google, the company created the WebP image format so site owners can optimize their images without losing quality.
So, is .webp good for eCommerce stores? Let’s find out.
Why WebP Format is Great for Ecommerce Stores- Faster Load Time
Customers have little patience for sites that take forever to load. According to Website Builder Experts, each second delay reduces customer satisfaction by 16%. Even more shocking is that 53% of mobile visitors will leave a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. Not to mention that SEO algorithms debase sites with low page load speed.
The WebP format will help you reduce your site’s loading time and boost conversions.
- Less Media Storage
Everyone knows that hosting your site costs money and will cost you more if your images aren’t WebP compressed. WebP images can compress up to 34% of your image file. And besides the fact that it’d help you decrease your site weight drastically, it’d also help you save some money that’d have been spent on hosting fees.
- Supports Transparency and Animation
One thing we love about the WebP format is that it’s very versatile. WebP is one of the few image formats that support PNG transparent backgrounds and GIF animations while still beatings JPEG’s compression.
Why WebP Isn’t Such a Great Idea for Ecommerce Stores- Not Supported by Several Browsers and Image Platforms
Outside Google’s ecosystem, WebP has suffered in getting adoption. The last time we checked, Internet Explorer and Firefox haven’t fully adopted the format. And this could affect your viewer's experience if they visit your site on these platforms.
- Reduced Quality
The huge gains in storage are only achieved from a sacrifice in quality, especially in terms of resolutions. And even though this doesn’t happen in all cases, it’s still significant for any image-based website.
- Not Compatible With WordPress
Yes, you need a plugin to use WebP on WordPress, but if you’re on WooCommerce and Shopify, you should be good.
- Needs Fallback Images
Because of the limited browsers and platforms it supports, several web admins and managers opt for the inconveniencing option of having a backup image. Which kind of defeats most of its intended goal.
Our VerdictWebP is a great format for anyone looking to cut down their site’s weight. And even though it does come with some weak points, the contributions it’d make to your store far outweighs its drawback.
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