Shopify China

Learn How Shopify Performs in China. Reduces your page-load time in China; All you need to know about CMS and Commerce Techs' performance in China.

ABOUT Shopify

Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce company that helps businesses quickly build commerce sites and point-of-sale (POS) systems. It powers businesses in over 175 countries. Brands like Allbirds, Gymshark, PepsiCo, and Staples are hosted with Shopify.

ISSUES WITH Shopify SITES IN MAINLAND CHINA

1. Missing China Compliance

Most Shopify sites with custom domains can initially be accessed in China (check if your site is blocked in China using this tool). However, soon the site will be blocked or perform unstably due to being out of China’s Compliance.

To help you understand better, the Chinese government has outlined five obligations companies must follow when hosting their websites in China.

The most common license companies will get to host content in China is – ICP Filing or ICP license, and you can learn more about ICP and how to get it in this post.

2. CDN Performs Poorly in China

Shopify sites use Cloudflare’s Content delivery network (CDN) to distribute the site content globally. It means your images and video content are distributed thru Cloudflare (unless you use a custom CDN service provider for your site).

Like most CDNs in the west, Cloudflare does not have mainland China support by default. If you want China-side acceleration, you need to adjust your site’s resources, images, videos, and javascript to load fast in China.

Keep in mind that if your site loads fast in the west, it does not mean it will load fast in China. Typically Shopify sites take 30+ seconds or are unable to load in China.

Your visitors in China will see a half-load or broken site (like the above diagram). Not sure how your Shopify site loads in China? You can ask us to run a speed test for you or have your team inside China’s firewall tell you how your site load in China.

WHAT CAN WE HELP?

We make Shopify storefronts load fast without rebuilding the sites from scratch. We also help companies to be compliant with China laws and help get the proper license quickly.