In the age of TikTok, reels, and thumb-stopping content, it’s no secret that video is now the most powerful storytelling tool in digital commerce. But when it comes to implementing video across your website, one concern still lingers in the minds of many ecommerce teams:
“What about site speed?”
It’s a valid concern. Milliseconds matter. Speed directly impacts conversion rates, bounce, and Google rankings. We’ve all seen the stats.
That’s why at Sauce, we’ve engineered our platform to not only protect performance - but to enhance it.
More Power, Less Load
Think of Sauce like switching to LED lighting: more output, less energy. We help brands turn content into commerce - through shoppable videos, UGC galleries, and real customer storytelling - all while keeping load times light and fast.
In fact, if video really slowed down sites in a meaningful way, you wouldn’t see performance-obsessed brands like Ancient + Brave, Never Fully Dressed, Duer, Umberto Giannini, or Drool Art running Sauce at the core of their conversion strategy. These teams measure everything—and they wouldn’t use anything that risks the customer experience. Neither would we.
What Sauce Does Differently
To demystify things, here’s how we’ve built Sauce to be fast-first by design:
JavaScript Load: All scripts are injected via Shopify’s block system or native embeds and load asynchronously, so they don’t block rendering or slow core functionality.
Video Playback: We use CDN-hosted 5-second webm loops - a format chosen specifically for lightweight, fast-loading autoplay.
Lazy Loading: Sauce only loads media when it’s in view - no preloading everything and no wasted bandwidth.
HTTP Requests: We consolidate and prioritise the highest-impact content, supporting metrics like FCP and LCP.
Third-Party Content: Even when pulling from platforms like Instagram or TikTok, we cache and serve through Sauce’s own CDN to minimise dependency.
Video Hosting: All videos are hosted via a global CDN with resolution scaling, especially tailored for mobile load speed.
But Let’s Talk Reality
Even if there’s a small trade-off in speed (and in most cases, there isn’t), what’s the cost of not using video where it matters most - at the point of purchase?
We’ve seen AOV, conversion, and engagement all increase significantly by placing high-impact content in strategic areas. We’ve tested it. It works. And we can show you the numbers, side by side.
So the real question isn’t:
“Will this cost us a few milliseconds?”
It’s:
“What’s it costing us not to surface high-performing video content right where our customers are ready to buy?”
If you’re already investing in beautiful content, don’t leave it sitting on your Instagram feed.
Put it to work. Let it sell.
And if you want to see how it performs on your site, side by side, we’d love to walk you through it.
Curious about the performance impact of video in your store?
Let us show you the data. Book a demo with Sauce →