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Case study · Magento 2

Faster, conversion-focused Magento 2 category pages

How we made a Magento 2 store’s category pages faster with leaner product collections, AJAX filtering, Varnish caching and flexible merchandising.

Frontend performance Product merchandising Filtering Caching
Category page TTFBx s → y s
Filter responsex s → y ms
Project overview

A large catalogue that needed faster category pages

Clienta Dutch online retailer with a catalogue of 20,000+ products
Project typeMagento 2 category page optimisation
PlatformMagento 2 Open Source / Adobe Commerce, Luma / Hyvä theme
Focus areasFrontend performance, product merchandising, filtering and caching
Meeting table with plans, notebooks and a laptop
The challenge

Slow, hard-to-browse category pages

Category pages are where most customers find products and decide what to buy. On this store, a large product catalogue, slow filtering, heavy frontend rendering and limited merchandising options made category pages slow and hard to browse. Pages took around x seconds to load, and every filter click reloaded the full page.

The goal was to make category pages faster, filtering smoother and product listings more relevant, without breaking any of Magento’s existing functionality.

Large product catalogue
Slow filtering
Heavy frontend rendering
Limited merchandising options
Our solution

Five changes across structure, data, filtering and caching

Maven Infotech optimised the category page structure, product collection handling and merchandising logic of this Magento 2 store.

1

Custom category page architecture

We restructured the category page using custom layout XML, PHTML templates and block and ViewModel customisations. This let us improve product listings and page components in a targeted way, while staying compatible with the existing theme.

2

Optimised product listing performance

We made product collections load only the attributes the listing actually needs, refined the collection queries and reduced the default page size / removed duplicate queries on product cards. We also reviewed the OpenSearch search and layered navigation configuration so filtering stays fast across the full catalogue.

3

Flexible product merchandising

We gave the team more control over product listings with configurable sorting, custom boosting rules built as a Magento module and custom product attributes. The store can now push priority products to the top and align category listings with its commercial goals, without needing a developer.

4

Faster, smoother filtering

We rebuilt filter interactions to load asynchronously, so customers no longer wait for a full page reload on every click.

Optional, only if the store runs HyväThe filters were built with Alpine.js as part of the Hyvä theme, keeping the frontend lightweight.
5

Smarter caching

We reviewed the full-page cache and Varnish configuration to speed up category page delivery. With correct cache tags, targeted cache invalidation and proper handling of dynamic blocks, pages stay fast while prices and stock stay accurate. The setup is now monitored as part of our ongoing Magento maintenance and support.

The impact

Measured results

Fill in with real, measured numbers before publishing.

Category page TTFBx s → y s
Mobile LCPx s → y s
Filter response timex s → y ms

With no full page reload

Category-to-product click-through rate+x%

Over period

MerchandisingSelf-managed

The team now re-sorts and prioritises products themselves

Technology and expertise

Built on Magento 2 and proven performance tooling

Magento logo PHP logo
Magento 2
PHP and custom Magento modules
Layout XML and PHTML templates
Product collections and catalogue attributes
OpenSearch / Elasticsearch
AJAX filtering
Varnish full-page caching
Core Web Vitals and performance monitoring
The outcome

A quicker path from browsing to buying

The store now has category pages that load faster, filter without reloading and show the right products first, even across a large catalogue. That gives customers a quicker path from browsing to buying and supports better webshop performance as the catalogue grows.

  1. Browse the category
  2. Filter without reloading
  3. See the right products first
  4. Open the product

Need faster Magento category pages?

Maven Infotech can optimise your storefront for speed, usability and scalable catalogue management. Talk to us, or hire Magento developers to extend your team.

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Viral Shah
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