There’s nothing more frustrating than visiting your online shop to check in on things, only to notice some or all of your product images refusing to load. If you’ve spent time getting your photography just right and carefully laying out your shop pages, seeing broken image icons or blank spaces can be disheartening. And when it happens to your customers, it’s even worse. The moment an image doesn’t load is often the same moment a shopper decides to leave.
Product images are often what convince someone to click that Add to Basket button. They help people picture exactly what they're buying. A good shot can build trust, add personality, and highlight all the details that words can't. So when images don’t load, you're not just missing pictures, you're losing potential sales. Let’s look at what might be causing the issue.
When your product images aren’t showing up, there’s usually something technical going on. The problem might lie with your hosting, the way an image file is set up, or a simple mistake in how the image link is written.
Here are some of the most common causes to check first.
Your server helps deliver your website to visitors. If something’s off there, images can take ages to load or not appear at all.
- Shared hosting packages can drag during high traffic times.
- Limited bandwidth, especially on budget plans, can cause slowness.
- Outages from your hosting provider can lead to images failing to load.
If your store becomes sluggish during busy sales or seasonal events, the server may be falling short.
Great images still need to be web-friendly. An image that looks fantastic on your computer can be a problem child on your site.
- Images over 1MB can slow down load times, especially on mobiles.
- Uncommon formats like TIFF might not show in all browsers.
- PNGs are ideal for graphics and logos, but JPEGs are better for standard product photos.
Stick to widely supported formats and compress images before uploading them. That way, you’re not making your visitors load more than they need to.
If an image path is broken, your website won’t know where to find it. Even a tiny typo can break the connection.
Here’s what you can double-check:
- The image file still exists in your media folder or hosting directory.
- The link in your site builder or CMS matches the file name and path exactly. Correct casing matters.
- If you've renamed or moved a file, make sure you’ve updated the image link too.
We once saw a clothing store upload new product photos and delete the originals, but they forgot that the original links were still in use on live product pages. That caused dozens of broken images until the updates were corrected.
People still using older versions of browsers may not see images properly, especially newer image formats like WebP.
- Test your site using multiple browsers regularly.
- Review how your site looks on both desktop and mobile.
- See if specific formats vanish in particular browsers.
Keeping your browser updated is just as important as keeping your site updated.
Browser plugins, especially ad blockers and security tools, can mistakenly block display elements on your website.
- If your image code structure isn’t tagged clearly, plugins might misidentify them as pop-ups or ads.
- Third-party images or image delivery methods might appear untrusted and be blocked.
Using a private window or browsing without extensions can help you test how your site looks to users with different setups.
A CDN works by storing your images on servers located in different places. When a customer visits your store, they get the image from the closest server.
- This reduces strain on your main hosting server.
- Users across different regions enjoy faster load times.
CDNs are a real help for UK-based e-commerce shops serving customers across Europe or internationally.
Lazy loading only loads an image when it’s needed. That means images only show up when a customer scrolls to them. No needless loading. No wasted bandwidth.
- This makes your site appear faster, especially for first-time users.
- It improves the overall browsing experience.
- It also works well on mobile, where data and speed matter most.
To implement lazy loading, you can add HTML attributes or ask your web developer for help adding it across product listings and blog content.
Make it a monthly habit to go through your product images and double-check everything is running clean.
- Swap out old images with sleeker, compressed versions
- Check all image links are current and still resolving
- Delete unused images to free up space
Your site's media folder can get clogged quickly. Clearing clutter keeps things light and fast.
Each month or so, test how your products display in different places.
- Use Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, plus at least one mobile browser
- Check on iOS and Android phones
- Open your store in a private browser window with no plugins running
This helps you spot strange loading delays or missing files on certain screens. It’s worth the 20-minute sweep.
When your product images don’t load, shoppers get a bad first impression. They could start wondering if your store is fully operational, where the rest of the content is, or if the product still exists. All of this could mean an abandoned cart waiting to happen.
Product images do more than display colours and angles. They build confidence. A clear, fast-loading picture reminds your customer they’re in the right place. It shows professionalism and care. On the other hand, broken thumbnails and blank spaces say the opposite.
If you keep having image issues despite all the fixes above, it may be time for outside support. A well-organised website with reliable image handling builds shopper trust and helps you turn browsers into buyers. Your shop deserves to look its best all the time. Make sure your images always load fast, look great, and work without a glitch.
Ready to give your online store the edge it needs? Elevate your site with seamless image performance and a smooth user experience by working with a trusted e-commerce website development agency. At Fire Up Design, we specialise in building reliable, visually striking shopping environments that keep customers engaged from the first click to checkout. Let’s create a site that works as beautifully as it looks and helps your business grow.