Today’s fast paced economy requires businesses to scale on the go as the industry expands. This requires a robust platform that can support growth and is future flexible. Industry experts often opt for  Magento 2, a powerful eCommerce platform that ensures high performance and seamless user experience.Collaborating with Magento experts ensures the platform is optimized for scalability and customize to specific business needs.

However, as the platform grows and integrates numerous third-party extensions, performance optimization becomes essential to maintain its efficiency. One of the most effective strategies to address the challenges is through PowerListing, a solution designed to streamline and enhance product listing performance on Magento 2 stores. 

What Is PowerListing?

PowerListing is a robust optimization tool that redefines product listing performance for Magento 2 stores. By indexing all critical product information-Such as titles, prices, images, reviews, and more directly into Elasticsearch, it eliminates the dependency on MySQL for listing-related data.

This innovative approach significantly accelerates loading times, improves scalability, and delivers seamless user experience, even for stores with extensive catalogs and  heavy traffic. With features like filtering, intuitive navigation, and faster rendering of product listings, PowerListing enhances the shopping experience while delivering top-tier performance.

Common Issues With Product Listing Pages (PLPs)

Standard PLPs often suffer from:

• Dependency on MySQL- Despite advancements like Elasticsearch, MySQL often steps in for tasks such as retrieving product information and inventory details. This becomes resource-intensive and slows down page load times.
  
• Slow Filtering and Sorting-  Slow filtering and sorting features can frustrate users, as delays in refining search results disrupt their browsing experience. Customers expect intuitive navigation, and the delay could lead to increased bounce rates and fewer conversions.
  
• Customizations and Third Party Modules- Magento’s flexibility and complexity enables customizations and integrations with third-party platforms, but this often adds complexity. These may lead to performance bottlenecks, slow response times, etc.

Performance bottlenecks

Default Magento 2 may struggle with large catalogs and high traffic. 

• Loading times for category pages that enlist several hundred products can become excessively slow rendering a subpar user experience and higher bounce rates. 
  
• In addition, third party extensions and large customizations further slow down the platform.

Why PowerListing Is Essential For Modern Magento Stores

PowerListing addresses key technical challenges that affect the efficiency and performance of Product Listing Pages (PLPs) in Magento 2 stores.

The current Flow Summary

• User initiates a search query
• Elasticsearch processes the query and returns the product IDs only.
• Magento retrieves the product details such as name, price, image etc. by making multiple calls to MySQL/MariaDB.

The final product listing is assembled and displayed on the frontend.

Challenges With The Current Workflow

The issue arises due to multiple database calls. While many product details- such as names, prices, and images- are fetched in a single query, certain details, such as inventory or custom attributes, require separate database queries. These additional queries become resource intrusive especially for large catalogs or high-traffic stores. Conducting a Magento 2 code audit can help identify inefficiencies and streamline the database interactions for optimal performance.This process increases response times and delays the rendering of product listings leading to a substandard user experience.

The Solution: How PowerListing Helps Optimize The Process

PowerListing renders a streamlined flow by addressing technical limitations. Here’s how-

1. Eliminating Repeated Database Calls
   User request -> Elasticsearch -> Listing Page (No Database calls)

• All the required data including name, price, image, reviews, etc. are indexed in Elasticsearch. Therefore, the frontend requests data directly from Elasticsearch.
• Elasticsearch acts as a primary data store for product information, completely bypassing the need to send queries to the Magento database for listing-related data. Thus, improving efficiency.

This is ideal for speed and scalability, especially with large catalogs.

2. Using a Cache Layer
User request -> Elasticsearch -> Cache Layer -> Listing Page

• This adds an extra layer of optimization on top of the first scenario.
• A caching layer (e.g Redis, Varnish) is introduced between Elasticsearch and the listing page.
• Product data is pre-fetched and stored in this highly optimized cache layer. So, frequently accessed data from Elasticsearch is cached, further reducing the load on Elasticsearch and improving response times. 
• Elasticsearch integrates directly with this cache, reducing dependency on MySQL/MariaDB during searches.
  

Both flows aim to minimize database calls and leverage Elasticsearch for faster product listing. 

Benefits of Optimizing Magento 2 With PowerListing 

1. Faster Load Times – PowerListing significantly reduced page load times with optimized images, media and caching strategies ensuring that product listings load quickly even on resource intensive pages. Thus, leading to improved user experience and SEO.
   
2. Improved search visibility- Properly structured listings such as product titles, descriptions, tags etc. boost  SEO rankings, making products easier to find on search engines and within the store.
   
3. Enhanced Filtering- Using powerListing enables faster and more flexible filtering options, allowing users to find the products they are looking for, faster.
   
4. Better User Experience- PowerListing offers intuitive navigation, and enhanced filtering makes it easier for customers to engage with the platform and discover products.
   , promotions, and customer reviews become easy, which significantly influences purchase decisions.
   
5. Scalability- The store can handle larger numbers of products and higher traffic volumes without a decline in performance. 
   

PowerListing In Action For Our Clients

Let’s look at some success stories of our clients where PowerListing implementation significantly enhanced store performance

Investing In PowerListing For Long Term Success

PowerListing offers a streamlined approach to optimizing Magento 2 stores by addressing performance bottlenecks and enhancing the user experience. It isn’t just a technical upgrade rather an investment in your store’s future success. A faster, more responsive store translates to happier customers, better retention and increased sales.Leveraging technologies like RabbitMQ used in Magento 2 can further improve the efficiency of background processes and ensure seamless operations.

Ready to elevate your Magento store? Now is the time to explore PowerListing solutions.