Every browser keeps a log of what goes wrong while a page loads. Broken scripts, files that failed to arrive, code that crashed halfway. Shoppers never see this log. Neither do most store owners.
We opened it on a set of big Shopify stores this week. One fashion store logged 93 errors on a single page load. A nutrition brand logged 22 on one product page. A skincare brand logged 11, a drinkware brand 10, another fashion store 8. On every visit, for every shopper, all day.
What we saw
Do errors actually matter?
Some are harmless: a blocked tracking pixel, a retry that succeeds. But a store that logs dozens of errors is a store where nobody is watching, and real breakage hides in the noise. The expensive kind looks like this: a script crashes only on iPhones, or only when an ad blocker is on, or only after a cookie banner is dismissed - and for those shoppers the size picker, the cart drawer, or the checkout button quietly stops working. The store looks fine in the office. The lost orders never explain themselves.
Errors also cost speed. A script that fails and retries holds the phone's processor while the shopper waits.
Check yours in one minute
- Open your store in Chrome.
- Press F12, and click "Console".
- Reload the page and watch the red lines arrive.
A healthy page logs zero errors, or close to it. If you see red, the question is which lines are noise and which are a broken feature - and that is exactly the part that needs an engineer for an hour, not a subscription to another tool.
We read error logs for stores every week. If you want yours read, ask us - we will send you the list, what each line breaks, and which three to fix first. Free.