scandiweb has open-sourced the core of Expedio for Magento merchants. The software is designed to help retailers speed up existing Magento stores without moving to Shopify.

Expedio changes how Magento builds storefront pages on the server and uses Liquid, the open-source templating language used in Shopify themes. The first release is built for stores running Hyvä, while cart and checkout remain on Magento.

The launch targets a pressure point in the eCommerce software market, where site speed has become a factor in platform choice. Merchants considering a move from Adobe's Magento ecosystem to Shopify can instead use Expedio to improve performance while keeping their existing store design, admin systems, catalogue and data, scandiweb said.

Magento has lost more than a third of its live stores since 2022, according to Store Leads, the company said. It argued that replacing an established eCommerce platform can force retailers to rebuild links to warehouses, payment systems and customer accounts, while also recreating custom features developed over several years.

Expedio sits beneath the theme layer and changes how Magento assembles pages before they are delivered to shoppers. Modern themes such as Hyvä have improved browser-side performance, while Expedio is designed to address server-side page generation, scandiweb said.

Because templates keep the same markup, merchants can retain the appearance of their storefronts while changing the underlying page-building process, according to the company. Stores can also move to Expedio one page type at a time rather than switching the whole site in a single step.

That phased approach may appeal to retailers looking to limit disruption to trading operations.

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