Neither is slow. Most shoppers out there do not want to be distracted by flashing this and pirouetting that, however novel and inspired you or your developers might find it. When it comes to sales, it's only designers and programmers who get excited by this stuff. A picture is worth a thousand words. There is a power in the word to take hold of your customer's imagination and place him or her firmly into the ambiance you are trying to create and sell that no picture can accomplish.
Words excite the emotions in a very singular way.
And by the way, a picture that takes forever to download is far more likely to encourage your customers to bail rather than buy. We simply gotta have a search engine. More often than not, an in-site search engine is a bad idea and a big waste of money. Instead of thinking more technology is going to save you, think how to shape the design of your site through a well-designed series of links, so it effectively can lead your customers to what they are looking for. Improving your Information Architecture will help your sales much more than a search tool will.