Your online store has been built up for fulfilling one major goal and that is to sell. There are many factors which can affect sales on your online store. But, the most important one we can say is the design. eCommerce web design can make or break your brand’s impression in the minds of your visitors.
Especially, your first-time visitors would judge your performance based on the design of your store. Yes, you heard it right. When it comes to eCommerce store design – “The book is judged by its cover.”
If you are having unprofessional and cluttered designed online store, you cannot expect your visitors to even stay there for more than 2 seconds. They would immediately bounce back and start browsing your competitors’ stores.
Yes, the competition is fierce and to stay ahead of the competition, you need to ensure that your eCommerce store design is as per latest trends.
Whether you are planning to redesign eCommerce store or you are launching a new eStore, being aware of the below-mentioned latest trends can help you in ensuring that your eCommerce store is up-to-date and ready to drive more conversions this year and in future upcoming years.
Simple Navigation
It doesn’t matter on which page of your eCommerce store the visitor has landed in. They must find their clear path starting from finding the products they want till the checkout. If anywhere, they find difficulty in navigating through your website, they may abandon your store.
Thus, keep the navigation in your store simple and easy to move around. Ensure that the categories and subcategories are minimum if possible as too much clutter can confuse your customer.
Further, you can add filters on category pages, to help your customers to narrow down their search.
Moreover, it is always better to add a search box on the top, so that your customers can easily find what they want on your store through that.
Compatible with different devices and platforms
As per statistics, it has been estimated that US retail eCommerce sales would reach 27% by the end of 2018 which was only 19% in 2014.
This means that the number of shoppers buying through mobile devices is consistently increasing with each passing year.
Thus, it becomes important to be careful about how your eCommerce website looks on different devices and platforms. Due to this reason, many companies have already converted their websites to responsive.
Mere, having a responsive online store is not enough. You also need to ensure that your online store provides an excellent user experience on mobile devices.
Just go through – How to optimize your store for mobile visitors to provide the best user experience to mobile device users and maximize conversions.
High-Quality Images
Whether you are planning to design a Hero image for the homepage or editing product images for the product pages of your eCommerce website. One thing is clear – the images used on your online store should be of high-quality.
The question arising in your mind may be – what can define a high-quality image? The image which is of high resolution with attractive colors is known as a high-quality image.
The high-quality images on your website work as a call-to-action for your eCommerce website. These images do the most important job for your business and that is representing your brand in an effective manner.
Quickly Loading Web Pages
When it comes to an eCommerce website, lack of speed can really kill your business. Obviously, nobody would trust or buy from a store where web pages get loaded slowly.
We are in an era, where we cannot expect patience from our customers. They just hate one thing and that is waiting. Whether it is website loading speed or delivery of products, the customers in this era just don’t wait for even a few extra seconds.
Just ensure, that your online store web pages get loaded within 3 seconds or less, otherwise, your customers may leave your website without even viewing your products. This would increase your bounce rate and decrease conversions which would be harmful for your eCommerce store in the long run.
For website speed optimization –
- Use properly sized images
- Remove junk code
- Check your server specifications
Theme Matching to Brand Identity
When it comes to eCommerce web design, one size never fits all. It doesn’t matter whether you own a Shopify store or a BigCommerce store, you can very well customize the design theme as per your brand and industry you belong to.
For example, if you are selling unique fashion accessories, the website design theme which suits your store should be extravagant and stylish. That same design theme cannot be executed for a store selling grocery products, right?
Thus, choose a design theme for your online store which suits your industry, brand identity and at the same time fulfills your customers’ expectations.
Embed Videos
These days videos have become the most engaging type of content which can boost conversions on your online store. The eCommerce stores are now adding more and more videos which can explain how the product works or providing complete information about your brand.
The best thing about these videos is that they can be shared on different social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc., and gain popularity for your store and brand.
Videos can undoubtedly bring life to the products which photographs cannot and thus are highly viewed in eCommerce websites these days.
eCommerce Web Design: The First Impression of your Online Store
Your eCommerce store design is something which forms the first impression of your brand as soon as the visitor enters. Like no one would like to purchase from an unorganized brick and mortar store full of dust, the same is with online stores too.
As soon as a visitor lands on your eCommerce store homepage or any other landing page, the first thing they expect is neat design and attractive colors. After that, they go into the details of your products, price, shipping/returns policies, etc.
Thus, eCommerce web design being very important can make a visitor decide whether to buy or not from an online store. Just ensure that the eCommerce web design features discussed here have been executed to your online store to win the trust and loyalty of your customers which ultimately lead to high conversions and increased ROI.