E-commerce as a key type of web design

Designing an e-commerce site is not just about building a website to sell products but designing a pleasant online shopping experience. Web design for an e-commerce business is as critical as store design and layout of products are for a traditional brick and mortar store. It is where items will be bought from. It is good to think of it almost like a portal; the place where the buyer and seller will come together as one. This is why it is key the store is to be set up as well as it can be too for the buyer.

There needs to be a good web design process in place

Just as we’ve already explored with the e-commerce checkout flow, a poorly designed shopping experience can (and will) force users to leave and find a better experience elsewhere. While in the first resource we focused on the checkout part of it, here we’ll find out how the whole design of your website can impact sales. But more importantly, we’ll figure out what are the best practices so that you can find your way through this challenging task. Web design is key in this way.

The e-commerce web design agency landscape has changed a lot in the last 5 years. First, the quantity of online transactions has exploded. This is so much the case that retail e-commerce sales worldwide have gone from 1.3 trillion dollars in 2014 to a projected 4.1 trillion dollars in 2019. This has lead to an inevitable race to the greatest UX. Trust me, in this crowded landscape, you don’t want to be trailing behind. You really do need to be and get ahead of the game in no end of ways here. This is a key area of marketing.

You need to be sure to engage too

An e-commerce site is primarily built for customers to shop. Your design should make it seamless for them to do so. It has to be intuitive and easy to use if you want to make more sales. To reach next level user engagement, there are a few concepts you should keep in mind. You need to do this at all times while designing your website. You need to really have a good think as to what it is you are going to be doing.

There are some key design tips to remember here

It’s important to keep in mind that there isn’t a single way to build a great e-commerce website. What follows are recommendations and things that should appear on it. You can include these elements however you want; go crazy with it! Be creative in the way you create a unique experience that fits your brand. Some of the following elements depend on whether you’re selling a single product vs. multiple products.

Obviously, architectures aren’t exactly the same in both cases. A site with thousands of pages is going to have significantly different systems in place to keep everything consistent. They will also need to be very organised than a site with only a few pages. Still, here are a few concepts that apply for online stores of any size. Some site-wide design elements are expected of any e-commerce website. Some of these help with general navigation. Also, ensure it’s easy to get back to shopping, no matter where you find yourself on the site. Others are present to show potential customers that they can trust you.

Overall

Users generally get to a listing (or catalogue) page through the search bar or by selecting a product category via the navigation. It also means: they are starting to get curious. That’s where they’ll find a listing of every product associated with the category closer to their present need. Of course, if you only sell a few products, it might not be necessary to break them down into categories. In that case, the listing page will include all the items you sell. The whole outlook to the website is key. You need to ensure you are strong right across the website.