Ecommerce design trends are all about change. They're constantly shifting in response to evolving user preferences, cultural shifts, and tech advancements. From bold, unconventional, and somewhat experimental designs to neutral, minimalist aesthetics, the trajectory of design trends reflects what's hot at the moment. It plays a central role in shaping how consumers perceive a brand.
Why is It Important to Keep Up With Design Trends?
Web design features and capabilities are constantly evolving. If you don't keep up with the latest trends, then your competitors will always have a leg up over you. Every year, new ideas and concepts are introduced to capitalize on user demands. Tides can quickly change, and what was once considered irrelevant or even outdated can suddenly become the in thing.
To ensure your customers get the best, most memorable shopping experience, you must keep re-imagining your eCommerce website. You must keep reevaluating it to ensure that it is up-to-date with the latest trends. You must make a point of redesigning it every year and incorporating elements that keep it looking and feeling fresh.
Sounds like a lot, right?
It begs the question: Why should you stay up-to-date with the latest design trends? Here are some potential benefits you could be missing out on by keeping your website design stagnant.
Keeps Your Business Relevant
By staying up-to-date with current design trends, eCommerce businesses ensure that their visual communication remains appealing to their target audience. Consumers' demands are constantly changing, so your business needs to evolve at the same rate to ensure your customers still find it relevant.
The latest design trends are a reflection of the society's current aesthetic preferences. For instance, if you're a clothing brand, and pastels and neutrals are in, you should update your website to reflect that aesthetic. If your website is running loads of resource-intensive elements, integrating intelligent page loading techniques like infinite scrolling or lazy scrolling makes for a better overall browsing experience for your customers.
Improves the User Experience
The primary goal of any online store should be to provide the best possible user experience for customers. The idea is to keep them plugged into your site, increasing their likelihood of making a purchase. The more engaging your website is, the higher the number of conversions you can expect. More conversions equal more sales and revenue.
By staying current on the latest eCommerce design trends, you ensure that your site isn't just aesthetically pleasing but functionally sound as well. Most design trends reflect the latest advancements in technology and changes in user behavior. This allows web designers to create websites that offer a better overall user experience in terms of both the way the site works and how it looks.
Gives You a Competitive Edge
As the adage goes, there's nothing new under the sun. No matter how unique you believe your product is, chances are, there's another brand out there offering the same thing. There's also the chance that someone's waiting in the wings to create a cheaper knock-off of your product. Regardless, you can never get too comfortable if you want to develop and maintain a competitive edge over your rivals.
To stay ahead of the competition, you must stay current on the latest design trends to ensure your website is aesthetically appealing and functionally sound. This is the only way you can differentiate yourself from your competitors, attract more customers, and maintain a lead in the marketplace.
See also: Ecommerce Migration—How to Keep Your SEO During Store Replatforming.
Enhances Your Brand Identity
Many factors go into building a solid brand identity. One of them involves integrating the latest design trends into your brand's visual communication. Customers always have their finger on the pulse so they know what's hot and what's not. They can tell from the moment they first land on a website whether they're dealing with a modern and dynamic brand or one that's stuck in the past.
First impressions matter, and if customers perceive your store as bland and outdated, that's what will come to mind every time they see or hear about your brand. You want your business to be associated with being contemporary and innovative. You do this by keeping up with the latest design trends and refreshing your website to match what's trendy. That's how you attract customers and convert them into loyal brand ambassadors.
Provides Your Team With Inspiration
Staying up-to-date with the latest design trends keeps your team on their toes. It inspires them to explore new color palettes, techniques, technologies, and trendy design elements that spark their creativity and encourage them to come up with fresh designs for your store.
Top 13 Ecommerce Design Trends in 2024
Here are the top trending design elements you should consider integrating into your eCommerce website:
- Gradients
- White Space
- Centered Navigation Menus
- Engaging Page Transitions
- Dark Mode
- Engaging Filters
- AI and Chatbots
- Micro-Animations
- Micro-Interactions
- Multi-Directional Layouts
- Virtual Reality
- Pastels and Neutral Colors
- Intelligent Content Loading
Bonus: Accessibility
1. Gradients
While gradients might not necessarily be a new trend, they have evolved from the subtle multi-color overlays we've come to know to bold, eye-catching backgrounds. We have seen them used to infuse a bit of texture to an otherwise dull illustration, adding depth and transforming it into a stunning background. We're also seeing them increasingly used in larger, bolder typography.
Gradients have tremendous staying power, and it's exciting to see their continued evolution and use on eCommerce websites.
2. White Space
Another stunning trend we're seeing on websites is the use of white space. The idea behind it is to space out content on the screen, giving it room to breathe. In our experience, when a ton of information is crammed into a tiny space, visitors find it overwhelming and may not take the time to peruse the products.
Incorporating white space makes for a more relaxing shopping experience, placing the product front and center so it stands out. We've also found that this approach improves the readability of your content so customers quickly get the message you're trying to pass.
It is worth noting that white space doesn't necessarily have to be "white." It's about creating negative space between elements. Provided that you leave it empty, white space can be any color you want it to be, even black.
While you might be tempted to put out an overwhelming amount of text highlighting your products' features to let prospective customers know why they should purchase from your store, this approach has the opposite effect. An overwhelming amount of words on a web page with little to no white space between elements feels retro. It makes a website feel outdated and reminiscent of the old-school, 2000s-style sites that were synonymous with having a "wall of words."
Contemporary web design focuses on finding the perfect balance between incorporating concise text, compelling visuals, a minimalist layout, and easy, user-friendly navigation. Having too much copy on a website is an obsolete concept and may negatively impact your store's engagement rates. Apple's website is an excellent example of a homepage design for eCommerce that employs great use of white space.
3. Centered Navigation Menus
In previous years, the norm was to tuck away the navigation menu in the top left or right side banner of an online store. While there's nothing inherently wrong with those positions (since most website visitors expect to find it there anyway), the issue is that it has become an afterthought for most.
Placing your navigation menu at the center makes it easier for customers to find what they're looking for quickly and easily, especially if they're using a smartphone to browse. There's also the fact that this layout encourages shoppers to make faster purchases.
According to Google, 58% of smartphone users are more likely to convert into sales if they can make purchases quickly. If you're looking to increase sales, consider adopting this design trend when building or revamping your eCommerce site.
4. Engaging Page Transitions
If there's one thing shoppers can't stand, it's waiting. Being able to buy what you want when you want, day or night, is partly why so many people have embraced eCommerce the way they have. In a 2021 survey, 50% of respondents stated that the main reason they preferred to shop online was that they found it more convenient than traveling to shop in-store.
For this reason, most brands at the time focused on ensuring their sites load faster. However, in this day and age, fast-loading sites aren't enough to satisfy online shoppers. Now, they want faster transitions within the buying journey, particularly when it comes to adding items to a cart, billing, and finally checking out. These processes need to be super-fast.
In addition to speed, they want to see engaging page transitions. Something that adds a bit of spice to their shopping experience. Integrating unique and engaging transitions to your eCommerce website makes the navigation process fun, enhancing the overall user experience.
Here are some of the latest page transition trends we're seeing this year.
- Smooth scrolling: Integrating smooth scrolling into the product listing pages creates seamless transitions between multiple product categories. That way, users can scroll through product pages flawlessly while staying plugged into the entire process.
- Flash animations: Using flash-animated transitions between different product pages on eCommerce websites delivers more fun and exciting user experiences.
- Diagonal shape transitions: If you're looking to spruce up the transitions between different product visuals, diagonal shape CSS transitions can help you do just that. They make online stores look unique and visually appealing.
- Page loading transitions: Traditional "loading" animations are out. Page loading transitions are in. Web designers are now incorporating progress bars and percentages to denote how far in the page loading process is. This simple trick works remarkably well to increase the level of engagement visitors have with your site.
- Fading transitions: In this transition technique, the current page a user is on gradually fades out when they click on an element that takes them to a new page. We've seen it in action when a customer finishes checking out, and the page fades out before it is replaced with the "Thank you for shopping with us" page.
- Slide transitions: This transition technique is similar to fading transitions, except that in this case, the current page slides out, and the newly selected one slides in. For instance, when a shopper adds a product to their cart, the current page slides out, and the shopping cart page slides in.
See also: GoDaddy SEO Review—Is It a Waste of Money?
5. Dark Mode
Dark mode is emerging as one of the most contemporary design trends of the year. It transforms ordinary eCommerce websites into eye-friendly, eye-catching online stores. Dark mode works remarkably well on OLED displays that come with the newer smartphones on the market. If your online business explicitly targets smartphone users, you might want to consider jumping on the dark mode bandwagon.
Why is this important, you might ask? Statista predicts that mobile eCommerce sales will account for a staggering 60% of global online retail sales in the coming years. This design trend might be just what you need to gain a competitive edge against your business rivals.
With that in mind, here are a few ways dark mode can elevate your online store.
- Having a dark background makes it easier for you to highlight important elements in your online store.
- It gives your website an edgy, contemporary look, giving you a creative leg up over the competition.
- It benefits customers using phones with OLED screens by extending their battery life.
Even Google has joined the dark side by introducing a dark mode feature to its Chrome browser. If Google is doing it, then you know it's trendy.
6. Engaging Filters
Filter functions are one of the most important web design trends for eCommerce websites this year. It's about helping shoppers find the products they're looking for quickly and efficiently. As simple and practical as a drop-down filter might be, it's not going to do much to "wow" visitors on your site. It's time to think outside the box and design a filter function that can hook prospective shoppers and get them to stick around for longer.
A fun and engaging filter could spell the difference between keeping customers engaged with your site and losing their interest entirely. Here are a few ways to create an engaging filter function that's bound to pique visitors' interest.
- Design a filter that creates a personalized, click-activated shopping journey for customers.
- Integrate sliders or buttons to help users search for specific metrics like price, color, size, etc.
- If your business sells personalized products, create a filter function that allows users to build the products themselves as they go along.
Customers will notice and appreciate these innovative filter functions and will be more likely to recommend your online store to others.
7. AI and Chatbots
This year, we have seen a marked increase in the adoption of chatbots. We don't see this trend changing anytime soon; if anything, we expect it to become the norm. As machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to become more sophisticated, eCommerce websites are increasingly adopting chatbots to provide customers with a more personalized shopping experience and address simple customer service queries.
Suppose a customer visits your online store seeking support for a product they recently purchased on your website. Once they explain their issue to the chatbot, it may recommend a free upgrade on the product, resulting in a positive experience for the customer. Having a chatbot also cuts down on the business costs associated with having a live customer support representative on standby to address common queries.
This feature is especially handy if you don't have enough staff to manage your website's live chat. If the issue is too complex for the chatbot to address and requires human intervention, you can set it up so the chat can be forwarded directly to you. You can then engage with the customer from wherever you may be.
Voice-Activated Interfaces
While on the subject of AI, we're beginning to see more eCommerce websites integrating voice search as an alternative to traditional type-search. Customers can now verbally ask questions or make demands when searching for products or engaging with chatbots.
Remember, personalization is the name of the game. Incorporating a voice-activated interface into your website not only enhances the user experience but also speeds up the search process, minimizing the customer's effort. Voice searches and interactions feel more natural and conversational than text-based engagement, giving you a competitive advantage in today's ever-changing digital landscape.
8. Micro-Animations
Micro-animations are, at their simplest, are "tiny" animations. They are visual cues to your website visitors that they can take an action or have just made one. More websites are incorporating this feature to guide users through their interactions while also infusing an element of playfulness into your online store.
Ecommerce websites use micro-animations to enhance the user experience and provide shoppers with a more dynamic view of their products. For instance, if you have a clothing store, you can integrate micro-animations to show customers the different angles of an item when they hover their cursor over the images. This allows them to get a realistic feel of how the clothes would fit when worn.
9. Micro-Interactions
Like micro-animations, micro-interactions are tiny animations that give subtle feedback to site visitors. A popular micro-interaction we're seeing on more eCommerce websites is link buttons changing colors when a user hovers their mouse over them. For example, a black-and-white "Shop Now" button can change to blue and white when the mouse hovers over it.
The idea behind micro-interactions is to nudge shoppers to take action or, at the very least, let them know that they can if they need to. Another commonly used micro-interaction we've seen is the hues on a gradient slowly shifting as users scroll down a page. We've also seen colors "explode" from the mouse when a user clicks on an element.
These are all popular examples of micro-interactions that we expect to see more of in the eCommerce space this year.
10. Multi-Directional Layouts
Imagine being able to scroll through a webpage in more directions than just up and down. How great would that be? Well, now you can.
That's right. Brands are becoming more innovative with their product galleries, allowing shoppers to scroll forward, backward, horizontally, and diagonally. Going the unconventional route with your layouts makes the shopping experience more exciting compared to the usual up-and-down formats.
Here's why you should consider incorporating multi-directional layouts in your online store.
- It is ideal for smartphone users who are swiping with their fingers since mobile commerce has long since overtaken desktop shopping.
- It keeps customers engaged, improving the overall user experience.
- It gives your online business a creative edge over your competitors.
11. Virtual Reality
VR experiences on eCommerce websites are expected to be on the rise this year. IKEA is a prime example of this design trend in its ability to showcase to customers what a piece of furniture would look like in their space before deciding to buy it. Airbnb also offers virtual tours as an immersive and dynamic way for guests to explore potential rental properties before booking a stay.
Incorporating VR into your online store can be a powerful tool for serving meaningful, immersive content to prospective shoppers to help them with their purchasing decisions.
12. Pastels and Neutral Colors
There's something oddly calming and inviting about a website with pastels and neutral colors. They make it easier for customers to focus on the products and services on offer without getting distracted by bold and noisy background colors. Pastels and neutrals also give a website a more organized and professional look and feel, creating a sense of trust among prospective customers.
It is worth noting that incorporating pastel hues into a website can have the opposite effect if done incorrectly. There's a good chance it might make your website appear washed out, so you want to infuse the perfect combination of colors and tones that complement each other to make your website appear more visually appealing.
If that's the look you're going for, it might be a good idea to hire a professional web designer to ensure this unique style is implemented properly. The Oyster & Fish House homepage design for eCommerce is a great example of well-implemented pastels.
13. Intelligent Content Loading
Many eCommerce websites today are chock-full of resource-intensive elements and third-party integrations, all designed to enhance the store's functionality and deliver an optimum user experience to customers. Unfortunately, these elements usually result in slower page loading times.
According to Google, 53% of users will exit an online store if it takes over three seconds to load. For this reason, more websites are integrating intelligent content-loading tools to create smarter websites. This approach ensures that online stores only load relevant and necessary content for users as they scroll.
Examples of intelligent content loading at play include infinite scrolling and lazy scrolling, both of which have been implemented on browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Lengthy single-page eCommerce websites have also adopted this trend.
Adopting this design strategy can give your business a competitive edge by enhancing the user experience for your customers, therefore improving search rankings and conversion rates. Since users will never technically reach the bottom of a web page, it only makes sense to load content as they keep scrolling down.
Bonus: Accessibility
Accessibility and inclusivity are much more than a trend. There's an increasing need for websites to accommodate the needs of individuals with disabilities.
Making your site accessible to every visitor isn't just part of good customer service or enhancing the user experience; creating a website that lets people with disabilities navigate and interact with your content can boost your SEO, increase your conversion rate, and open up your business to a larger untapped audience.
Here are some tips you can use to improve your eCommerce store's accessibility:
- Create strong contrasting colors between site text and backgrounds.
- Incorporate focus indicators such as a yellow rectangular outline that appears around links and buttons when using keyboard navigation.
- Use instructions and labels with form fields as opposed to the stereotypical grayed-out placeholder text known for its low contrast ratio within the fields themselves.
- Add functional alt tags to your images.
How to Pick the Best Ecommerce Design for Your Website
To optimize your online business's conversions and revenue, here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing the best design for your eCommerce website.
User-Friendliness
Ensure that the eCommerce web design you pick for your site is user-friendly. The layout and placement of everything should be intuitive so customers can have an easy time navigating. They shouldn't have to dig through an endless sea of menus just to find what they're looking for.
The easiest way to accomplish this would be to organize your products into categories that make sense and group them under a menu that displays all those categories. As a rule, visitors to your website should be able to find the products they need with the fewest clicks possible.
Brand Identity
Your website design should allow you to prominently display your brand identity throughout the website. Ensure that the colors you choose are aligned with your brand and set a clear and consistent tone that represents your products.
Keeping the brand experience consistent across your website and other sales channels helps foster a solid customer-to-brand relationship, making it easily recognizable both online and offline.
Security
Privacy is of extreme importance when it comes to eCommerce websites. Customers will only shop on a site if they believe it is trustworthy. For this reason, ensure that you have an SSL certificate installed on your site and that your store conforms to the security standards set by PCI. Take necessary precautions to safeguard your customers' privacy and keep their data safe and secure.
Searchability
The search field must be clearly visible and within reach at all times. Customers should be able to use the search function to search for the products they need without navigating through countless web pages. Searchability is especially important for customers who already know what they're looking for and want to head directly to the product page.
Product Descriptions
Product descriptions play a central role in customers' purchasing decisions. Pay close attention to the layout and color palettes you pick for your product pages. The web design you opt for should highlight the product and use alluring fonts in the descriptions to make customers want to read through the information provided.
Steer clear of the so-called "wall of words" and instead use short, clear, and concise copy to describe your products. While product descriptions are not necessarily part of the website design, they do play a significant role in the overall user experience.
Minimalism
Since eCommerce sites are usually content-heavy, adding to the clutter by choosing a busy design might be off-putting to users. It might even lead to decision paralysis, which will ultimately negatively impact your bottom line.
Since customers already have to plow through a sea of products and relevant information just to narrow down their choices, you want to make it easier for them. The most effective way to do this is by adopting a minimalist approach to web design. Use neutral colors and have an ample amount of white space to make your products stand out. Minimalism adds a layer of elegance to your design and professionalism to your brand.
Mobile Optimization
Given that most consumers prefer shopping online using their smartphones, it only makes sense that you choose a responsive eCommerce website design. While an online store may look stunning when viewed on a desktop computer, it might not translate the same way when viewed on a smaller screen.
Pay attention to the look and feel of the mobile version of your website and adjust it for usability and navigation. The point is to ensure that users get an optimum shopping experience regardless of the device they use to access your online store.
See also: How to Optimize BigCommerce for Mobile.
Final Thoughts
Your eCommerce website design has the power to make or break consumers' perception of your brand. You would be surprised at the number of people who reject a site chiefly due to a poor or outdated design. Understanding the trends shaping web design can be the all-important stepping stone to achieving success in your online business.
Choose your web design carefully and pay attention to every minuscule detail throughout the process. Focus on making your brand recognizable, ensuring that it resonates deeply with your target customer base.
Additionally, make a point of revamping your website every year to match the latest design trends and tech advances to ensure you create the best, most memorable user experience for shoppers. When the time comes, consider using the eCommerce web design trends we've highlighted in this guide as a source of inspiration.
Are you looking to transfer your newly revamped store from your current eCommerce provider to a different platform? Cart2Cart can help take the guesswork out of the process. Our automated shopping cart migration tool will help you make the switch in a few simple clicks with no downtime or data loss.
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April 25, 2024 
