There are an estimated 12 million – 24 million e-commerce sites across the globe. These numbers give the impression that the sheer competition would render starting an online business moot.
However, since less than a million of these stores make more than $1,000 a year, there’s ample scope for success if you know what strategies to implement.
This article will highlight some e-commerce design trends that can help our readers run a successful online business.
A well-designed website is integral to the success of an online business. It is the first impression a visitor gets of your business and your brand.
Implementing some of the latest e-commerce design trends will help your online business to thrive.
1. Make Branding a Priority
People want to buy from brands, not retailers and stores. Internet users trust established brands more than faceless e-commerce sites that look like a thousand other stores.
Visitors to your site must be hit with what you stand for as a company, why you are in business, and what makes you better than the rest. They know you are in it for their money, tell them why your business and no one else deserves to earn it.
Make a thorough study of branding principles and then incorporate it throughout your site.
2. Interactive Product Visuals
Brands that make the online shopping experience more real for consumers will win more customers.
Consumers want to be able to interact with products and look at them from every angle to help them decide whether to make a purchase or not. Product animations can help with this.
Product animation is a realistic three-dimensional animation of a product that illustrates the features of a product in a way that traditional videos and photos can't do.
3D product animation is a modern marketing tool that puts a virtual version of a product in the hands of the buyer. It's the next best thing actually to manipulate something in real life.
3. Use High-Quality Lifestyle and Product Photos
Online people buy with their eyes in the absence of the opportunity to touch, smell or taste a product. So, it's evident that you need high-quality photos to entice buyers.
There are two ways to present your product images.
- The standard product photo with a white background. A white background is the least distracting, making it easy to see the product in detail.
- Lifestyle photos. Lifestyle photos show the product in real life and how a consumer is using it. These images help consumers envisage themselves living with and using the product.
4. Opt For Scanning Rather Than Reading
People don't want to read anymore. They want the crucial information as soon as possible. That's why you should provide comprehensive information about your products, but allow visitors to your site to scan the information quickly.
Research supports this notion. Studies have found that most website visitors only read about 20% of the text on web pages. Instead, they scan the content for key information.
So, website owners have to optimize their content so it can be scanned easily. To this end, you can implement:
- Short paragraphs
- Bullet points
- Many subheadings
- Short sentences
- Important sentences separated from paragraphs
- Short words
Make your content easy to scan so visitors to your site can find key information quickly.
5. Make Site Navigation Easy and Logical
You want visitors to your site to understand it at first glance. You don't want them to click all over the place to find a product or category.
Your website navigation should streamline the online shopping experience for your site visitors. To this end, make good use of drop-down menus to keep your site uncluttered.
In addition, limit the number of menu headers and label them simply and clearly – don't try to be clever here.
Well-thought-out navigation improves customer experience, which brings people back to your site again and again.
Take note of your own online shopping experiences and the websites you buy from. What makes them work for you?
6. Make Checkout Easy
This is one of the most important factors influencing the income potential of online stores. A straightforward and pain-free way to buy is paramount for any online business.
In fact, a convoluted checkout process is one of the top reasons for cart abandonment. For instance, if a store requires account creation during the checkout process, 23% of people will abandon their carts immediately.
Make your checkout page easy for visitors to navigate and understand, with all the necessary information presented clearly. You will benefit from this effort. According to the Baymard Institute, online stores can gain a 35% increase in conversion rates with an optimized checkout design.
7. Leverage the Power of Reviews and Testimonials
Adding customer reviews and testimonials is a proven way to create trust in your brand. Consider that 61% of online shoppers report reading customer reviews before deciding to purchase a product.
Customer reviews provide a level of social proof that no amount of clever advertising copy can compete with. Also, customer reviews are one of the most influential factors when it comes to rankings in local searches. Customer reviews help businesses rank well.
A developing trend that works well is to put product reviews directly under the product description.
8. Leverage AI & Chatbots
AI & chatbots are becoming increasingly influential in e-commerce. Around 50% of consumers say they would purchase something from a website after interacting with its chatbot.
Chatbots are artificially intelligent software programs that use natural language and pre-programmed responses to have a conversation with website visitors.
Chatbots can provide a personalized customer experience for online shoppers by answering their questions, suggesting products, and helping them navigate the website to find what they’re looking for.
Smart AI & chatbots can provide timely customer service and help customers to do their purchases quickly and securely.
Smart AI & chatbots can provide timely customer service and help customers to do their purchases of products quickly and securely.
9. Make Sure Your Website is Mobile Responsive
Online store owners who want to be successful can't afford to ignore the power of mobile optimization. Not making your website mobile responsive means you are basically discounting sales from the majority of your potential customers.
Mobile e-commerce statistics bear this out.
- 65% of consumers compare prices on their phones while in a physical store.
- 82% of Internet users in the United States have used a mobile device to shop online.
- People who have a negative experience in your mobile store are 62% less likely to purchase from you in the future.
Experts recommend that website owners consider a mobile-first design approach, which prioritizes the mobile user experience when designing a website or application.
This approach considers the various constraints of smartphones and other mobile devices and design for mobile users first and then adapt the design for larger screens. This approach also influences website ranking on search engines as they have started prioritizing websites that are optimized for mobile devices.
10. Use Striking Design Elements
You can make your website stand out and attractive to internet users with unusual typography in striking colors that make text stand out. You need to use unusual fonts that are easy to read and colors that are eye-catching.
Employ a designer who is a real artist that understands the importance of spacing text so it doesn't overpower a webpage. You can implement font sizes and weights cleverly to emphasize important information you want visitors to take in.
And don't underestimate the importance of color – it is far more than merely an aesthetic element.
Picking the right color scheme can boost conversions by up to 24%. Also, the color you choose can help to establish your brand – most people associate a brand with color.
Conversely, consumers find strange colors off-putting - 21% of web visitors will leave a website that uses outlandish colors.
If you need help migrating your store, one of the best solutions is the cart migration tool Cart2Cart. It is a simple and trustworthy cart migration tool that transfers all website data securely and accurately.
March 29, 2024 
