Ecommerce Website Design: 6 Components You Need to Know

Worldwide ecommerce sales are expected to grow to 4.88 trillion US dollars by 2021. As more consumers prefer purchasing goods online, launching an ecommerce website can help you take your business to the next level.

How does that help you?

An online store can help you reach more people globally, retain existing customers, and attract new ones.

An online store allows people to check out your products and shop for them from anywhere, anytime. That’s because an ecommerce website is a store that is always open.

Basically, the number of ecommerce businesses is increasing for a reason. And you should plan and build an ecommerce website for online shopping regardless of whether you're a small business or a large one.

Anything else?

However, it is important to craft an impressive and functional ecommerce website design to ensure the success of your online store.

You need to develop an ecommerce website that is visually appealing, has a good user interface, and uses search engine optimization to increase conversions.

So what does it take to build a great online store with an impressive ecommerce website design? Let’s take a look.

Disclosure: This content has a few affiliate links, which means if you click on them, I will get a commission (without any extra cost to you).

How Can You Create an Effective Ecommerce Website Design for Your Store?

A good ecommerce website design can help you present yourself as a trusted and legitimate business, and that’s what customers are looking for.

If you want to grow your online business successfully, your ecommerce website design should include the following components.

1. Clean and Simple Design

The success of an online store is majorly influenced by its ecommerce website design. In fact, 48% of people determine the credibility of a business by its website design.

Busy designs easily lose their allure with time. But a minimalistic ecommerce website design with a simple color scheme and elegant typography can look appealing for longer.

Similarly, the more elements you put into your website design, the more they may distract users from the main purpose of the ecommerce website for your online retail store..

Removing unnecessary elements can help you draw your visitors’ attention to what matters most.

What’s more?

Minimalistic ecommerce websites will also load faster, which can help you reduce bounce rates and engage more visitors.

Website design templates can come in handy if you don’t want to go wrong with the look and feel of your ecommerce website.

They are code-free and professionally-designed to give your website a clean and impressive look.

So, if you want to optimize your store for more conversions, you should keep it simple and make sure the focus is on closing the sale.

Clean and simple ecommerce website designs are always better.

2. Easy Navigation

Ecommerce brands are spending huge amounts of money to bring visitors to their ecommerce websites.

It is crucial for brands to build ecommerce websites that can guide visitors to make a purchase for their online stores.

That’s why your site’s navigation should help shoppers find products quickly and easily.

Good navigation can help you improve user experience and lead to more sales and revenue.

On the other hand, poor navigation can annoy users and lead to a higher bounce rate.

Get it?

Good. The following tips can help you improve navigation on your ecommerce site:

• Main navigation menu: Follow common web design and navigation conventions to make things easier for users.

You should include your site’s main navigation menu at the top of the home page or on the left side of the  home page.

• Product categories: Organize your product listings using meaningful categories, subcategories, and labels.

For instance, if you’re a clothing brand that specializes in t-shirts, you can use labels like “Men,” “Women,” and “Kids” to categorize your collection.

• Search bar: Your web design should also include a search bar towards the top of every page on your ecommerce website.

This will help users to instantly find the products they want.

3. High-Quality Product Images

A picture conveys a thousand words. Sound cliche? Actually, it’s quite true. Especially for ecommerce websites and online stores.

Product images help visitors form their first impression of your product. They can either attract or turn them away.

Would you trust a store that failed to properly photograph their products?

Unlike brick-and-mortar retail stores, consumers can’t see, touch, feel, or try your products when they purchase online.

It’s often by looking at product photos that they decide whether or not they should keep looking.

If your product images are too small, pixelated, or there’s just one picture of each product, will it inspire people to purchase the product? Probably not.

That’s why you should invest in high-quality product photography to properly showcase your product. Online shoppers want to see how the product actually looks.

Think I’m exaggerating?

Then check this out:

33.16% of consumers prefer to see multiple photos of a product before they make a purchase.

You can also include a 360-degree shot or video that shows off all of the important features of your product.

Including a few in-context or lifestyle images of your product would be even better.

It is a great way to help users visualize the product as their own and build an emotional connection.

Do you have a WordPress ecommerce store?

Then, you are probably already aware of the design constraints on the platform.

However, if you use a tool like Elementor, you can create professional-grade product images using its drag-and-drop editor. You can finetune colors and layouts and view the updates in real-time.

Product images or videos are the best bet of any ecommerce website. They can help you encourage more users to buy your products and boost revenue.

A home furnishing store, Pottery Barn, uses a variety of impressive images and videos to show off their products.

Image via Pottery Barn

Using impressive images should not be limited to single product pages. You should also focus on improving the quality of smaller images displayed on category pages.

High-quality images are more likely to compel users to click on the individual pages and browse through them. The more pages they visit, the higher their likelihood of conversion.

Here’s how a real estate site, HomeReviews.com, displays various Las Vegas Condos that are available for sale:

Image via HomeReviews.com

4. Useful Product Descriptions

Your product descriptions should provide relevant and useful information about your product. They should cover the benefits of your products and their features.

When a visitor likes a product, they want to learn how your product can help them. So make sure that your product descriptions effectively convey the value your product can provide.

Want to know a pro tip?

Many people visit ecommerce stores only to browse stuff. While a great product description will keep them engaged on the page, a well-timed pop-up or sticky bar can nudge them towards checkout.

In a pop-up, you can flash items that your website visitors browsed or wishlisted. Add dynamic content like a limited-time discount or bundled offers to make them convert faster.

Use pop-up builder tools to get the pop-up content, timing, and target right.

5. Easy Checkout Process

This is obviously one of the most important elements of an ecommerce website. You should focus on delivering a great checkout experience to your buyers.

It should be easy for buyers to add items to their shopping carts and proceed to the checkout page. Make sure that you don’t confuse users during checkout. They should be able to view exactly what they have in their cart.

Use a simple and clean design. Give users an easy checkout process with features like a guest checkout option, easy form-filling, multiple payment options, and persistent cart summary.

You should also optimize your checkout page for speed. Improving your checkout experience can help you encourage more sales in the future and increase your customer retention rate.

Want another pro tip?

Be smart and capitalize on upselling opportunities.

If you have a Shopify store, you can use Zipify’s OneClickUpsell (OCU) for easy upselling. Traditionally, product recommendations are shown pre-checkout which can distract customers and keep them away from finishing their purchase.

OCU recommends products post-purchase.

Want to know why?

There are two advantages of upselling post-checkout. One, upsell recommendations are more relevant since they are based on the buyer’s recent purchases.

Two, customers need not go through the hassle of providing payment information again since it’s saved in the app. Just one click and the checkout is completed.

6. Mobile Responsiveness

A significant number of users shop online from their mobile devices. You should optimize your website for mobile devices to ensure that visitors have a pleasant experience.

Responsive design can make your ecommerce website design more user-friendly. Your mobile site should allow visitors to easily access all of the important features, offers, and products in no time.

Image via Amazon

FAQs

Q1. How can you create an effective ecommerce website design for your store?

A. The first step is to do some research and understand what kind of a website you want and then select a template that closely matches your expectations.

Also, choose your website design platform carefully and ensure that it offers all of the ecommerce features that you will need.

Once you have chosen a good website design platform and theme, then it is just a matter of adding various features and design elements to your website.

Q2. Which website builder is best for ecommerce?

A. BigCommerce, Wix, Shopify, etc. are all great website building platforms for ecommerce websites. They all have their own set of features, advantages, and disadvantages.

So, do your research and then pick the one that suits you best.

Q3. How much does it cost to design an ecommerce website?

A. With so many easy-to-use website building platforms out there, you can build a website almost for free. You do not even need to have any technical expertise or design experience to do so.

However, if you do want to hire a professional to design a custom website, then it can cost $10,000+. The cost will depend on how complex the website is and which platform you choose.

Q4. How should you choose a website design for your ecommerce store?

A. Before you choose a website design, first you need to do some research and see what your competitors are doing.

You can also go through the themes and templates provided by your chosen platform and pick the one you like the best.

Also, keep in mind that the simpler the design, the easier it will be to navigate.

Q5. What is the cheapest ecommerce platform?

A. Among the top platforms, Wix has the cheapest and most options available for pricing plans.

BigCommerce and Shopify are more or less similar in pricing, but their comparatively higher price is justified by the features that they offer.

Among other platforms, Zyro and 3dcart are also affordable options but are not as scalable as platforms like BigCommerce.

Q6. How should I design the product page of an ecommerce website?

A. Your product page should have lots of high-quality images and visuals of the product and a detailed description. Make sure that you provide zoom in and out feature for product images.

Also, add product features in bullet points rather than paragraphs to make them easier to read. Another great element that you can add to your product pages is the customer review section.

Last, but not least, make sure that there is enough white space and the pages look aesthetically pleasing.

Q7. What are things that should be considered during an ecommerce website design?

A. While there’s a lot that goes into designing an ecommerce website, here are some quick tips to get you started:

• Keep your website design clean and simple.
• Make your site easy to navigate.
• Use high-quality product images.
• Add useful product descriptions.
• Make the checkout process easy and quick.
• Ensure that your site is mobile responsive.

Q8. Is GoDaddy good for ecommerce?

A. GoDaddy is a good option if you want to create a basic website without many advanced ecommerce functionalities. However, it is not the best choice for ecommerce websites.

Q9. Is GoDaddy cheaper than Shopify?

A. If you just compare the prices, then GoDaddy does seem cheaper than Shopify. However, it does not offer as many features, so, Shopify still provides more value for the money.

Ready to Create an Effective Ecommerce Website?

An ecommerce website should not only be visually-attractive but also provide a hassle-free shopping experience.

If your website design makes consumers feel comfortable, they are more likely to buy your products and return.

You should incorporate the ecommerce website design elements mentioned above to improve the user experience.

Adding this to your we design will help you engage more visitors and encourage them to make purchases.

Need additional help to optimize your store for conversions?

I’d be happy to help you improve your ecommerce website design and conversion strategy. Please feel free to contact me here.

What to Do Next?

• Learn How to Avoid Mobile Shopping Cart Abandonment and Excel at Mobile Commerce
• Learn How to Build a Business Website & More About Website Development
• Read my Comparison of WooCommerce vs. BigCommerce to determine which is right for you.
• Learn Ecommerce Link Building from Jeff Oxford, the Founder of 180 Marketing on my podcast.
• Learn how to do Influencer Marketing for Ecommerce Growth: A Talk with Vivien Garnes on my podcast
• Listen to Wayne Mullins Talk About Fixing Your Website for Conversions on my podcast.

Disclosure: This content has a few affiliate links, which means if you click on them, I will get a commission (without any extra cost to you).