That means not having so many extra features and elements that ruin loading times. The site also has to be easy to navigate. Then, things like social media sharing buttons, shopping carts, and product prices need to be easy to access.

Check Out the Competition

Even if you have a clear idea of what you want your eCommerce store to look like, we strongly suggest you check out the competition. Go to their websites, browse them, pretend like you're an actual potential customer, go through the entire shopping process from start to finish (just don't finalize a purchase).

First of all, this might give you some new ideas, thoughts on what you can improve upon and apply within the eCommerce Website Design process. However, more importantly, it can help you think about how smooth the entire process was (or was not). Where do you think they can improve? Were there any frustrating moments during this whole process?

Then, apply all of this to your website. Try to avoid mistakes, and implement things they do well into your design.

Create a Style Guide

A style guide is a manual that outlines the elements of a website's design, from colors to fonts to page layouts. This guide will ensure the consistency of your site and establish a cohesive design throughout.

The style guide should also consider your logo and your brand's general "feel". So, do you want to present your site as elegant, classy, selling luxury items like watches and cologne? Or is it more cozy and homey, selling kitchenware, pillows, mattresses? Does your logo, and the color scheme you're looking for, match your brand?

A style guide for proper eCommerce Website Design can also help you through the process of updating your site as your business changes or as trends shift. You'll have a sense of what you want your site to look like at all times, which will mean less time spent on figuring out how to update it.

Finally, it can also help you or your designers unify your website and social media pages. For example, if you're going with a specific look, theme, and style, they can (at least partially) be applied to the content and photos you put on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Navigation and Sitemaps

It would be best to create an outline of what you want on each website page. That includes how many products you promote per page, where they will be displayed, and how many product options will be available per page.

A well-designed website will include great navigation options. Navigation refers to how easy it is for users to find what they're looking for on your site.

Navigating the site can be difficult if you have a large, complicated website with various products, services, and pages. So make sure to provide clear navigation options for your users.

The goal here, and in general the purpose of eCommerce Website Design, is to guide your customer towards making a purchase. Set up the website so that no matter where a potential customer lands, they can easily create a purchase. So, headings should be clear in terms of both design (easy to read, good contrast with the background) and function (there is no ambiguity on what they provide when you click on them).

For example, a customer landed on your website, they like the design, and they are interested in buying, let's say, a women's watch. An adequately organized website should have a drop-down catalog list, divided into men's and women's products and accessories.

Customer Effort

Closely tied to our previous point, a core part of eCommerce Website Development focuses not only on looks but on easy navigation. In other words, how much (or rather how little) effort does the potential customer need to invest in making a purchase.

So, one way you can do this is by minimizing the number of clicks a customer needs to make to reach the shopping cart. People shouldn't be jumping from screen to screen, opening multiple tabs, and going on a product hunt to search.

For example, a simple box should appear instead of having a link on the page to open a pop-up. This way, we ensure fewer steps for the user to reach us.

Simplify things as much as possible, for example, all sign-in, sign-up, and make-a-purchase stages. Don't ask for too much information - it will make you seem irritating, and people will get annoyed. Furthermore, if you had somebody on the fence with buying a product, this might push them over in the wrong direction.

eCommerce Website Design: How to Create an Interactive Interface

Bojan Lazić

Head of Frontend Development

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