Main principles of the E-commerce web design

Four whales of e-commerce product

E-commerce is a transaction that is done online. This means that whenever you buy and sell something over the internet, you are engaged in e-commerce.

The principles for building a product that we will list are generally universal but are essential for an e-commerce product: market, traffic, conversion and service.

Market

Logically, this factor varies from the location and the products presented on the site. And if we segment it, most of it is B2B oriented, over 38%.

Traffic

Traffic is your money or rather clients who will be ready to pay you this money. Accordingly, for your income, you need to establish a channel to attract this type of investment.

Attracting traffic – is the main task in promoting Internet product. To make a purchase, we must attract a visitor to the site, direct it to those pages that we need and keep track of his actions, thus bringing to the process of buying.

This requires the correct UX and timely adjustment of the incomprehensible elements for the user.

Conversion

Let’s look at the definition first and then continue. Conversion – is the ratio of visitors to the site who have performed on it some targeted actions (bought something) to the number of general visitors.

You can increase the conversion in various ways, but here are 3 main:

• contextual advertising;
• landing page;
• product informers.

Service

No matter how built the process of communication with your customers, you communicate with people. And they want the right attitude. A couple of simple rules for successful cooperation:

1. Respect;
2. Attention;
3. Accuracy of information;
4. Assistance.

If we have already roughly established all these indicators, let’s move on to the product and its creation.

Best representatives

In order to work and create a product in any field, we strongly recommend getting to know the leaders in a particular niche and analyzing why they are leaders.

Shopify and Shopify Plus

One of the most popular commercial Internet platforms. The main advantage is simplicity and fast speed of launching a new store. Depending on the functionality and amount of orders, the monthly tax rate increases or decreases.

The first one is basic, the second one is added and extended, for sellers who have few basic settings, functions and design.

WordPress

Originally, this platform was meant for blogging. But in its history, it has grown into a huge number of plugins that have significantly expanded the boundaries for product creation. It stands out from the rest by being as accessible as possible. Separately, it should be noted that when choosing a topic for e-commerce, you also choose functionality.

Squarespace

The final platform we recommend you pay attention to. Its advantage is beautiful templates on which you can build a good website. Advanced tools and price availability make Squarespace a competitive market player.

What do they have in common?

As a summary, we suggest highlighting common and key success factors: flexible payment systems, attractive design, affordable pricing, high security and easy integration.

Bonus: 2022 e-commerce Trends

The created product must be up-to-date. This is its direct and main task. To do this, we need to determine the relevant trends. We have identified 5 of our top characteristics: inclusiveness, dark mode, content-oriented design, mobile-first and branding.

Inclusiveness

Making a product as accessible and understandable as possible for users does not mean making it inclusive. To make a product inclusive is to create a product that is equally accessible to both healthy people and people with disabilities. And yes, we are talking about web design!

“The power of the Internet lies in its universality. Accessibility to everyone, regardless of their capabilities, is an important factor”
_{Tim Berners-Lee}

Dark Mode

Interface in this shade became popular not so long ago, but very quickly. In addition to visual attractiveness, the dark mode has its pros and cons:

• Dark pixels are inactive and the battery of the device will run out slower;
• High contrast can be used very beneficially;
• Concentration of attention in the right places;
• Not all color text is readable against this background.

Content-oriented design

This design approach is based on the content aspect (what we show) and the structure of the product pages.

In the first case, it is assumed that there is no unnecessary information in the content of text blocks, infographics, etc.

In the latter, we talk about the arrangement of elements that make the product functionally clear and minimalistic.

Mobile-First Design

As we said in our article about Mobile First Design, search engines rank such products higher, which is an important bonus. Plus, ease of use, download speed and full functionality – that’s what your users will love.

Branding is important

A brand is a product introduction. And trust us, in e-commerce, it matters.

When we present a product, it has to be concise, clear and complex. Each of its elements just has to be combined with the other next to it.

Do you notify your users that their desired product is running out? Make an appropriate design for your email newsletters. Do you have a banner on your site? Its appearance just has to say what kind of brand it is and what information it carries.

What’s all this about?

A startup in e-commerce has to deal with a huge amount of information: from its market and competitors to which design is preferable specifically for its niche and what is relevant in general. In this article we have dealt with the main questions of new entrepreneurs in e-commerce, deciding to complement it with cool examples of both our works and popular giants.