As many people now shop online, eCommerce has become a principal economic activity in many parts of the world. eCommerce websites have taken the lead in the online world presently. eCommerce website designing takes care of the special designing needs of eCommerce websites.
Why eCommerce Website Design is important?
Designing an eCommerce site is an extremely professional task.
The creation and designing of eCommerce sites is not the work of lay designers. It requires very professional and talented eCommerce website designers. They need to design the eCommerce website that can eventually become a success.
So, if you want to start a new eCommerce project or would like to upgrade your existing eCommerce website. You should really consider hiring a competent eCommerce website designer. Thus, you can rest assured that your eCommerce project is in the safe hands of a professional.
Any professional eCommerce site designer will have several successfully completed projects to his or her credit. The designer should normally have sufficient exposure to all elements of eCommerce website designing. The website designer may work independently or, even as part of a team that is specifically into designing professional eCommerce stores. The result that you should expect either way is a successful website that has the ability to draw prospective customers and deliver significant conversions.
Any eCommerce site designer should have the talent and the professionalism to take his or her job seriously.
Most clients usually expect designers to take up the entire responsibility of designing the website from start to finish. The designer’s sole aim should be in designing an eCommerce site that delivers the requisite ROI and becomes a profitable venture.
The designer or the designing team should be able to lead the website from conceptualization to the final integration of the website with the payment gateway. The buying experience for the customers should be easy to use so consider utilizing easy purchasing methods. Customers should be able to choose a product of their choice effortlessly and there should be minimal shopping cart abandonment.
Clients should choose an eCommerce designer that understands the responsibilities of designing an eCommerce store well.
The important things for a designer is a complete set of well-developed skills that comes along with a thorough aptitude for design. Alongside, the designer should be conversant with market trends so that the store can be designed in line with the preferences and the professional standards that the target audience expects.
eCommerce websites have their own unique character that is designed to lead the visitor to one simple task. A web designer needs to consider a variety of online selling principles while designing an eCommerce website. In this article, we will try to take a look at some of the major design aspects that you must have in an eCommerce website.
Many of you are probably already asking why eCommerce website design is different from any other website design. They all need to be attractive, well organized and use the right colors that fits the website spirit, and so on. Your instincts are good. However, a close look at some successful eCommerce websites will reveal the conceptual differences that are typical in a successful eCommerce website.
An eCommerce website needs to follow certain selling principles:
- Give the user a pleasant experience during his online shopping.
- Make certain you provide sufficient information on who owns the website and why they should be trusted.
- The website must be easy to use. If it isn’t, the visitor will go to your competitor.
Those principles are not new. We all know those basics from our day-to-day experiences in the mall, shopping center, and every other marketplace that is waiting for us to open up our wallets. The big challenge for a web designer is how to translate those conventional marketing techniques to the virtual world of the internet. I’m sure you’ve all noticed that in most supermarkets the bread stand is placed at the far end of the building, yet you can smell the fresh bread at the entrance (sometimes they even use a special air duct to carry the smells). That has been done deliberately. Marketers use our sense of smell to draw us through the store where we are exposed to all sorts of tempting goodies as we go to get our loaf of bread.
How do you draw an imaginary path on a web page?
A path designed to lead the visitor to do what you want him to do…make an online purchase. Unlike the supermarket, our website has no smell. On a website the distance from one point to the other is pretty much the same, so the exit is always right there. On a website you can try to order the “shelf” in the way you think will best expose the visitor to many of your products, but there is always a chance that he will find a shortcut to another page that can also be the way of your site.
As can be seen, although putting your products on the web is much easier than renting space and opening a supermarket. However, selling your products on the web can be difficult.
A good eCommerce website design will lead the visitor to the right page in one click or two at the most.
Sometimes web designers will use techniques that would never be considered for non-eCommerce websites. Everyone has seen at least one sales letter website. On these web pages, the only link is to the order form. Sales letters are not the most typical eCommerce website because they usually sell only one product. That allows the web designer the ability to exaggerate the one-click principle and make it an advantage. Believe it or not, those sales letter websites are actually selling.
What about online shops?
Online shops have to deal with more than one product. Of course, the greater number of products increases the complexity of the website. Sophisticated eCommerce websites use a variety of personalization technologies in an effort to determine the best selection of products to offer to the visitor. Personalization technologies are a major part of advanced eCommerce websites. However, this topic is beyond the scope of this article. The cleverness of an eCommerce website’s personalization technology has a major influence on its design. Today the goal is to try to predict what to offer the user on his first visit as well.
An eCommerce web design is also about the layout.
One important aspect is where the user’s eyes look first when accessing a web page. Most research showed that the middle left side area will attract the most attention followed by the center of the page. An experienced eCommerce web designer will know how to create designs to meets those demands.
If you are about to open an eCommerce website or you are already own one, make sure you understand the web design principles for online selling. Consider consulting with an experienced website designer preferably someone who has experience with eCommerce websites.
Good luck with your sales and when creating your specific ecommerce website.