3 Design Tips to Improve Your Store’s E-Commerce Experience

With new platforms and stores emerging weekly, the competition in the world of eCommerce has become increasingly fierce. Creating a positive and memorable shopping experience is the best way to stand out and keep customers coming back for more. Here are some tips on how to craft that experience visually:

ONE: Dynamic Design

The way things look matters. Functionality across devices matters more. Users want to be greeted by a sleek design that is easy to ingest, easy to use, and reflective of your brand’s identity.

Taaluma Totes does this excellently. Arrival on their landing page presents a clear-cut picture of what they offer as well as their core values. The sleek design is easy to understand and easily transferrable between devices. Using a responsive design allows for easy adaptation to any screen size, increasing user accessibility. The more devices your customers can use to access your shop the more likely they are to return.

The checkout is important too. As an eCommerce website, your goal is convert product views to purchases. A messy and complicated checkout system can deter shoppers from following through on their shopping cart items. Keep visuals as plain and simple as possible to ensure a smooth transition from browser to buyer.

TWO: Categorize & Merchandize

Your users should be able to sift easily through your entire catalog. Well-organized categories will simplify searches while leading users to discover your inventory.

One of our customers, Vinted, does this by using general categories (Shoes, Pants, Sweatshirts, etc.) that can be further broken down into size, color, brand, location, and price – all set up in a eye-pleasing, organized fashion:

This two-tiered approach is a great tool for customers who know what they are looking for, but how can you reach those that are only browsing, with no immediate intention to buy? Through curation. Whether its by advertising special sales or Editor-pick’s, curating products is a great way to help shoppers navigate through your inventory and inspire purchasing habits.

THREE: Brand Identity

Keep things current and uniform. Ramp up merchandising efforts to highlight new inventory, photograph with style, and develop consistent copy guidelines. Avenue K is a great example of this simple, but effective, merchandising technique.

Customers want to know everything about what they are buying – so give them everything. Descriptive copy will catch the customer’s attention and a great set of photos lets them envision what they cannot physically hold. Presenting items as desirable makes them so – use that to your advantage. This standard should also be reflected in your packaging. One option for customizable packaging is Pakible. This is a great way to extend your customers brand experience and leave a positive and lasting impression.

Put these tips into practice the next time you’re tinkering with your store’s visual design and flow!

Shippo is a multi-carrier API and web app that helps retailers, marketplaces and platforms connect to a global network of carriers. Businesses use Shippo to get real-time rates, print labels, automate international paperwork, track packages and facilitate returns. Shippo provides the tools to help businesses succeed through shipping.