What You Should Know To Get The Best eCommerce Website Designs

The popularity of online shopping has created a global market cap of US$ 5.7 Trillion in 2022, and the future is only set to bring in more gains, growing by a whopping 56% to US$ 8.148 Trillion by 2026.

This has made eCommerce a gift that keeps on giving to sellers, customers, eStore marketplaces (like Amazon), and web/mobile app developers. If you are a seller looking to make the most of this opportunity against the tough competition, then you need a stellar app/website that delivers on your expectations.

If you are preparing to go on your eCommerce entrepreneurship journey, or are looking to restart it with a fresh look and feel, then you need to know about the various elements that go into web design to make them work. Read on to learn what makes the modern eCommerce website and app tick all the boxes to drive substantial conversion numbers.

Why You Need A Standout eCommerce Website

The 'e' in eCommerce stands for electronic, meaning the primary means of interaction between your business and your customers will be via the Internet. This could be through your website or mobile app. Hence, these two will represent everything about your business to your users.

Suppose your digital assets fall short on any parameter responsible for providing the best possible user experience to your customers. In that case, you can say goodbye to your brand value and revenues. And this ‘turning away from your online store’ happens right from the first use, so you must make the best first impression.

Also, did you know that 75% of your website’s credibility, and by extension your business’s, is determined by its design? You could lose a lot of brand value without good website design. Besides the direct influence on customer behavior toward your business, the design elements of your website and its content play a pivotal role in your SEO efforts. Search engine algorithms index websites that are most relevant to the search queries with keywords. They also use good design elements as markers to determine that relevance. On the technical side of things, using the right programming language, development framework, and front-end technologies also helps your website rank high and gain good visibility for your brand.

Another reason to have an eCommerce website that stands out is that it separates you from your competition. Brand building has a strong visual component to it. Customers use your design’s various elements as landmarks to identify it and distinguish it from the competition. Thus, the more different your digital asset’s design is, the easier it becomes for them to make the distinction. Your logo and overall theme add to this factor.

What You Can Have In Your Web Design Strategy Today

The growth of technology has provided web and mobile app developers with a plethora of options to choose from when creating a bespoke web design. Where once it only used to be static text and rudimentary images along with a hyperlink, there is now a host of multimedia content. You could have interactive videos, 3D animation, and the like to engage your online visitors better and boost your conversion prospects.

On the development tools front, there are simple and easy-to-use templates and Content Management Systems (CMS) dedicated to creating customized eCommerce websites. Coding languages like HTML are also improving to help deliver content to a wide array of devices without a drop in experience.

The technical and design elements that could add to your eCommerce website’s sheen are listed below.

1. Progressive Web Apps

PWAs are one the best introductions in web design and development. They help bridge the crucial divide between mobile apps and websites, bringing the advantage of both those digital assets in one neat and light package. Their popularity has soared in recent times due to these advantages, making them an integral offering of eCommerce website design services.

Mobile apps are the preferred choice for shoppers to access and purchase items online. This is because of the ubiquity of smartphones and apps and the User Interface design tailored to work on such devices. The downside is that an app can consume a lot of data storage space on the device, adding to the digital bulk.

The other option is for customers to use an eCommerce website on either a mobile device or a full-fledged PC. This removes the problem of lodging storage space to every eCommerce service provider's apps, but the rendering can be slow and cumbersome if not designed well.

PWAs are a hybrid between the two in that they function as apps on the device without all the data stored locally. When selected, they link to a server and render the required content similar to a website. Thus, you improve two major influential factors of UX, giving you a chance at getting better traffic to your site.

2. Improved Security

Data security is paramount in today’s age when cyber attacks are increasing in frequency and severity. An eCommerce website can be a prime target for attackers since it contains links to item purchases and stores sensitive personal information of its customers, like credit card details. Even a simple leak can cause havoc to your business, having to face lawsuits along with financial and reputational losses.

Your company’s data security begins with its customer-facing assets, like its website. The security measures put in place during its design and development phase ensure that cybercriminals don’t get the loopholes they need to enter your system and assault it.

The website’s security hinges on the coding language used to build it, the CMS platform it is based on, the data integrity of the multimedia contained in it, server-side security measures, and the encryption algorithms used while rendering it in a browser.

What can also add to the security is the quality of the developer itself. The more experienced ones you get when you hire dedicated eCommerce developers through a development agency will improve your site’s security immensely.

You can check with that agency about the latest security measures they will add to your site. Every element of web development now has security built into it, and those security measures are being improved upon each day by their respective creators.

3. Voice-based Search and Purchase

The development of Smart voice assistants like Apple's Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, along with their ubiquitous integration into Smart Home and other devices, has increasingly made voice searches and purchases an easy option for online shopping. With this trend only set to see growth in the coming years, your website should be capable of handling this type of traffic.

Your website can be optimized for voice searches so customers can find the products they are looking for without mismatches. Since voice searches and purchases may not involve a screen, product descriptions must be created such that the customer gets a clear idea of the product they are dealing with.

In such cases, the voice reciting the details should paint a clear picture of the product. Your site’s search algorithm should respond well to voice and text-based searches when used with a display device.

4. AI Chatbots

AI is making its mark in various aspects of every business, including eCommerce. The most visible example of this is AI chatbots. They handle customer-facing interactions, which helps reduce the workload on manual customer service providers.

Your website’s Help section should have an AI-powered chatbot to bring down customer bounce rates post-purchase. They can also help customers make purchase decisions by answering basic product queries. The development of AI for various applications is increasing, and more people are using eCommerce to meet their many needs. This makes AI-powered chatbots an inevitability for your site that your eCommerce website design service provider should add.

5. Serverless Architecture with Cloud Computing

With serverless architecture for your website, you don’t have to host it on your company’s servers. A cloud service provider like Microsoft Azure can do that for you, saving you multiple resources. With all app-related data present remotely in a secure server, you can focus your IT infrastructure and other resources on the core aspects of your eCommerce business.

6. Open Source eCommerce CMS

eCommerce CMSs are platforms that offer everything one needs to create and maintain an eCommerce website. They have improved so that a random person without web development knowledge can use them to create a website.

Closed source platforms can add obstacles to this convenience with their restrictions and charges. On the other hand, open-source ones provide their users with a lot more flexibility in how they want to use the system. This means there is more customizability and lower development costs, the two important factors determining the project's brand identity and overall ROI.

Conclusion

The market is volatile, with customer preferences changing at all times. Thus, your website and the mobile app must keep pace with the developments in delivering a good user experience and range of products. You should also not overshoot your budget since that could hurt profit margins. Outsourcing eCommerce website development to India (or similar low-cost countries) helps you get the technical proficiency you need while lowering design and development costs. Your digital assets will carry your business on its shoulders and bring back valuable customers for its growth.