Designing an Effective UI: Improve Your eCommerce Website Design

Written by shadab-khan | Published 2021/08/29
Tech Story Tags: ux-design | google-algorithm-update | ecommerce | ui | ui-design | ecommerce-store | ecommerce-website-design | cro

TLDRE-commerce websites have large catalogs of products from which the shopper has to sort by. It is usually tiring as the customer has to scroll, find, and visit the page for the products they want to see. What you can do is simplify! Simplify the category heads, choose the primary category of products you are offering. On clicking these headers, customers can see the sub-categories and pick what they need. This is when breadcrumbs (which you usually find in the top-left corners) become necessary. Since your website has multiple categories and sub-categories, the shopper might feel lost after some time. Hence, you need to navigate them, offer them help in finding what they are looking for. Also, help them return whenever they would like. Such well-arranged navigations help customers to move freely between categories and even buying more.via the TL;DR App

The primary aim of a robust E-commerce design is to create a helpful design for shopping. A functional design caters to the need of shoppers; make shopping engaging and easy for them.

A practical UI design is essential for shopping websites as it is the only efficient tool to attract, engage and convert customers to the website. Hence, E-commerce UI design needs to be pleasant and super user-friendly. The website, aesthetics of product display, and related details (such as price, size, description) presentation are the elements for an excellent E-commerce website design.

In this article, you will look at 6 best practices of UI design aspects for an interactive and engaging E-commerce website.

Create Easy and Swift Navigation

E-commerce websites have large catalogs of products from which the shopper has to sort by. It is usually tiring as the customer has to scroll, find, and visit the page for the products they want to see.

What you can do is simplify!

Simplify the category heads, choose the primary category of products you are offering. On clicking these headers, customers can see the sub-categories and pick what they need. This is when breadcrumbs (which you usually find in the top-left corners) become necessary.

Since your website has multiple categories and sub-categories, the shopper might feel lost after some time. Hence, you need to navigate them, offer them help in finding what they are looking for.

Also, help them return whenever they would like. Such well-arranged navigations help customers to move freely between categories and even buying more.

Your Search Bar should be intelligent!

The search bar is every shopper’s best friend. This is where they find everything—no matter if they really need it. Your search bar will help you seamlessly engage the customer and even sell more products.

Hence this navigation tool must be available all the time, no matter how deep the customer has entered the site. Also, it doesn’t matter if your E-store is smaller or bigger in scale. The search bar is the most significant feature of any e-commerce website and usually where a shopper begins their journey.

  • It saves loads of time for the customers.
  • Makes their shopping experience hassle-free.
  • The search bar takes the customer to the products that are popular and high in demand.
  • The search bar lets you promote specific products of your choice.
  • Integrating AI with the search bar predicts what the customer might look for, which creates an engaging shopping experience.
  • An active and responsive search bar simplifies shopping for the customer, making them remember your brand and visiting more often.

On choosing a particular product, the shopper will reach the product page. Here, on the product page, make sure you are representing different categories and sub-categories. Add various filters and sorters on the page to help shoppers narrow down their options according to their needs.

The primary goal of designing a navigation system on the website is to help them narrow down and show specific products, making the entire process hassle-free.

Show All the Details of a Product on the Same Page

When the customer comes down to choose a single product, make sure you provide every detail about the product in the most engaging way.

You can show all the sizes, colors, and designs of the product by the scheme. For example, if your product is footwear it should show all the colors in which the design is available. On the same page, show the details of the product in smaller images. Mention the size chart and keep the description on the same page.

In some website designs, the customer has to visit different pages to get discount codes, return policies, etc. This makes shopping tiring and bumpy. To avoid such unpleasant situations for the customer, show every detail such as delivery charges, shipping charges, and product policies on the same page.

Sometimes, when the customer goes to the cart after shopping, they encounter various extra charges, which disinterests them, and they drop shopping. It puts your business on the wrong note and affects traffic on your website.

Make Choosing Product Variants Easy

An E-commerce website efficiently assists the customer and fuels the sale for the business. Here the UI design helps create a modular space for displaying all the products and their many variants.

Some products like clothes have a different color in the same design or unique prints in the same piece of garment. Either create a drop-down menu listing similar products or put them at the bottom in a separate section. So the customer does not have to click the drop-down choice and then visit the page of that product. Instead, they can simply select a particular category and reach the product.

Make Sure the UI and UX Are Attractive Yet Simple

They say that websites should be simple and easy to use. However, it does not mean that the website is unattractive. An attractive site means customer retention and traffic. Always try to achieve an aesthetic yet highly functional website. See, there are thousands of websites selling just what you are selling; hence, the only way to stand out is to have an attractive UI design. It does not matter if the cost of your products is a bit higher; the customers often tend to pay more if they like the look and feel of your storefront pleasing.

The convenience of your page, its clarity, and its accessibility is crucial. Function CTAs and simple buying processes are great, but if the customers do not find your website attractive, they might go to other online stores.

Make Your Website Design Mobile-Responsive

With the new Google page experience update announcement, receptivity of the website has become a lot more significant.

You should know that online shopping is more of mobile shopping. Research showed that about 62% of people who visit e-commerce websites use their mobile devices to shop.

Making your website mobile-responsive is very important. Your e-commerce Ui design should be as simple, aesthetic, engaging, and easy to navigate in the mobile display as on the desktop.

Design an e-commerce website that:

  • Loads easily on the mobile
  • Adjusts to different screens
  • Does not bounce or crash

Add Call-To-Action Buttons On Your Website

The call-to-action button is like the guiding light for shoppers on your e-commerce website. It will tell them how to move, add to the cart and contact you, etc. Hence, make sure you put call-to-action buttons like, buy now, book now, take a tour, etc.

Make catchy, easy to understand, and visible CTAs. To make the most of CTAs in your UI design, make sure there are no fussy ad pop-ups or any other button that stops the customer from tapping the call-to-action button. Use contrasting colors, shapes, or sizes to make the CTAs attractive. For example, if you are an e-commerce website for groceries, you can make a tomato shape design or a shopping bag to get attention.

Here is Our Final E-Commerce UI Design Tip

The number one rule for selling your products should be to think like a customer. Now think about a design that you would find easy to shop with. Arrange all the navigation elements, the list of products, the size, aesthetics, and readability. Your E-commerce website is your pitch to sell your product to the customer.


Written by shadab-khan | Shadab Khan is an SEO Analyst, and he has a real passion for growing business digitally. He has 7+ years of experience.
Published by HackerNoon on 2021/08/29