Choosing the builder
Shopify allows you to develop a cross-platform selling practice — in your online stores, at other marketplaces (like Amazon), and via social media. It provides a domain, and as soon as you buy it, can you build your design with 8 available free templates. For more, you will need to pay. The inbuilt features here also allow analyzing marketing campaigns on Google and Facebook. However, to have full usage, you will need to subscribe to the plan. Also, it is not suitable for B2B.
Wix provides 100+ pre-made templates. You can choose one, customize it, and change elements; add and withdraw features. This tool also provides a domain so you won’t have to care about it additionally. Wix is also suitable for mobile optimization. However, templates are not interchangeable so you won’t check different designs by one click. If you choose the free plan, there will be Wix branding on your page which is sad, really. Also, the website is not transferable, and to leave Wix and remain your design as it was you will need to pay extra costs.
WordPress provides plans for every budget and at the beginning, it’s possible to use it for free. It is intuitive and includes HTML and Markdown support. As your project grows, you can upgrade for additional features and templates, more storage space, or other business tools. The content management system is easy to learn here. However, customization on WordPress will cost you quite a few dollars, and with complex templates, the loading speed lowers.
Decide on Your Branding to design an E-Commerce website
This is the most interesting part in terms of creativity. Combinations of colors and fonts, logo, and layout of products — now it’s time for web design art. Here are several tips we have for your UI:
- Say no to too many colors and too many fonts;
- People here not to read the blog, so make text minimal and precise;
- Create a clear offer and value proposition — it should catch the eyes of customers;
- Decide on your writer’s tone and style. Are you writing with respect or playfully? Can you add some humor or should you keep it serious?
- Be consistent with the color palette and fonts you chose;
- For the layout of the products and key elements of the menu, remember — people view websites from the left to the right and from upwards to the bottom;
- Your logo is something to invest in and outsource to professional designers – it’s what people remember;
- Pick icons in one style for all key features: cart, payment, shipment, etc.
Conclusion: shopping website requirements and rules
Product pages, menu, and cart — this will satisfy the needs… of a customer from 2000. Today, your webshop has to be more than that, addressing your product’s identity. However, it is the content and interface that have to be unique. Navigation must be predictable so that users didn’t waste time figuring out how it all works.
These are basic rules that every website needs to follow:
Follow Von Restorff effect. If there are two similar objects, the human brain will notice the third that looks different. Use colors and shapes to focus the attention on what you need, e.g. sales, recommended items, 1-3 left items.
Follow Hick’s law. The more things there are on the product page, the harder it will be for the user to make an ultimate decision. Divide everything into categories and provide a detailed filter system.
Make it intuitive. Customers want your website to work like others they’ve used. Menu to the left or upwards, LEAVE button — in red color, descriptions, including size, color, and fabric, zoom for the photo.
Avoid redundancy. Try to declutter the texts, photos, and everything that can unnecessarily draw users’ attention from buying. These distractions can be your logo on each photo, search box with lengthy default sentence, confusing images, bumping messages, too many SALES, 60% OFF, and other promotions. Include only the features customers really use. They are presented below.