One of the biggest complaints from customers is confusing ecommerce websites. With so many rival websites it’s therefore important that your web design is as slick and customer-friendly as possible.

Here we bring you some top tips for ecommerce web design. If you are looking for great ideas and beautiful ecommerce design then check out the portfolio of WebCreationUK.

Six great tips for ecommerce and e-retail websites

Good navigation: Buying a product should not be a challenge or a bid to get your customers to solve a puzzle. Make the buying process straightforward. From reading about the product, to  popping it in their basket, to getting to the checkout, all processes should be simple and signposted.

Search option: A “search for product” option is a great idea. Sometimes a customer wants to quickly find out if you stock one product and to save them scrolling through long lists of products or accessing various categories they could find exactly the product they want within seconds of searching.

Call to action: Make each part of the purchasing process simple. Add call to action buttons such as “buy now”, “add to shopping basket”, “go to checkout” throughout your ecommerce website.

Less clicks is more: Shorter buying processes will gain you customer friends. If the purchase process is long-winded then they will be tempted to head to another site. It’s important to let customers have a chance to check their purchase list but apart form this the procedure from choosing the product to buying it should be simple and straightforward.

Clear prices and labeling: Customers want to know what a product is and how much it costs. Delivery costs are also important. So make sure all these points are covered, simply and clearly.

Customer service: A customer service that is easily accessible, such as an email response or live chat, will give customers greater confidence and trust in your on-line company.

This could be an interesting piece of research if you are aiming to attract the most potential customers to your ecommerce site. Especially if you use discount vouchers and social media marketing platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

A report, by price comparison website InvisibleHand, has found that traffic to internet shopping sites is 75% higher at 4pm on a Wednesday than at the quietest times. There is a 52% rise in the number of people shopping on-line on a typical workday afternoon compared with mornings. Meanwhile, on-line shopping traffic is 11% higher at 2pm than at midday.

Sunday night is the second most popular time for on-line shopping after Wednesday, with a 27% increase over Saturday night.

Could it be that office workers are turning to on-line shopping when they are most bored? And that Sunday night TV is not good enough to hold the attention of the average person as they switch on their computers instead?
Whatever the conclusion of this report, it does give a few clues for ecommerce businesses.

WebCreationUK currently offer an e-shop summer special. If you are looking to set up your own ecommerce store, speak to us for more information on your web design needs.