Nothing changes as much as tastes and trends, and eCommerce is no exception—at Trilogi we see it every day. Technology and development drive changes in online store design, where minimalism —dominant in most eCommerce sites— is taking on new nuances. And that’s not all: in eCommerce design, content must also adapt to the new trends set by search engines such as Google. Let’s look at different types of online store design that have reinvented themselves to:
- Adapt to Google’s new guidelines.
- Improve web usability, navigation and user experience.
A clear example of how guidelines dictate what to show and how is the adaptation of websites to responsive format. This adaptation ensures that content displays correctly on smaller screens, whether phones, tablets or their variants (phablets, etc.). This new way of presenting content brought a series of design changes that left behind stores that didn’t adapt, or didn’t do so properly.
Fearing the looming Mobilegeddon, many brands opted for the hamburger menu, which groups all content into a drop-down menu following mobile navigation patterns. With it came the drop in organic rankings (SEO) for the online versions of El Corte Inglés (May 2015) and Springfield. The redesign wasn’t the only factor: so were the decisions (or lack of them) made regarding 301 redirects from one design to the other, and other elements that deserve deeper analysis.
Add to this that websites must convey the brand’s image, and it becomes clear that opening an eCommerce isn’t just about having distribution, sales and logistics sorted: you also need to stand out from competitors. What’s certain is that if the store doesn’t catch the eye in some way, users who visit it will hardly remember it.
That’s why we’ve gathered design trends and how products are showcased on the sites themselves, analyzing the trends and strengths of several eCommerce sites that could become benchmarks.
eCommerce design trends 2016
After Mobilegeddon and Google’s potential penalty for websites not adapted to mobile devices, many changes have set the trend for online stores. One of them, and perhaps the most visible, is “hiding” the category tree to make room for a striking, eye-catching image.
But beyond these changes, we can say that new store designs feature:
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It used to be common to group several banners on the home page with as much information as possible. Now the home page has become a shop window with a few banners and products and little else, so users focus on the image presented and don’t get lost or distracted. One of the pioneers is Beatriz Furest, with a responsive website from day one, where the quality of its leather bags comes across through large images and a home page that mixes gifs with banners.
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Large images
Full-screen images that adapt to the display. This requires a good image bank or plenty of your own images. Besides conveying the brand’s image, they can highlight products, and they should be rotated regularly so returning users see different images each time they come back. The handcrafted shoe store of the Carmina brand —also responsive— highlights the selection of materials and the making of its leather shoes. Through background images showing the tools used to craft this unique footwear, Carmina conveys the strength and quality of the leathers its shoes are made from.
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Scroll
The trend, already on its way, took hold for good in 2015. With vertical use, scrolling horizontally through 6 banners makes no sense. That’s why most stores show banners with featured images and highlighted products just below. But where scroll really matters is inside the store’s categories, where pagination gives way to a scroll showing all the products. Tip: if you have lots of products to show, use rows of 4 or more so the scroll isn’t endless. Lacoste is a good example of usability here.
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Video: on the rise
The “explain it beautifully” approach has put videos first, since they convey the brand’s image quickly and effectively (you’ll find more tips in this post on video marketing). The videos of mattress store Como una Marmota offer much more than a simple sale of these mattresses that adapt to the sleeper’s shape. They let you share the experience of sleeping next to someone you love, even if they’re miles away.
These examples show that new designs don’t just need to be minimalist and follow SEO guidelines (optimized videos, lightweight images that don’t slow load times…): they also need something more—to be different and unique, so users remember the special touch that makes an online store a benchmark in its sector.
Do you have more examples of these trends? They’re very welcome!
