How to Create a Great Ecommerce Website

What Makes a Great Ecommerce Site?

Getting an online shop going requires making many vital choices, both technological and creative.

It is necessary for you to select an ecommerce software, locate a store layout that corresponds to your requirements, and incorporate exclusive design components, plugins, augmentations, and other configurations.

Then, think of all the items you can fine-tune: the design of the font, the first page a customer sees, the web pages you’re trying to get customers to land on, the way different products are organized and displayed, how products look, how customers add items into their shopping carts, the messaging used on the buttons they click, the steps they have to go through to finish their order, and the various pop-up messages they may encounter.

These are the five key components of an outstanding ecommerce store.

1. Beautifully designed.

Would you be interested in purchasing products from a physical store with cracked windows, a disarrayed exterior, and webs on the shelves? Probably not. You would almost certainly depart without so much as glancing at their merchandise.

It is the same situation for enterprises that do commerce online, with their websites serving as their digital storefronts. When someone investigates your e-commerce site, it’s important that they make an uplifting first impression. Otherwise, they will not stay to browse.

Investing in an eye-catching ecommerce design is the key to the prosperity of your web-based venture.

Great ecommerce website design should:

Use a color scheme and typography that matches your brand.
Include a lot of white space to make it easier on the eyes.
Have eye-catching call-to-action (CTA) buttons. Bright colors work best!
Follow the best conversion rate optimization practices.
SEO (search engine optimization) friendly.
Easy to share on social media.
Be user-friendly and mobile-friendly.

2. Fast. Fast. Fast.

Ecommerce businesses can’t afford slow websites. Why?

Check out this data from Google:

Source: Google

Page loading after two seconds or more causes a 32% increase in the rate of visitors leaving the page.

It is unsurprising that seven out of ten shoppers take page speed into consideration before they make a purchase from an Internet store.

So if you want to make a sale, you need a fast-loading online store:

Choose a reliable ecommerce platform.
Install a CDN if you publish a lot of content.
Compress product images and videos.

It is important to bear in mind that time is of the essence when it comes to website loading speed. Literally.

3. Many products to choose from.

People typically make unconscious comparisons between ecommerce stores and Amazon in their minds. They could expect to find a broad selection of products if they came to your digital store.

You can’t compare with Amazon when it comes to that. It is essential that you have a comprehensive selection of items in order to attract potential buyers.

Set up an easy-to-browse product catalog featuring:

Clear navigation — categories, tags, filters
Advanced functionality — filters, search by size, color, material
Attractive visuals — clean design, beautiful color palette, product photography

4. Mobile-friendly.

Around half of all internet usage is generated through handheld devices and has remained steady at that level since 2017. If your website is not tailored to function on a mobile device, you could lose out on a substantial amount of potential customers.

Apart from using a responsive, mobile-friendly website theme, be sure to:

Adapt your layout for finger scrolling.
Use crisp pop-up product images.
Reduce the number of fields on the checkout page.
Include big call-to-action buttons (e.g., add-to-cart button).

5. User-generated reviews.

Having consumer-created materials such as feedback from customers is essential for any online shop. Why? As the number of product reviews goes up, the conversion rate increases. The initial five reviews appear to have the most significant influence.

Examples of Ecommerce Stores We Love

Let us now examine how successful ecommerce businesses portray themselves on the internet after we have gone over the primary points you should concentrate on.

Here are 28 inspiring small businesses to check out via their ecommerce websites!

1. Solo Stove.

Solo Stove produces exceptionally efficient cookers, outdoor ovens, and fire pits for camping.

Jeff and Spencer Jan established the company due to their childhood experiences of regularly camping outdoors. In their later years, they yearned to relive the thrill of exploration with their family.

As John Morris, Solo Stove CEO explained to BigCommerce :

Our product encourages individuals to create lasting memories with their family and friends. Generally, one does not witness individuals by themselves gathered around a campfire; rather, they are usually in the company of relatives and acquaintances. There’s something really cool about that.”

Solo Stove puts a focus on the idea of togetherness on its website. Pictures of people gathered around the fireplace, savoring yummy treats and telling stories, and having a good time can be seen everywhere.

2. LARQ.

Justin Wang, co-founder, and CEO of LARQ is an enthusiastic hiker that is devoted to conserving the environment and limiting humankind’s effect on it. He tried going completely plastic-free but that was challenging. Reusable bottles tended to get dirty quickly and were challenging to scrub clean. It’s understandable that the industry for reusable bottles experienced issues with adoption.

A really engaging component of the LARQ e-commerce site is the calculator on the landing page. Input the number of water bottles used in a week and the calculator will show how much money would be saved by getting a LARQ bottle. This text informs you of the amount by which you can lower the amount of plastic bottle waste and the size of your carbon footprint.

3. Burrow.

While they were attending business school, Kabeer Chopra and Stephen Kuhl had the need to purchase furniture for their new apartment. They realized they had two possibilities they could choose between: buy an inexpensive, short-term solution, or purchase long-lasting furniture but tolerate a wait of up to three months.

The above event caused them to find Burrow with the aim of retiring the problem of buying furniture by selling modular furniture via the internet.

On the main page of their website, they demonstrate an animation that demonstrates how their Range line of items can be adapted to any room. This enables the potential customer to comprehend the concept of modular design.

4. Skullcandy.

Skullcandy offers both wired and wireless headphones and earphones of exceptional quality. The company’s website presents an eye-catching layout, attractive wording, and a button inviting viewers to the “Inside Skullcandy” area, where additional information about the staff, standards, atmosphere, and philanthropic connections can be found.

An admirable illustration of ecommerce branding is Skullcandy. Each part of their internet identity is in accordance with and extends to their overall position.

5. Bon Bon Bon.

Bon Bon Bon offers confections made with a traditional French approach, components sourced locally, and imaginative ideas.

This company stands as an example of how you can differentiate yourself without having to depend heavily on offering the cheapest prices if you can establish a brand identity that will appeal to your desired customers.

The bonbons offered at this store are not inexpensive, with a box of 10 priced at $35. The business is flourishing due to the production of top-notch products and customers who are eager to pay for that quality.

The website design for Bon Bon Bon brilliantly reflects the essence of their brand. Elements of bygone eras, distinctive lettering, and seemingly endless images of bonbons demonstrate the squad’s creative prowess, enthusiasm for their work, and lively wit. This all helps to develop creative, relaxed, and enjoyable branding that their clients can relate to.

6. Body Bliss.

Body Bliss offers a selection of skincare items made by integrating natural, environment-friendly materials that have been obtained in the vicinity.

The “About” section of their website is a great model for demonstrating the company’s ideals to potential customers. It is basic yet incorporates two photos – a communication from the CEO and a description of the significance behind their emblem. Nonetheless, it is clear right off the bat what BodyBliss represents.

7. Black Diamond Equipment.

Black Diamond Equipment retails climbing, skiing, and snowboarding gear, as well as footwear and clothing.

The main page of their website contains a vivid video of John Jackson snowboarding on Mount Adams. It is impossible not to respond to the allure of the great outdoors when you are observing it.

It is clear that demonstrating to the possible consumer how their life might be with your item is the most effective way to make a sale.

eCommerce software fees

While discussing prices, setting up an eCommerce platform can be rather tricky, as the fees charged are different from other services. There are three kinds of fees you may have to pay for an eCommerce website builder:

Monthly fee. The cost of this can range from no cost to a few hundred dollars and is paid directly to the platform. Most of the eCommerce services on this list will require an approximate $30 fee for a fundamental package.
Payment gateway fees. These are the expenses you incur when you put through a credit card payment. The usual charge is approximately 2.9%, plus an extra $0.30; however, this rate can be lowered if more money is initially paid and more transactions are done. Certain websites, like Wix and Shopify, possess their own payment gateways which one can select, in contrast to those that make use of services such as Stripe, PayPal, and the like.
Transaction fees. This is an additional fee that is expressed as a percentage and is in addition to any gateway fees. Many eCommerce websites advertise that they have no additional transaction fees, but really this just means no extra charges are included. Other services will impose a fee of 1% or 2% if you don’t process the transaction through their system.

Let us illustrate this using Shopify’s current pricing. A Basic plan costs $29/month. In addition, you are charged 2.9% plus thirty cents for every purchase. You will be charged a 2% fee if you decide to use a different payment gateway.

If you sell ten T-shirts at $50 a piece, you will owe Shopify $29 for the monthly plan and an extra $1.75 for each one sold. That’s a total of $46.50. If you ended up selling no T-shirts one month, you would be charged $29, however, if you experienced a boost in sales and sold 50 shirts, you would be charged $116.50.

If you sold 10 T-shirts and opted to use Stripe’s payment system, the cost for Shopify would be $39 (including the $29 base fee plus $1 for each shirt sold) and Stripe would charge you $17.50 (2.9% + $0.30 per item). The overall cost to you would be $56.50.

As evident, the amount you will be needing to pay monthly will change depending on the options you choose and how you manage your company. It is suggested that you make some rough estimations when choosing your plan and payment system to determine what is the most advantageous for you. I purposefully did not select e-commerce sites with outrageous fees, costs, and amount of sales needed, however, it’s wise to still triple-check the figures.

With that, here are the best eCommerce websites.

What about enterprise E-Commerce options?

Though big businesses commonly operate websites using Shopify and WooCommerce, there are additional possibilities that could be checked out for heavyweight companies.

To begin, establish your own e-commerce store employing either an open-source platform such as OpenCart or a paid platform such as CS-Cart. Rather than cooperating with motifs and website constructors, your engineers will be given full authority to the coding, so they are able to construct objects as you want. This implies taking charge of your own server through a service like Amazon Web Services and having a group of individuals that can comprehend how all aspects or components work together. If you have a business with large sales and multiple outlets or have to run a marketplace, specialized tools to serve that purpose are worth the extra effort and money; as they will save time and avoid a lot of problems. I mainly concentrated on tools targeted toward the majority of users above, however, this choice can also be utilized by developers hoping to launch a virtual store.

Another alternative is to choose a company-centric program like Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce, or Shopify Plus. Having these things requires a group of skilled programmers—or the option of hiring knowledgeable independent contractors—to make it operational. It is also equipped with enterprise-grade utilities, a contractual guarantee for functioning, help from a support crew, and all of the necessary parts needed from software targeting large-scale industries. You’ll have to pay the price of dealing with a big corporation. For a simple Adobe Commerce (formerly Magneto Enterprise Edition) store with revenue of less than a million dollars annually, you should anticipate paying no less than $22,000 yearly. Although, due to the customization of most deals, the details are usually not made public. Shopify Plus starts at $2,000 per month.

It is not reasonable for a small bakery hoping to sell some cookies on the internet to go for either of these alternatives, but it would be essential for a sizable chain.