Things to consider for ecommerce website design

An online store is not a brochure with a cart bolted on. These are the decisions that separate shops that sell from shops that sit.

The Selective 3 min read

Setting up an online store has never been easier. Choose a platform, pick a theme, upload some products and you are technically in business. But the gap between a store that exists and a store that sells is enormous. It usually comes down to decisions made in the design and planning stage.

Whether you’re launching your first shop or rebuilding one that isn’t pulling its weight, these are the things worth getting right.

1. Choose the right platform for where you’re going

Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and custom builds all have their place. The right choice depends on your product range, how much you want to manage yourself, the integrations you need (accounting, stock, shipping, point of sale) and where the business will be in three years, not just today.

Migrating platforms later is possible, but it is disruptive and expensive. Choose with growth in mind.

2. Make products easy to find

Customers who can’t find what they want can’t buy it. Good navigation is built around how customers think about your products, not how your warehouse organises them. Consider:

  • Clear, intuitive categories with sensible names.
  • Search that handles typos and synonyms.
  • Filters that matter for your products, such as size, colour, price, material or compatibility.
  • Collections and curated edits that help undecided shoppers browse.

3. Treat product pages as your sales team

In a physical store, a knowledgeable staff member answers questions and builds confidence. Online, your product page has to do that job. Strong product pages include:

  • Great photography from multiple angles, in context and at scale, with the ability to zoom.
  • Descriptions that sell, focused on benefits and written in your brand voice, not copied from the manufacturer.
  • All the practical details such as dimensions, materials, care instructions and what’s in the box.
  • Clear pricing, stock availability and delivery times.
  • Reviews from real customers.
Every unanswered question on a product page is a reason to leave it.

4. Remove friction from checkout

Checkout is where the most revenue is lost. Every extra field, surprise cost or forced account creation gives people a reason to abandon their cart. Best practice includes:

  1. Allow guest checkout.
  2. Show shipping costs early, before the final step.
  3. Offer the payment methods New Zealanders expect, including cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and buy-now-pay-later options where they suit your products.
  4. Keep forms short and use address autocomplete.
  5. Show trust signals such as secure payment, returns policy and contact details.

5. Design for mobile first

For most online stores, the majority of traffic comes from phones. Product images, filters, the cart and checkout all need to feel effortless on a small screen. We cover this in more detail in Are you mobile enough?

6. Build for speed

Online shoppers are impatient. Heavy themes, oversized images and too many apps slow stores down and quietly reduce sales. Performance should be a design requirement from day one, not something you try to fix later.

7. Plan for the customer after the sale

The most profitable ecommerce businesses don’t rely on constant new customers. They bring people back. Build in the tools to do that:

  • Email sign-up with a genuine reason to join.
  • Automated abandoned cart, welcome and post-purchase emails. (Read Marketing automation: 5 good reasons to use it.)
  • Review requests that feed social proof back onto product pages.
  • Loyalty rewards or subscriptions where they suit the product.

8. Get the foundations right for search and ads

Clean URLs, structured product data, unique descriptions and fast pages help your products appear in Google search and Google Shopping. Accurate conversion tracking set up from launch means you can advertise profitably and know exactly which channels are driving sales.

Built to sell, not just to exist

A great online store blends strong brand presentation with ruthless practicality. It should look beautiful, but every design decision should make buying easier.

We design and build ecommerce websites that are fast, persuasive and set up to grow with search, advertising and email. Let’s talk about your store.

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