Sales in the e-commerce industry are now estimate to be $653 million nationwide, a substantial increase since 2013. What’s more, is that there have been multiple predictions that e-commerce sales, worldwide, will reach $27 trillion by the year 2020.
The reason for the rise is natural. E-commerce platforms play a variety of different roles, and they have come a long way since the days when that little startup named “Amazon” began selling books over the internet.
The sector now has a lot of variety. Anything that you might want, it is probably available on an e-commerce website somewhere on the internet. Every product imaginable! Want to buy real estate? Automobiles? Or maybe a lawnmower? They have it all.
For a long time, e-commerce was considered a thing that you did from the comfort of your home using your PCs or laptops. Since 2017, there has been a considerable shift. Now, people are using their smartphones and tablets to conduct online purchases which, in turn, have boosted profitability and sales performance for both the present and the future.
The shift in the usage has prompted e-commerce stores to adapt, that too for the long-run. The mobile nature of the e-commerce platform will be defining the online e-commerce landscape and there will be a steady rise in companies that offer mobile-friendly versions of their site and e-commerce apps that engage more users, on all sorts of platforms.
While we are having a discussion about the e-commerce industry, we cannot rule out the current dominating force in retail: brick and mortar stores. They are currently the giants and have been gaining a large piece of the retail cake. However, there is a clear trend for e-commerce businesses. Industry leaders like Amazon are innovating rapidly, which means that pretty soon, e-commerce will be able to achieve its potential. It is imperative, therefore, that business owners keep a close eye on the e-commerce industry, because it may emerge as the major retail industry in the future.
A lot goes into making a website which is why best Magento developers and WordPress whizz-kids have one thing in common: they focus on design.
Yes, with every website, the most important thing should be the design. This is especially true for e-commerce stores since they have to advertise products in a limited space. The article below discusses some of the major design trends in the e-commerce sector. They can prove very beneficial to businesses that adopt them.
Mobile Friendly Designs
There are still early e-commerce website designs examples available online. The design, for the layman, might not make a difference but for a designer, however, the design of those websites will make a web designer wince. The designs are weird if we talk about modern trends. They are cluttered designs that try to fit in everything in the same place. This throws off the customer the moment the page loads if it loads in time that is!
The older versions were generally slow because of the internet, and pages loaded according to priority, so designers had to adjust the website design priorities accordingly. While modern sites have a smoother user experience in design, the modest demand of running built-in scripts is something that early website designers had to adjust to.
The modern internet and computers are comparatively, a lot faster. We can add a lot more appeal and technicality to the front-end and back-end respectively. This wasn’t possible before since there always was a tradeoff between the two. Additionally, modern web design trends are made possible with the user experience in mind. The neat web design trends allow for an aesthetic design that does not inhibit the user experience. Even websites that offer an application or a software are trying to make their browser offering more mobile friendly.
Once you have a mobile-friendly for your website up and running, you will be one step closer towards creating an interactive website environment, which is a must-have in the modern tech landscape.
Templates
There is always an assumption that using a template is a sign of tardiness, lack of aesthetic, and creative vision. However, that is generally not the case. There is a reason why the majority of smartphone apps usually have the same design and overall layout with some major or minor tweaks here and there, depending on the designers. The reason is that these designs work well.
In 2014, we saw Google release its “Material Design” motif, which is a template that is used for designing Android apps. As with all things that are built around the Android platform, there is always room for customization with the help of Material Design, which means that no two applications will be identical. An increasing number of sites are using Material Design as the basis of design. You should definitely check out the motif if you are looking for inspiration on the design of your site.
Efficient Loading and Layout
For many mobile website users, using the mobile data can be a cause for concern. While the packages offered by the different companies are, without a doubt, becoming generous, but we cannot rule out the fact that the data is still being consumed.
I believe you might understand where I am getting at. The goal here is optimization of your site which savvy web designers should look towards maximum efficiency by loading that which is necessary. In the context of e-commerce websites, this should mean optimization of images, product listings, and videos, which enables them to load faster.
Instead of loading all the products that are on your page, it is a lot better to load the first 10 and then load subsequent sets of results as the user scrolls down the existing list. E-commerce websites that handle load time effectively will appeal more to customers than websites that consume a lot of data.
Hamburger Menus
Hamburger menus are in vogue. Come to think of it, because of the convenience that they provide on the mobile platform, they will be in vogue in the near future as well. They are increasingly becoming a common sight since they hide and reveal the menu as necessary. This makes the site have more accessibility and provides the user with an easier navigational experience on smaller screens.
Hamburger menus can be identified by three lines that run horizontally. The user taps or clicks on the screen, which reveals the underlying menu. Hamburger menus are simple, efficient, and convenient. They save a lot of space compared to a full navigation bar.
Cinemographs
The GIF used to be the rule of animations on websites. However, animated GIFs are now being replaced with cinemographs because GIFs have become more resource intensive for mobile users. GIFs are not particularly large files, but when they are embedded in long-form articles, they start to take a toll on the data usage.
Cinemographs, on the other hand, provide a mid-point between animated GIFs and still images. They are usually an image or a photograph, which features either a text or animation over it, and in some cases, the image itself is animated. Try your hand with Cinemographs, but do not plug your merchandise with it. Adding keywords like “hire web developers” will only lower your rankings down.
Conclusion
There you have it, the five website design trends for e-commerce websites in 2019. I have to point out that this article is not a hard-and-fast guide towards getting better traffic for your e-commerce website in 2019. These are speculations gathered from sites that are performing better with the help of these additions. You might even have one or two of these options on your site, which is good news for your site optimization goals in 2019. Cinemographs are generally new, so you have to employ some trial and error with it. They will prove useful.
