Ecommerce Design Trends That Will Mark This Holiday Season

In e-stores world, it’s safe to assume that the design is key to closing the sale. See the best eCommerce design trends for the holiday season

By Claudio Pires
Updated on January 9, 2023
Ecommerce Design Trends That Will Mark This Holiday Season

It goes without saying that the design has a certain impact on sales. In fact, in the world of ecommerce design, where one is deprived of all sensory input but a visual one, it’s safe to assume that the design is key to closing the sale. Sure, not all factors in the decision-making process are made on impulse, so, if your offer is clearly inferior to those of your competitors, you might not be able to close the sale. Check the top eCommerce design trends that will mark this holiday season.

We’re talking about features of the product, the price of the product. So, the cost of shipment, the shipment options and, of course, the refund policy.

On the other hand, if your offer is similar (even if it’s slightly inferior). To those of your competitors, you could use some of these design trends as a determining factor. You see, if all B2C interactions were rational and data-based, there would only be one retailer per industry.

Therefore, here are some e-commerce design trends that you could use to gain a competitive edge. This is especially important with the incoming holiday season. Which is the pinnacle of the year for everyone in retail, regardless of whether they’re selling products online or offline.

The first thing that you need to focus on are the product visuals. If we were to look at flaws of e-commerce when compared with traditional retail. We would find that its greatest shortcoming is the inability of the customer to physically inspect the product.

Naturally, one wouldn’t just plug in a blender in the store in order to check how it works. So, which means that most of the time, it all comes down to the visual examination.

From the rational standpoint, one may argue that a layman wouldn’t be able to discern much. From just holding the product box in their hands and looking at the product from various sides. Nonetheless, this is still something that most people do prior to buying an item.

To make up for this, you need to find a way to provide a similar experience on your e-store. The closest you can get to this (without the use of VR and AR). Is to take high-quality photos of the product before posting it on your e-commerce website.

Also, you should give your best to take the photos of the product from multiple sides. So that your audience can get to examine it more closely. Using different photography techniques, such as ghost mannequin, can also increase the immersion and appeal of certain items.

Product visuals
Product visuals – Ecommerce Design Trends

The next thing worth exploring is the influence of color on our mindsets. In e-commerce, this can easily be present as a potent sales-driving tool. Which is why learning a thing or two about it may be up as paramount. For instance, color alone is responsible for about 80 percent of brand recognition. Try to imagine the logo of McDonald’s in colors other than red and yellow. Still the same shape but not the same thing, is it?

As for the products themselves, it really comes down to industry and target demographic. Colors that increase appetite are, therefore, commonly used in the food industry (once again, the McDonald’s is a great example).

Tapping into the color psychology
Tapping into the color psychology – Ecommerce Design Trends

On-site optimization

Outsourcing some of the most complex functions of a business is the only way for a small brand to provide a truly outstanding service. Same goes for the website design. Everyone knows that an online business, especially an e-commerce business. Requires quality SEO. However, your DIY SEO attempts may not be enough.

Instead, you should probably look for a reliable partner in your area. In the past, for one to find a high-end SEO service, they have to go far and wide in their search, even go past the borders of their own country. Nowadays, however, a small online business from New South Wales can easily find a reliable SEO-friendly web design service in Sydney, thus keeping this partnership on a local level. Logistically, this is a major plus.

On the other hand, one of the things that you can do is have SEO in mind from the moment you decide to make a website. This will help you create a proper web design. Needless to say, this is also a trend that can make your overall on-site optimization attempts much easier, almost automating them in the process. Furthermore, you get the satisfaction knowing that your e-store is up around concepts that you came up with on your own, which is a no small feat.

No matter what you decide to do with your brand, you need to understand that it all comes down to the user experience.

Sure, a desperate person that’s in an urgent need for a product might find your offer satisfying, however, unless they have a pleasant experience dealing with you, they’re unlikely to come back. Just think about this for a minute, about 40 percent of all your profit comes from return customers. This is why a stronger focus on UX e-commerce design trends might end up being the only viable solution in the long-run.

Focus on the UX
Focus on the UX – Ecommerce Design Trends

E-commerce theme

Another important issue here lies in picking the right e-commerce theme. In theory, you could pick any random theme and make it suitable for e-commerce with enough specialized plugins. Nonetheless, picking a theme that was developed with e-commerce in mind is simpler, more efficient and makes your e-store so much easier to maintain.

Nevertheless, even amongst the e-commerce themes, there’s so much to choose from. This is why you might want to read a bit on this topic and deeper explore features of these themes prior to making the final verdict.

With the holiday season almost upon us, there’s really not much time for you to get engaged. Sure, in the digital world things move much faster, which means that there’s so much that can be done in a month.

Nonetheless, you can’t assume that all of your visual projects will be successful ones as soon as they launch. It’s much more reliable to give yourself some time for fixing, patching and upgrading. Therefore, the sooner you can start with the ecommerce design trends, the better.

Claudio Pires

Claudio Pires is the co-founder of Visualmodo, a renowned company in web development and design. With over 15 years of experience, Claudio has honed his skills in content creation, web development support, and senior web designer. A trilingual expert fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, he brings a global perspective to his work. Beyond his professional endeavors, Claudio is an active YouTuber, sharing his insights and expertise with a broader audience. Based in Brazil, Claudio continues to push the boundaries of web design and digital content, making him a pivotal figure in the industry.