The Top 5 E-Commerce Websites, & What they’re Doing Right!
As of 2021, there are 2.14 digital buyers globally, so chances are you have likely found yourself shopping on an e-commerce site multiple times. Whether it’s a B2B site (business to business) or a B2C site (Business to consumer), having an e-commerce website is vastly different from having a physical store.
In what way? Well, there are just as many things to consider when you are setting up your own eCommerce site, and if you don’t pay attention to the details chances are that site is going to go nowhere.
There are honestly many different things you can do to help your e-commerce store stand out from the crowd, and though we don’t have time to discuss all of them, we can talk about the main aspects of what makes an e-commerce site superior. What are the factors that make an e-commerce site satisfactory?
These can be divided into 4 main categories;
Speed
A big part of any e-commerce website is user retention. And good luck retaining your users if your site doesn’t pick up the pace. According to WebFX, “53% of users will abandon your page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load!” You don’t want to miss that many possible buyers, right? Well, then you better start optimizing your page. Otherwise, you’re going to have a hard time.
There are different ways to speed up your page, including:
– Using Content Delivery Networks (CDNs):
A content delivery network is a group of distributed servers that speed up the delivery of web content by bringing it closer to the users.
– Using caching services and plugins:
Caching plugins create a static version of your web page to deliver to your users. When a visitor visits our site again, they will view the cached version. Caching ensures faster access to your website content.
– Using data compression services:
Data compression services utilize data compression algorithms to reduce the data size.
– And specifying image dimensions:
Specifying image dimensions increase your page load speed. It is important to specify image dimensions correctly as wrong data will force a delay.
Design
Aesthetics are essential, regardless of what anyone tells you. In the online world, your site’s aesthetic quality subconsciously affects the quality of your products from the user’s perspective. The most important factor when designing a website is User Experience (UX). A user-friendly website allows a smooth journey from start to finish. Design your website to be easily navigable.
So how do you make a website that is pleasing to the eye? Well;
– Pre-make color palettes that reflect your brand image,
– Make sure none of the colors clash and are all complementing each other,
– Your smallest font size should still be easily readable,
– The color of your font should not hinder its visibility at all,
– Add images that you NEED, don’t unnecessarily stuff images into your site,
-Use CTAs which show where a customer can go next,
-Use clear links for information pages such as FAQs and Contact Page.
We could go on and on about what your design should look like, but for now, at least make sure your site follows these bare essentials.
Market
If you don’t know your market, you can’t sell your product, you need to know how your customers think and what they want, and your website should reflect the fact that you do. Choose your niche and start marketing your website to appeal to the general mass. Using social media, creating blogs, using different SEO strategies, are some successful ways to attract customers.
Celebrations and holidays are important events for e-commerce sites. According to NRF, sales grew about 8.3 percent during the holidays in 2020. Holidays are a crucial event for e-commerce sites, bringing in money in huge amounts. Different regions celebrate different holidays, for example, an e-commerce store located in India might have “Diwali” sales, but one in the US might have “Christmas” sales since both are aiming to attract different markets.
What do you do then?
It all depends on which market you want to attract in the end and knowing which is best for your specific product(s).
Selection
The selection of products you offer on your website is essential to your website’s growth. Although there are other factors at play, the way you present your products and pitch their sales matter. If customers don’t know what you’re selling, can’t find what they’re looking for, or just aren’t interested in the most apparent products. They have no reason to be there, and they will leave. Your selection must be apparent, easily navigable, and large enough to keep a user’s attention, but not so large that they get frustrated and decide to leave. Creating categories on your site is a great way to add navigation, divide your products, and retain customers. How do we know all this?
Well, thankfully, there are many e-commerce sites out there we can draw inspiration from, and by observing them, we can see what works and what doesn’t. The reason major e-commerce sites have so many customers is that they’ve perfected the art of “online sale”, and that means you can too.
In our opinion, these are; The top 5 e-commerce websites you should be drawing inspiration from;
1. Skull Candy
SkullCandy sells headphones, earbuds, and other accessories and is possibly one of the best e-commerce websites that we have ever seen. They’ve nailed their site’s design, having a color palette throughout their site that perfectly imitates their brand image while still being easy on the eyes.
They know their market, and their selection is always impeccable. Speed-wise, SkullCandy isn’t so bad either, with their site functionally loading in about 3 seconds. Talk about a top-of-the-line e-commerce site!
2. Twelve South
Twelve South creates beautiful accessories inspired by Apple. One thing we have to admit about Twelve South’s website? They know their market. Selling Apple product accessories means you share a market with Apple, and they know exactly how to take advantage of that.
Everything from their web design, to how they’ve presented their products, to the products they’re highlighting, all is meant to attract Apple-product users. The Twelve South homepage loaded pretty fast and is one of the main reasons why the website is on this list.
3. Chanel
If you haven’t been living under the rocks, chances are that you’ll know that Chanel is a clothing brand. When it comes to website speed, few can beat the rapid response that Chanel’s website has. Loading almost instantaneously once you click on the link, mainly because of how minimalistic their homepage is, this site is amongst the list of the fastest-loading e-commerce sites out there.
Their minimalistic approach caters to their current market and audience dynamic, but we believe that not everyone will go for that kind of look. But all in all, there is definitely something to be learned from them about response speed and how astonishingly well they know the market they’re selling to.
4. Hebe
Hebe is a clothing brand famous for serving chic and unique outfits. Hebe’s website is a virtual boutique, made while keeping the clientele they cater to in mind.
Soft toned colors and the ability to scroll through their selection the second you load onto the site while still managing to have a rapid loading time? Hebe has done its best to have its online presence mimic walking into a physical boutique, and we commend them for it.
5. Burrow
Furniture plays a big part in adding a particular look and feel to your home. You don’t go out and buy just any old sofa or table. You usually want to buy one that fits the aesthetic of your home, which is why Burrow’s website is so genius.
Everything about their website is meant to cater to their market. If people want the most beautiful furniture in their homes, then they’ll trust a website with a similar standard for beauty more readily. In one swoop, they’ve nailed both the marketing aspect and the design aspect of their site.
Conclusion;
When it comes to e-commerce sites, unlike the real world, the products you sell and their quality are only a fraction of the battle. You need to put just as much, if not more, thought into your online store as you would put into the physical location.
People need to have a reason to come to your site, so get inspired, design and redesign. Give them a reason to come back and buy your products; otherwise, you may end up losing out to a younger business just cause they put a fraction more thought into their site than you did.
Page builder can be an excellent starting point for creating a clean and functional online store. The plugin contains all the required ecommerce elements and can be setup in minutes.
We hope this article helped answer what questions you had about e-commerce sites and that any advice we gave you will help you in the long run.
We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
