The writing has been on the wall for years now: Retail is moving, en masse, to the internet. Ecommerce sales in the United States have been increasing steadily over the past decade and are predicted to top $4 trillion by 2020.
One of the harsh realities of this widespread shift in consumer behavior is that the very concept of competition has changed. Retailers are no longer just competing with stores near their geographic location. They are going up against everyone else throughout their industry.
What’s more: In the incredibly fast-paced nature of online browsing, potential customers are quick to jump to conclusions. With so many options for them to choose from, the first impressions that you, as retailer, give them, are everything. Oftentimes, it’s these (seemingly) small elements that play a huge factor in people’s purchasing decisions.
With this in mind, there are several crucial components which you must invest heavily in, to keep a competitive edge. Here are three of the big ones.
Visual design
All kinds of studies have been conducted on how quickly the human brain processes images. While the conclusions vary, one common one says that people process visual effects much faster than text. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to budget for high-resolution images.
In ecommerce, after all, presentation is everything. Regardless of where you place photos on your site, they will inevitably be the points to which people’s eyes gravitate. Right off the bat, these pictures should be captivating and provide an introduction to what your brand is all about.
Even more, those photos should clarify the visual hierarchy of your content, to persuade visitors to take further action; photos should never just be decoration. In addition to capturing attention, these images should help advance the navigation and flow of your ecommerce site to get consumers on the path to conversion.
If you’re not a professional photographer, there are plenty of resources online providing you high-quality images. You can browse the vast libraries of royalty-free stock photos to find visual effects that fit your exact needs.
Store functionality
Your home page is more than just the…
