I often get clients that want me to build them an e-commerce site. Basically, they have some products and they want to sell them through the web. No problem, right? Set up your product gallery, maybe have some more detailed info and most important of all, have a nice big “Add to cart” or “Buy Now” button. The point of an e-commerce site is to simply display your goods and make it extremely easy for someone to buy them.
I bring this up because Velo City Bags, makers of fine bicycling messenger bags and accessories, whose products I love, just redesigned their website to be full of motion and side scrolling. It’s slick, it’s pretty, the motion is smooth the coding is solid. But it fails as an effective e-commerce site, because it takes at least six clicks to add one thing to the cart (and that’s not even clicking on any of the options).
This site is a perfect example of where pretty can actually hurt your sales. I’m a firm believer that if anything takes more than two clicks to do, no one is going to do it, much less buy it. Your e-commerce site doesn’t have to be ugly or plain, there is a balance that can be reached, but it’s important to remember the function of an e-commerce site is to make money, above all else. Keep that in mind during the design process and you’re golden.
Tags: design, e-commerce, keep it simple, velo city bags
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