What makes for a good ecommerce app design? 

eCommerce apps are a wonderful addition to any retailer’s marketing strategy and sales channels as they provide another revenue stream and offers consumers another way that they can buy from you. Any business owner tasking you with designing their app though is most likely to be an expert in their business but perhaps not certain what they should be looking for when they decide to get an ecommerce app built. To help you make decisions with confidence, we’ve outlined all of the hallmarks of a great ecommerce app design – read on to see what you should be checking off.

A simple user interface

Much when shopping online, one of the first keys to success is to focus on offering a streamlined, non-cluttered user interface. Keep in mind that a mobile screen is much smaller than a PC or tablet screen so your user interface should be as simple as possible to allow the user to navigate with ease. A cluttered interface will make it hard to browse categories and navigate to specific products, which can kill your app’s conversion rate.

Give a favourite product or save for later option

Not everyone browsing the app will buy right away but many will come back later. To ensure you capitalise on that return visit and offer a seamless, convenient user experience for the app shopper, make it easy to favourite a product or save an item for later.

Easy add to cart process

This is a no-brainer but a feature that many ecommerce apps overlook. Your ecommerce app design should make it very easy to add products to cart. Make sure the button to add to cart is prominent, easy to find without lots of scrolling, in an eye-catching colour and sized to suit a finger tap or thumb.

As a side-note here, you should also take a page out of the best ecommerce web design books and make it problem-free for the user to switch between what’s in their cart and the rest of the store.

Streamline the sign up and checkout process

Having to fill in a lengthy registration form before being allowed to order something is frustrating enough when you’re trying to order from a PC but, when the sign-up and checkout process is cumbersome on mobile, it’s easier to just walk away.

Once you have perfected the add to cart and switch between cart and app process, turn your attention to the mechanics of the purchase process. Any forms should be stripped back to the bare minimum needed for the retailer to process the order.

It’s well worth incorporating a checkout as guest option and the ability to register using a preferred social media account such as Facebook.