Responsive eCommerce design is a favorite subject of discussion presently. Many eCommerce merchants are on their way to implementing eCommerce web design for their eCommerce websites. A recent study conducted by Goldman Sachs, around 535 million customers are expected to make a purchase via mobile this year. The mobile spending is also expected to jump from $204 billion this year to around $626 billion in 2018.
What is noteworthy here, is that these purchases are not limited to just a single device. Mobile sales on tables are expected to increase from $ 134 billion annually in 2014 to $ 453 billion annually in 2018. At the same time, Smart-phone sales will grow from $70 billion to $173 billion over the same period.
This is clearly indicative of the current trends in the online markets. It is a clear indicator that online retailers need to be prepared for the ongoing mobile revolution in the market and respond to the way people interact with the help of their mobile devices with your website. Hence, responsive web design for your eCommerce website is important. However, there are many mistruths as well as misconceptions that are existing today.
Most eCommerce merchants believe that responsive design is a mobile strategy. However this does not constitute a full mobile strategy as it is not just enough to translate your website to fit the parameters of a smaller screen. What needs to be understood here is that mobile stands just as a channel, just like the print, television, online, and other channels. Hence, it is quite obvious that they will have their own user experience.
Rather than clicking as in the case of a desktop, you touch and swipe in the case of smart phone or tablet. The sad fact is that links, buttons, images, and many other elements of websites are not designed to be interacted with in the same manner in the case of mobiles and hand held devices, as they are for desktops. Yet many retailers are forcing this strategy on shoppers. Hence, it must be borne in mind that a responsive web design is a key stepping stone in creating a mobile strategy, however, it does not constitute the entire strategy.
A responsive designed eCommerce website is in no ways useless by any means. However, you require a full website redesign in order to implement a responsive website design. Often, people are heard discussing that they would like to roll out a responsive version of their existing website. A responsive website is not a duplication of your existing desktop website. You actually need a website design entirely.
Creating a responsive website is actually challenging. This happens especially with heavily branded websites, which often struggle to recreate the desktop experience on mobile, however, fail to do so. Things such as Flash, visual effects, imagery and video, and other interactive features may look great on a desktop, the translation to the mobile scene is often in bad taste.
Yet another pitfall that appears while going in for responsive web design is the time needed for QA and testing. A new website needs to be tested on every possible screen that it encounters. Therefore, it takes a long time for the final product to emerge after hitting the drawing board several times.
Yet another difficulty that responsive web design presents to you as an eCommerce merchant is that it’s simply more difficult to complete the check-out process with the fingers than with a mouse and a large keyboard. You need to understand that you need to solve this issue if you want to be successful on a mobile platform. Yet another factor that makes this difficult is the question of accepting payments through a mobile despite advances in mobile technology. Many shoppers are still reluctant to include their credit card details out through their phones into the cloud.
Hence, responsive design cannot be called a complete mobile strategy, but is a part of building a more complete mobile strategy. Get your responsive web design on to the right path and make your eCommerce website a true succes.
Shivi Rao is a content marketer with Krish. She has worked in various industries spanning technology, science, rural marketing, startups & unicorns, eCommerce business, and digital marketing, believing that content is the foundation to facilitate the visibility of any organization and ensuring her words do the same. In her free time, you can either find her lifting weights in the gym or feeding the strays.
21 December, 2022 After WooCommerce, Shopify is the 2nd most loved and used eCommerce platform worldwide. Shopify is an entirely feature-rich eCommerce platform. It offers many drag-and-drop options, and its apps work tremendously for store owners. In addition, Shopify is easy to use as it doesn't require depth coding.
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