Ecommerce web design trends for 2023

We’ve been scanning the interwebs for the latest ecommerce web design trends and have found some great examples of animation, Y2K styles, multi-sensory experiences, and fun interactive tools for you to feast your eyes on.

 

The standard for ecommerce websites is changing. 

Users don’t simply want to visit an ecommerce store as a convenient way to shop from the comfort of their homes, they want more.

With online shoppers spending almost ⅓ of their day online, they want to feel as engaged with your products online, as they would in a high street shop.

The ecommerce web design trends you’ll see here are not only great trends to engage your users, but also to tell the story of your brand in an unusual and exciting way.

Keep reading to find out more about the 5 trends we think will lead the way on ecommerce websites in 2023.

Animation

Animations are a great place to start when you want to add some more personality and delight to your website.

Surreal Cereal adds interest to its ecommerce site by animating images and throughout. 

By adding an extra layer of delight to the site, your users become even more engaged with your products and brand, making them more likely to make impulse purchases.

AI powered letter writing software Handwrytten cleverly uses animation to bring reassurance and a friendly tone to their service.

AI is still a relatively new concept causing a lot of uncertainty for many people.

Handwrytten have cleverly animated production lines, paper aeroplanes, and stationary illustrations to give them a quirky and friendly appearance as well as highlight important information such as pricing.

Throughout the site, users encounter delight each time they see a new animation.

We also love the balance between quirky animations and the refined colour palette to give the perfect combination of fun and sophistication.

Y2K Font styles and colours

Y2K refers to the Year 2000, the first year of the new millennium, and the decade that follows.

Bright, bold, and fun were the key trends of the first years of the 2000s; a stark contrast to the minimalism that has dominated design trends more recently.

You may have seen a resurgence of the early noughties trends in areas such as fashion recently, but we love the nostalgia it has brought to digital spaces.

Y2K aesthetics, pixel-style artwork, bright colours, and custom typefaces remind us of early websites, especially on the Mr Beast Shop site.

They’ve also included an 8-bit style game that you can play whilst you wait for the new merch line to launch.

Multi-sensory

As we mentioned earlier, users want to feel as engaged with your products online as they would in a high street store.

Whilst this can be a challenge in a digital environment, we’ve found some great websites that give users an engaging and multi-sensory experience using 3D images, animated icons, sound, and video.

Crisp uses micro animations on their site to provide visual feedback and reassurance on menu item icons as well as user delight on animated illustrations.

For a more immersive and responsive 3D experience, MA True Cannabis has created a fun and engaging ecommerce experience with playful 3D illustrations that move and react to your mouse movements.

Fragrance brand Jo Malone has created a fully immersive and unusual ecommerce experience with their VR townhouse.

Combining VR, animation, and music, users make their way through a range of rooms in the townhouse, including the Secret Garden, Parlour, and Drawing Room to explore the products on offer.

Accessibility

Although it isn’t a trend, we couldn’t write about web design for 2023 without discussing the importance of accessibility.

With 1 in 6 people worldwide living with a significant disability, making your website accessible should be standard in 2023.

If you’re looking at including other features to improve the UX for your users, you should also make web accessibility a high priority to ensure a positive user experience for users with both permanent and temporary disabilities.

You’ll show your users that you value their experience, and in return, their brand loyalty will be strengthened.

Just for fun

Finally, we’re going to look at website features that enable interactions that serve no other purpose besides adding to the user experience of the site.

American advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy has created a fun, interactive mini website which aims ‘to surprise, inspire and incite’ to promote the newest arm of the company Not W+K.

Using a machine with similarities to Microsoft Paint, users can create their own pieces of design, using shapes including rubber ducks, fried eggs and 8-bit cherries, and apply a variety of different animations.

Users can then save or send their creations to social media or download them as mp4 files.

Adding Trends to Your Ecommerce Site in 2023

You now have the fun task of choosing which ecommerce web design trends to apply to your own ecommerce site. Consider your users. What makes them tick? What are their needs? 

We aren’t suggesting that you suddenly implement all the trends we’ve talked about in this blog, but choose the ones that will fit in best with your brand, and add delight for your users.

2023 will be the year for bringing lifelike shopping experiences to users. Those that can achieve this successfully will be sure to build long-lasting relationships and loyalty with their customers.