How to build an e-commerce site that works for emerging brands

""The user journey should be accessible, straightforward and transactional," he says. "Once you've built that, you can then layer on more stylistic elements, but you can't start from branded style and then try and add on utility and function." Succinct product descriptions that describe materials used, product function and contextual use will help the site improve its SEO and AIO. Shahian says elements as simple as font size have a huge impact on conversion, as does the fundamental concept of loading time."

""Some web agencies will introduce a lot of motion and animation, but actually, this really hurts conversion. The most important thing is having a really fast website," she says, advising brands to ask agencies how they approach loading time before choosing them. "It's quality over quantity when it comes to multimedia elements. Exercise restraint and test different versions to try and cut loading time down. But beautiful visual design still helps - customers are discerning, they're looking at websites all day long.""

User journeys must be accessible, straightforward and transactional, with utility and function established before applying branded styling. Concise product descriptions that state materials, function and contextual use support SEO and discovery. Readable font sizes and fast loading times substantially affect conversion rates. Excessive motion and animation can reduce conversions; multimedia should be used sparingly and tested for performance. Small investments such as custom fonts and strong photography can deliver high ROI for online visual identity. E-commerce enables iterative A/B testing of headlines, description lengths and contextual details to steadily refine conversion performance. Consistent image styling across the site is essential.

Read at Vogue Business