7 Upcoming Trends that eCommerce Web Design will See in 2022

eCommerce is living its glory days. According to data from the US Census Bureau, online retail comprised 12.5% of all retail sales during the second quarter of 2021.

As an ecommerce business, your website is your online storefront. A strong, fresh and innovative web design can help you make a positive first impression on web crawlers. If they like what they see, they’ll remain on your page and learn more about what you have to offer. On the other hand, a poorly designed website will quickly turn off potential leads.

So, in case you need some inspiration for a website makeover, here are seven ecommerce web design trends set to dominate 2022.

1. Micro-animations

Animations have been an entertainment staple for decades. But in 2022, they’re expected to make waves in ecommerce web design. 

Micro-animations are small and crisp animations used to enhance user engagement. They can:

• Point users towards certain content
• Make suggestions based on searches
• Direct users through processes
• Complete a purchase
• Provide interactive feedback

For example, if a product has multiple variants, you can use a mouseover effect to help shoppers view the different designs without visiting each page. You can also include CTA buttons that become animated when clicked. The possibilities are endless.

Micro-animations allow you to improve your brand experience and add more character to your design. In other words, they can help amuse your users and keep them from clicking away.

2. Neutral backgrounds

Although many web designers gravitate towards bold and vibrant colors, a fairly neutral palette can also work wonders for your ecommerce website. This is especially if you have a ton of brightly colored products to showcase. 

Make no mistake: neutral color palettes extend way beyond the traditional blacks, whites and grays. You’re free to experiment with beautiful shades like cream, steel, taupe, teal, coffee, tan and olive (as per your brand’s aesthetics). Pair the neutral tones with some interesting textures, and you’re good to go.

3. Unusual layouts

Choosing an attractive layout is one of the first steps in website design. A layout helps structure the information on your website. By arranging each element in order of significance, you get to decide which ones draw the most attention.

Many businesses rely on traditional ecommerce platforms for their layouts. While these are easy to set up, they’ve become commonplace. So, if you want to stand out amid a sea of online stores, you’ll need to look past prebuilt templates. 

Break the mold by using unconventional layouts to tell your business’s story. Whether it’s interactive videos, asymmetrical patterns or an image gallery with infinite scroll, an out-of-the-box web page layout can make for an engaging user experience. This, in turn, can lead to lower bounces, higher retention and improved conversion rates. 

4. Better filtering

With online shopping on a steady rise, you’re probably looking to increase your digital inventory. But when doing this, you must also provide your customers with better ways to search through all the options. 

Sure, your site may already have perfectly functional product filters. However, because 2022 is all about streamlined UX, it may be time to optimize them further. Here are some best practices to follow.

1.  Add category-specific filters: Besides using generic filters like size, price and reviews, try and group your products by category-specific filters, such as ‘activity’, and ‘material’, among others.

2.  Push important filters: Placing important filters on top of the page can help users narrow down the search results before they get into the nitty-gritty details.

3.  Play around with visual filters: Use a combination of image and text to provide users with further insight into different product types.

4.  Don’t go overboard: Give shoppers too many options, and you risk scaring them away. Instead, only keep significant filters visible for your users.

5. Personalized shopping experiences

Although retail personalization has a long way to go, both customers and business owners are coming around to its benefits. A report by SmarterHQ suggests that 90% of consumers are willing to share behavioral data if it provides additional perks or makes shopping cheaper/easier. 

Seamless personalization should be a crucial part of your eCommerce web design strategy in 2022. Consider featuring product offers and recommendations based on a user’s earlier actions, purchase history, demographics, browsing behavior and personal data. 

For example, you can facilitate cross-selling by displaying products usually bought together. Likewise, a ‘recently viewed’ section may help returning visitors pick up where they left off. 

6. Bold typography

2022 is the year of experimental typography. Big, striking fonts, serifs, shifting shapes and fills are everywhere, and they have incredible visual appeal. 

However, remember that good typography makes for effortless reading, while poor typography frustrates users. You’ll need to strike a balance between style and function to get the best of both worlds. Here’s how.

• Keep the number of fonts to a minimum. When you use too many type sizes at styles at once, chances are they’ll fight for attention.
• Don’t let your lines run on. You will want to use the right number of characters to improve readability.
• Choose a responsive typeface that works well on multiple screen sizes.
• Make sure your font has distinguishable letterforms.
• Don’t capitalize full paragraphs.
• Keep enough spacing between lines.
• Avoid using blinking text. Flickers can trigger seizures in photosensitive individuals.

7. Vaporwave

Widely regarded as a pop culture favorite, vaporwave is quickly gaining traction in mainstream web design.

Vaporwave blends psychedelia, retro pop, neon pastels and gradient color schemes into a visual extravaganza. The goal is to invoke powerful feelings of nostalgia in users.

Again, this style isn’t suited to all brands, but if you’re trying to make a statement, you can pick a few vaporwave components and tweak them as per your aesthetic.

The bottom line

Web design thrives on creativity. The more you innovate, the higher your chances of catching consumer attention. Hopefully, these ecommerce website design trends will help you level up your game. All you need to do is incorporate these elements into existing projects or new ventures, and you should be golden!