eCommerce has redefined the way we shop in just 30 years. According to McKinsey reports, around 20% of the global sales are made from online purchases. Future predictions indicate that global retail e-commerce sales are projected to grow by 39%, surpassing $8 trillion by 2027.
eCommerce opens a new channel for the sellers to attract customers and increase their profits by showcasing and selling their products to a broader target audience. However, to tap into this new market, businesses need a robust eCommerce website that delivers an engaging and intuitive shopping experience.
With advancements in technology, website development is no longer restricted to hiring web developers or outsourcing it to an eCommerce website design company. eCommerce web development platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce make it easy for businesses to set up and deploy their stores with a basic understanding of technical knowledge.
These platforms provide templates that reduce the time to develop the store. However, the question is, should you go with a custom eCommerce store design or a template? Let’s understand in detail.
Why Should You Think So Much About Your E-Commerce Website Design?
As an expert eCommerce website design company, we say that design plays an integral role in building your brand’s reputation in the digital marketplace. Your eCommerce website is the face of the brand. It is what your visitors will notice first, what they remember, and what they talk about.
It doesn’t matter whether your business provides great customer service, has a unique selection of products, or has engaging copy; if the design doesn’t make a stunning impression on the customer, the conversion rate might remain low.
According to reports, it takes around 50 milliseconds for visitors to form an impression of your brand based on the website design. So, people are wired to make snap judgments in seconds. If your site feels cluttered, slow, or hard to use, people associate those feelings with your brand. However, if it feels smooth, clear, and trustworthy, you’re already winning their confidence — even before they make a purchase.
That’s why, whether you choose a custom eCommerce design or a pre-designed template, you need to focus on creating a good design. A good design triggers the right feelings and builds connections that turn casual visitors into loyal customers.
Understanding eCommerce Custom Design
When we say custom design for an eCommerce store, we mean that we start the design process from scratch. Every element is designed and built specifically for your brand, your products, and your audience. It brings out the meaning hidden behind your brand with custom visuals and micro-interactions.
For this, businesses need to hire an experienced eCommerce website design company. They have a team of UX researchers, UI/UX designers, frontend and backend developers, content strategists, and QA specialists who work together to build a store that’s not only visually compelling but also user-friendly, technically robust, and conversion-focused.
These experts bring a deep understanding of user behavior, accessibility standards, performance optimization, and platform capabilities. They ensure that every touchpoint of the customer journey is seamless and strategically designed.
Pros of eCommerce Custom Design
Here’s the list of advantages businesses gain with a custom eCommerce design:
You get a unique, one-of-a-kind website design that helps you differentiate from your competitors.
All the features and functionalities you want can be easily integrated into your website. It can become an ecosystem with all the systems, such as shipping and fulfilment, connected through APIs.
Designers can diversify the custom design to make it more vibrant and even give a complete transformation to the digital identity.
It is easy to scale and modify the website structure as your business grows, from adding more products to the catalogue or creating new webpages.
Cons of eCommerce Custom Design
Just like everything has a set of disadvantages, let’s understand the challenges by going with an eCommerce custom design:
An eCommerce custom design is expensive. Since the process begins from scratch, it involves a lot of strategic planning, research, technical effort, and creative thinking. The custom design can cost anywhere between $5,000 and $30,000+, depending on its complexity.
It is a time-consuming effort. Again, depending on the complexity, market and competitor research, type of products, and revisions, it takes around 4 to 12 weeks to complete the design process.
Example of eCommerce Custom Design
There are many examples of eCommerce custom design websites, but Fred Jourdain’s website, an artist from Québec, Canada, stands out as a perfect example of how custom design can capture the essence of a personal brand.
The homepage lets the artist’s work speak for itself, filling most of the page. The carousel displays different art pieces by the artist, generating interest in the visitor’s mind and driving engagement rates. The layout, color scheme, and typography reflect his unique artistic style. Besides, the navigation and shop functionality are intuitive and user-centric, making it easy for users to buy the art pieces with ease.
How are Website Templates Different?
Website templates, as the name suggests, are pre-designed structures that provide a ready-made layout and functionality for building a website. They come with predefined sections, color schemes, fonts, and sometimes even dummy content, allowing users to insert their own text and images quickly.
Many eCommerce website development platforms have a library of pre-defined templates. Business users can easily choose a template and start with the development. There is a drag-and-drop editor, which makes it easy to customize layouts, add product listings, insert images, and tweak basic elements without needing to write any code or minimal coding.
Businesses can find a range of eCommerce website templates tailored to their industry and brand identity. For instance, Elementor is a drag-and-drop page builder plugin for WordPress, which supports hundreds of professionally designed page templates and content blocks.
Pros of Website Template
Here’s why some 45% of small businesses prefer website templates to build their digital presence:
It is a cost-effective solution, as the templates can cost anywhere from free to around $500.
Businesses can get their website up and running in less time as compared to traditional website design development. It is because the structure and design are already in place; all you need to do is customize and make it relevant to your brand.
Many platforms that provide templates are low-code or no-code, allowing citizen developers (non-IT employees with minimal or no coding knowledge) to create and deploy websites.
It doesn’t require a full-fledged development team set-up. However, insights from digital marketing service provider in the USA will be required to make it SEO-friendly. An SEO-friendly website ranks better on SERPs.
Cons of Website Template
While you can customize the template, there are limits on how many changes you can make. Like, it doesn’t give the complete freedom that custom design offers. You can change colors, fonts, images, and rearrange certain sections, but you’re still confined to the layout, grid system, and functional logic predefined by the template.
Website templates lack uniqueness, which is necessary to stand out from the crowd. It’s built for mass use, so it may be challenging to create a design that fully aligns with your brand’s personality and customer journey.
Some templates may not integrate with some plugins or features, which affects the website usability.
Making the Right Choice: How to Choose Which is Best?
From a digital marketing service provider in the USA’s perspective, it’s easy to decide between an eCommerce custom design and a template.
Here are some factors that you can consider:
Budget: Businesses with limited budgets should prefer website templates.
Timeline: If you want to get your brand live within a short period of time, consider using website templates.
Functionality: If you’re looking for minimal functionality, such as a basic product catalogue, simple product pages, and standard checkout processes, templates can be a good choice. For additional features, such as AI-powered product recommendations, it’s best to opt for custom solutions.
Branding: Choose custom web design if you want a unique, distinctive look that tells the story behind your brand.
Scalability: If your future business plan involves expansion, such as adding more products or catalogues, then it’s best to opt for a custom website design.
Start by assessing your business’ present and future needs, objectives, and budget. However, budget shouldn’t be considered a factor because deploying a website is an investment, not an expense. It will reap long-term benefits by driving sales, improving customer experience, and enhancing brand credibility.