When designing ecommerce websites first and foremost consideration must be usability, and then design. Or, if you prefer, design with usability in mind.

I’ve collected (so far) 10 examples of what I think are great ecommerce web designs from across the board. In no particular order:

Paul Frank

Bright, colourful and straight away in-your-face (but in a good way), PaulFrank.com is fun and playful.

Nike Store

The brightly coloured products offset against the dark background set this all off beautifully. There’s also a great iconic image related to the recent World Cup on the main rotation.

Nicky Clarke

Clean, simple and stylish, the new Nicky Clarke website uses few colours (especially in comparison to sites like Paul Frank!) but doesn’t feel boring in the slightest, just classy and sleek.

The Cheesecake Factory

Not necessarily great for usability or speed, The Cheesecake Factory videos just keep me hooked everytime.

English Cheesecake Company

If you ever get stuck for a present, get onto the English Cheesecake Company – easy to use, a pleasure to be on and… they’re cakes!

Holistero

This design just strikes me everytime I visit it. Products are shown singularly and often brilliantly contrasted against the dark background.

Asos

Not perhaps the best screenshot due to the current sale, but I’ve included Asos anyway as they usually have a stunning homepage design.

Powerskin

Powerskin uses the same simplistic colours that can be seen in Asos, but instead products are at the forefront of the design and straight away you know where you are, and what’s available.

MGM

A large commercial example of Magento at work and also emphasising the important of products is MGM, although I’ll admit I’m not a great fan of the black and gold.

Mama Baby Bliss

Colourful but subtle, Mama Baby Bliss is gentle and feminine that translates it’s caring message beautifully.

Do you know any examples of great ecommerce website design you think should be included? Post a link in the comments with a reason why (or tweet the Magento Fox) – maybe I’ll do an updated list on our ecommerce web design blog in a few weeks!

An annoying thing when shopping online is when you go to add a product to your cart and it tells you that you must be registered first. This means there’s an extra step in teh buying process which could seriously deter customers. Also customers don’t want to commit all their details to a website while only potentially ‘window shopping’.

The smart way of getting registration details is during the checkout stage where it can be disguised as simply adding shipping and billing details which the customer will accept as compulsory. This data can then be saved as an account for future visits. Doing it this way will speed up checkout processes, reduce cart abondonment and will ultimately increase sales. This really is such a simple tip that so many e-commerce web designers get wrong.

Once again it is Amazon who can boast the benchmark for e-commerce usability. Checkout the ‘proceed to checkout’ page of Amazon who give the customer two clear choices and even let the customer know that they will create a password later – saving them from worrying about it now when all they want to do is make a purchase.