12 Best Website Design Examples for Ecommerce Inspiration

Each site has a unique way of presenting information, but most follow foundational guidelines that your business can adapt.

Your ecommerce website needs three key elements to succeed: a clear business vision, strong brand identity, and solid guiding principles. These fundamentals help you make a great first impression, showcase your products effectively, and guide visitors to take action.

While each website has its own style, you can adapt proven design principles to create a site that works for your business. Learn what makes website design effective, get inspired by real website design examples, and discover insights from the founders of Mote, an award-winning digital creative agency.

What makes website design effective?

The best websites combine appealing visuals with smart structure and reliable technology. They give visitors the information they need, keep them engaged, and encourage them to take action. 

You don’t need to spend thousands on professional designers to build a good website. Even if you’re just starting out or running a small online store, you can create an effective site by following these core web design principles:

• Make your design clear and consistent.
• Focus on strong visuals. 
• Design for mobile devices first. 
• Create simple navigation.
• Add smooth transitions and dynamic content.
• Make your site accessible to everyone.

These principles will guide your key design decisions—from how you arrange your content to choosing fonts, color schemes, and where to place images and buttons. 

12 best website design examples for ecommerce

1. Klur
2. Justin Reed
3. Girlboss
4. Harper Wilde
5. GOODEE
6. Bruvi
7. Garoa
8. 3sixteen
9. Lacoste
10. ETQ Amsterdam
11. LEIF
12. Caitlin Minimalist

Let’s look at how these stores use design to build successful businesses:

1. Klur

Klur’s skincare products promote clean, ethical, and inclusive beauty. Its website mirrors its product packaging with a minimalist design that uses careful spacing, typography, and color choices. Klur’s website is the work of Shopify Partner Mote, whose team placed special emphasis on balance and simplicity.

“Klur creates a harmonized experience from the moment you land on their website to when you open their products,” says Sara Mote, creative director and cofounder of Mote. Klur keep things simple by using variations of a single typeface across its website and product packaging. “Every interaction with the brand feels carefully considered,” Sara adds.

Source: Klur

2. Justin Reed

Justin Reed—another site designed by Mote—sells curated vintage clothing, fashion, art, and accessories. Since most shoppers visit from mobile devices and Instagram, it prioritizes making mobile navigation easy. You can filter products by category, brand, color, and more on almost every page to find exactly what you want.

“Check your mobile view when using the Shopify theme editor,” says Rembrant Van der Mijnsbrugge, CEO and lead software engineer at Mote. “You can even start with mobile and then switch to desktop to make sure your mobile experience is as good as possible. Look at your Shopify analytics to see where your traffic comes from—the answer could surprise you.

Source: Justin Reed

3. Girlboss

Girlboss sells career guides and coursesto help women succeed at work. Its site blends an online store with engaging content, featuring podcasts, articles, newsletters, and a job search tool. The modern, feminine design uses original photography and empowering messages to communicate the brand’s personality and connect with its audience.

Source: Girlboss

4. Harper Wilde

Harper Wilde challenges traditional lingerie marketing with bold fonts and authentic branding. Its homepage design shows models of different cultures, gender identities, and body sizes—no unrealistic Photoshopping in sight. It also prioritizes making its site accessible to everyone.

Harper Wilde uses AudioEye’s Shopify app to make its site more accessible. Visitors can turn on keyboard navigation and screen reader options, or choose profiles designed for people with visual impairments, seizure sensitivity, ADHD, or cognitive disabilities.

Source: Harper Wilde

Source: Harper Wilde

5. GOODEE

GOODEE curates lifestyle products from responsible brands and artisans, focusing on “good design, good people, and good impact.” It connects with conscientious consumers who care about community, transparency, and sustainability.

GOODEE’s design uses warm yellows, oranges, and beiges to create a cozy feel. High-quality photos show products in beautiful lifestyle settings, while product descriptions highlight the craftsmanship behind each piece.

Source: Goodee

6. Bruvi

Bruvi makes sustainable coffee brewers that use advanced, biodegradable pods. Its landing page grabs attention above the fold with a video showing its brewer, pods, and someone enjoying coffee.

Just make sure your videos don’t slow down site performance. Compress files, use the right format, or try a content delivery network (CDN) to keep things running smoothly.

Source: Bruvi

7. Garoa

Great websites catch your eye with striking photos and smooth animations. This skincare brand’s concept website does exactly that, using intimate photography and responsive design that’s still easy to navigate.

Click the menu button in the top left, and the whole page slides away to reveal three simple options: Shop, Lookbook, and About. As you scroll you’ll find more interactive elements that keep you exploring.

Source: Garoa

8. 3sixteen

3sixteen’s menswear site makes a bold first impression with artistic product photos that feel like a high-end portfolio. As you scroll down, products appear in a clean grid with subtle animations that draw you in.

With three brick-and-mortar stores in NYC and LA, plus retail partners nationwide, 3sixteen’s website balances online sales with in-store shopping. Beautiful store photos help you get a feel for each location while checking hours and addresses.

Source: 3sixteen

9. Lacoste

Lacoste, known for elegant sportswear and its iconic crocodile logo, keeps its website design simple and brand-focused. Its logo sits in the top left corner without text, while a fixed menu bar frames each page. Large photos appeal to different customer groups with simple headlines and call-to-action buttons guiding users through the site.

Source: Lacoste

The clean design uses the brand’s signature green color and easy-to-read fonts. You’ll find shopping categories in the top left and account features in the top right. A two-row menu helps you quickly find specific products.

10. ETQ Amsterdam

ETQ Amsterdam’s premium footwear and menswear site reflects the brand’s minimalist brand identity. Its quiet luxury approach uses clean lines, generous white space, and black-and-white photos that work together to create a sophisticated look.

Source: ETQ

11. LEIF

Brooklyn-based LEIF creates a calm, welcoming feel on its lifestyle shop’s website. It uses a soft color scheme, gentle pencil-sketch borders, and a simple navigation menu. A small banner at the top keeps you updated on promotions and announcements.

Source: LEIF

12. Caitlyn Minimalist

Jewelry brand Caitlyn Minimalist makes mobile browsing easy with horizontal scrolling. When the Mote team worked on the brand’s homepage, they made sure to consider how the site would look and function on mobile. “Categories like necklaces, rings, and earrings scroll sideways on mobile,” explains Rembrant. “People are used to horizontal scrolling on their phones. It’s a great way to show more content without making pages too long.”

Source: Caitlyn Minimalist

Tips for designing your business website

• Keep your design focused
• Let your photos do the talking
• Simplify your design
• Make navigation clear

Let’s look at four key principles that successful online stores use:

Keep your design focused

Let these guidelines help you decide what to include—and what to avoid:

• Start with clear brand guidelines for your colors, fonts, style, and images.
• Choose a simple color palette: black, white, and three brand colors that work well together.
• Pick fonts that match your brand’s mission and set clear rules for how to use them in headings and body text.
• Develop a consistent brand voice and photo style that connects with your audience.

Let your photos do the talking 

Highly visual websites tend to be appealing to customers, and product photography lets your offerings speak for themselves.

• Aim for at least half your content to be visual.
• Strong photos make a better first impression than blocks of text.
• Show people using your products and use high-quality images that load quickly.

And as long as you keep your site speed lightning-fast, you might also consider videos. “Videos can be powerful for storytelling,” Rembrant says. You can also repurpose them for social media. “They’re bigger than images and work well on platforms like TikTok and Instagram,” he adds. 

Simplify your design

A cluttered website can overwhelm visitors. Too much text reduces engagement, too many images make your site harder to use, and too many calls-to-action feel pushy. Try these tips:

• Use one call-to-action per page.
• Choose photos that support your navigation.
• Add white space to help content breathe.
• Use high-contrast colors.

Make navigation clear

Prioritize user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design practices to help customers find their way around your site easily:

• Put menus, breadcrumbs, and sitemaps where people expect to find them.
• Think about how customers move through your site and make sure they can always find what they need.
• Prioritize functionality above aesthetics whenever possible.

Remember: a functional website is better than a pretty one that’s hard to use. “Accessibility is such an important consideration in design,” says Sara Mote, creative director and cofounder of Mote. “Whenever I create mockups, I always have the accessibility link as a reminder to make sure there’s a plan to address any accessibility concerns. Many best practices for accessibility improve the experience for all users.”

Best website design FAQ

What makes a good website design?

A good website design creates an engaging user experience that looks great and works well. It should be easy to use, match your brand, and help visitors find what they need quickly. Make sure your site works well on mobile devices and is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.

What’s the best platform for building a website?

Shopify’s Website Builder works great for any online store. You get an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, customizable templates, and tools for payments, marketing, and SEO. The Shopify App Store helps you add features for shipping, accounting, and more as your business grows.

What software can you use for website design?

You have several options, depending on your needs:

• For beginners: Website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly
• For more control: Content management systems like WordPress
• For professional designers: Tools like Adobe Dreamweaver and Figma
• For online stores: Shopify offers a good balance between ease of use and customization