How to design the architecture of an eCommerce website

04 November4 min read
How to design the architecture of an eCommerce website

The architecture of a website focuses on organizing information in a neat, concise way that makes it easy for website visitors to navigate through the site and find the product or information they need. A well-structured website has an architecture that ensures that the site visitor spends less time searching for the product/information they need. Let’s have a look at  designing the architecture of a website.

Website architecture

While developing a website’s design, there are several things to be considered, such as ensuring that important information is displayed prominently and that promotional products/services are of higher prominence. Whether you are designing a brand new site or modifying the structure of an existing one, it is important to direct the site visitor’s attention to the more crucial sections of the website, as per the priorities of the company/brand. 

A good layout for a website means that the priorities among the different sections and pages should be well-distributed. It should ensure that potential customers find necessary information quickly by navigating through the site with ease. When site visitors easily find all the information about a particular service or product, the overall success and sales of th company significantly increases. 

Architecture of an eCommerce website

Website architecture is the way in which the site information is planned and designed to improve the site structure and usability. It can also be described as the way in which the site content is grouped and sorted to create topics, sub-topics, etc. 

To create the structure of a website, you need to start with a map or skeleton of the entire content. This can then be refined with navigational elements, URL structuring and breadcrumb trails. This architecture not only makes it easy for site visitors to navigate through your website but also helps search engines find your pages more easily. 

Problems of bad eCommerce website architecture

When you don’t focus on creating a well-structured website, you could face the following problems, that can pile up over time: 

  • DUplicate content
  • Low clicks on products
  • Deadend pages / 404 errors
  • Empty / incorrect categories
  • Unnecessary navigation

A disjoint website, i.e., a website that is not structured well, can have all these problems, and so much more. This eventually leads to masking of your site from seach engines, thus not getting discovered by potential customers. These issues can be solved just by paying close attention to the website architecture. 

What should eCommerce website design include?

While designing an eCommmerce website, you will have to create an accurate description for each section of the store. You can begin by creating the basic map of a user’s journey, i.e. the Customer Journey Map (CJM). 

Website design should also include functions that might be unique to certain types of users, based on their user privileges. You can create multiple user journey maps based on different types of users and the functional requirements of each. Here are some common usr group to begin with: 

  • Regular customer
  • VIP customer
  • Website administrator
  • Accountant/finance executive
  • Customer sevice/ call center representative
  • Warehouse employee
  • Courier/Logistics provider
  • Shipping handler
  • Category manager
  • Content Manager
  • Marketer
  • Adveriser
  • B2B client/partner
  • Merchant/vendor
  • Business analyst

Based on such roles, you can then define the functionalities and privileges each of these may have. For example, the “B2B client” user group may require some of these functionalities: 

  • Register/log in using phone number, email or social account
  • View and filter products in the catalog
  • Request a call back
  • Review or rate a product
  • Share social profiles
  • Chat with vendors
  • Vote for products
  • Add items to cart or wishlist
  • Subscribe to newsletter
  • Invite people to register
  • Earn bonuses as affiliates

.. and so much more. 

What eCommerce website design does not include

At Simtech Development, you tell us your desired functionalities and our skilled team will design your CS-Cart/Multi-vendor -based project for you. We start with a basic structure of the website that includes basic functionalities, and then add more features based on the project requirement

However, this does not include marketing or promotional aspects of your store. These duties would still lie in the hands of the store owner. As a digital entrepreneur needing an eCommerce website, here’s how you can speed up the site design process while approaching a website design company. 

  • Share mockups of pages like Homepage, ‘My account’ page, Checkout page, Product details page, etc.
  • Define the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of the project
  • Create a project roadmap, i.e, prioritize the deliverables, define the requirements, etc.

With this data, our team can create and design the optimal architecture of your website. 

0 comments