The shop page is one of the most important pages for any ecommerce website. It is the one area where your users can get a nice overview of your products, seamlessly and effortlessly browse through them, and easily find what they are looking for.
Notably, e-shops have many different purposes and should be designed to be optimised for your type of product. However, there are some core features that we believe every online store needs on its shop page.
From hours of research and experience, we have listed below our top 10 features that we believe most websites need on their shop page to be successful.
See our shop page infographic.
1. A Products Grid
Now, this may seem trivial, but it should not be overlooked. Let’s start at the basics say that for any e-shop selling multiple products, you should have a grid of your stock showing on your shop page. This will help users easily browse through your collections online. One major benefit of having an ecommerce website is the fact that your users and potential customers can quickly and easily browse through all you have to offer, from the comfort of their own homes.

2. High-Quality Photography
Photos can make or break a business, especially the online store. Users will always be drawn to better photography of quality products than low-quality imagery. If your business sells physical products online, then it’s important to have great photos of them, so your users know exactly what they are to expect if they make a purchase.
Some key features of good photography may include:
- Neutral backgrounds.
- Multiple images, either via carousel or your images change on hover.
- Key details of the product via the photo
- High-res imagery
- Image zoom
3. Product Information
For many websites, displaying product information is crucial to make a sale, therefore, having the key information readily available on your shop page can help users save time and clicks. They will be able to find out exactly what they need to know, without clicking on each product. Some important product information you can display is:
- Product name
- Product price
- Product description
- Product reviews
- Add-to-cart button
By displaying the above, you can make sure that your potential customers know everything they need in order to make an informed purchase of your product. However, it is important to tailor this to the needs of your brand, some companies may omit certain information as the objective of their shop page is to get users to the product page.
Browsing a shop page can be the equivalent of “window shopping” therefore, ultimately you want users to add-to-cart or click on your product page so they can find out more before adding a product to their cart.
Product reviews are an essential feature to show as it generates trust, credibility and social proof in your products and your company. This provides valuable insights into your company, and your product pages should also allow users to leave their own reviews post-purchase.

4. Shop Filter
Ecommerce websites need to make it as easier as possible for the user. Your user experience (UX) can be the very difference between a successful online store and an unsuccessful one. That is why a shop filter can be so important and why we believe it is a core feature for every shop.
Of course, a shop filter is only necessary for websites that have a lot of products, at least enough products for them to be in different categories. For example, websites such as clothes stores, online pharmacies and supermarkets, all have many products and will benefit from having a filter on their shop page.
Product filters help users find exactly what they are looking for, the easier you can get a user to a product, the more likely that user will become a customer of yours.

5. Products Sorting
Similar to product filtering, having a sorting option adds to the UX of your shop page. Especially in current times, where everyone is looking to save a bit of money, product sorting can help users sort by price, newest items, popular products, alphabetically and so on.
Product sorting functionality uses these generic attributes to sort the products that are commonly used by customers and help users get a nice overview of your shop.
6. Speed Optimisation
Speed optimisation is one of the most important aspects of any shop page. Users do not want to wait for your website to load, they will simply leave and go elsewhere. Over the last decade, the average user’s wait time has drastically decreased, now, if your website does not load within 3 seconds, you are likely to lose that user.
Amazon presents the best example of this. They did a study which found that every 100ms added in load time meant that they lost 1% in sales. For a company such as Amazon, this resulted in huge losses. Therefore, your shop page speed must be fast, this is something that should also be focused on across your whole website, but it is extra important on your shop and product pages.

7. Mobile Responsive
Your online store must 100% be optimised for mobile devices (and for tablets). With most users nowadays shopping from their phones and browsing online mostly from their mobile devices, if your website isn’t mobile responsive, then you will be missing out on a lot of customers.
In fact, in recent Google updates, they have decided to index mobile-first, which means, Google actually looks at the mobile version of your website and decides what position on their results page to index it. Why? Because mobile usage tops desktop usage and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, and Google wants to provide websites that will benefit their users.
8. Easy Navigation
E-shops can quickly become very messy and confusing. With a lot of content, a lot of products, functionality and information, if not designed correctly, your website can become difficult to use and ineffective, resulting in a lack of sales.
Clear and easy navigation, especially on pages such as your shop page, is crucial to the benefit of your users. Your online customers should be able to know what next steps they can take, how to view your products, check their basket, explore other product categories and so on.
By providing the best experience for your users, you will give yourself the optimal chance of increasing sales.
9. Clear Layout
Similar to the above, your e-shop should have a clear layout, and this means your shop page too. Usually, shop pages consist of a grid layout, with maybe 3 or 4 products per row. Make sure your images are clear, your text is easy to read, and the actions for a user to take are easily understandable.
Your shop page’s layout is crucial to helping users get to the endpoint of your website (ideally, purchasing a product). Typically, the best website design will always prosper over your competitors, so make sure your shop page is optimally designed.
10. Wish list
This may be a controversial point, but for websites that sell many products, especially products that sell out fast, a wish list may be extremely beneficial. On your shop page, you can add a little heart icon on your products that typically indicates a way for users to “save this product”. Perhaps the product is out of stock, or they wish to revisit your website and find exactly what they have already seen and saved.
For e-commerce websites such as ASOS, this is an extremely important feature and helps users save products to purchase at a better time. Whether they were browsing and had to leave your website, or if your users were simply waiting for payday, by providing an opportunity for them to revisit saved products, you are helping them buy products efficiently, which can increase your sales.

Anatomy of the R-Jewellery Shop Page
Below is an ecommerce website that Absolute Websites designed and developed, www.r-jewellery.com/shop/. As you can see, the shop page has features that are fundamental to the success of an online store. Additionally, you can also see how it has been specifically tailored to the audience of this industry. As an online jewellery store, imagery is extremely important, sometimes more so than content. The design is minimal and effective, helping users get from the shop page to the product page to find out more information.
