Where once e-commerce was a novelty, online shopping has quickly become the norm. If an online store is lacking, users have the option to turn to any number of competitors.
It’s not enough for an e-commerce site to be merely adequate. It has to be exceptional. Only exceptional agencies can produce the best eCommerce sites, too.
It’s important, therefore, to be able to identify the agencies that are truly cutting edge. One way to do this is to look at the different ways the top web design agencies differentiate themselves from the competition.
Because one e-commerce web design agency isn’t the same as the next. And in order to make the right decision for your brand, you need to know what to look for.
Who Are The Top eCommerce Companies In The USA & Beyond?
Like with many outsourcing projects, what works for you may not work for someone else. It’s the same with web design agencies. The best web design agencies in the world have a few key similarities, but ultimately what makes them stand out from the rest is their value to you as a brand.
These key factors, however, can help you decide if an e-commerce design agency is truly top-of-the-line.
The Largest eCommerce Companies Earn Top Honors & Awards
While nobody stakes their reputation on honors and awards alone, web design agencies that manage to win them are not shy about using them to differentiate themselves from the competitions.
From the client’s perspective, the fact that an agency has won an industry award or accolade is a good indication that they’re well-respected within the design field. In a large pool of design firms to choose from, awards can help signal which firms are trustworthy and which may be less established and therefore a riskier bet.
Because they’re designed to reward only the best and brightest in the field, design awards are also an indicator that the agency is doing cutting-edge work.
Top Design Companies Take A Strategic Approach To eCommerce Website Development
You could have the most beautiful website in the world, but if the product content is flimsy or the user pathways are muddled, then you’ve failed your users just the same.
Top web design companies avoid this pitfall by engaging in an intensive strategy phase at the beginning of every project. The strategy phase allows the agency to gain intimate insight into the client’s business and to do a comprehensive analysis of the user groups they’re trying to target.
The result is better e-commerce websites that speak more effectively to consumers. Leading e-commerce design companies pride themselves on taking a strategic, considered approach to their projects and they base decisions not on gut feelings but on research and facts.
Top Ecommerce Companies
The Best Web Design Agencies Have A Dedicated Team Of B2B & B2C eCommerce Experts
An e-commerce web development agency can help bridge that gap and provide brands with the necessary designs to help that can help them reach a wider consumer base.
These experts come to the table with a more structured process, stringent project timelines and legally binding contracts. They have dedicated points of contact to keep your internal team in the loop and know how to ensure business goals are met and communication is fluid.
Businesses big and small are made up of teams. Not everyone does everything, and not everyone is knowledgeable about every task.
Plus, many companies just don’t need a dedicated design team, especially when their focus is on creating products and marketing them to consumers.
But with e-commerce agencies, you know you’re getting a dedicated team that’s committed to creating a customized design that integrates easily into your online presence and provides maximum business growth benefits.
It takes more than design talent to build a successful e-commerce site (though strong design talent is, of course, essential). Top e-commerce design companies often differentiate themselves based on the range of diverse talent they have powering the agency — including strategists, developers, and marketing gurus.
Small teams and one-man shops may not have the expertise in-house to pull off complex projects. Full-service design agencies with robust teams, on the other hand, have the ability to handle every aspect of the build.
That includes things you may not initially consider, like content creation, brand identity, e-commerce platform selection, or digital strategy.
A team with a diverse set of skills is a team that’s equipped to take a holistic view of your project, ensures that all bases are covered, and works to make certain that no business need goes unmet.
eCommerce Web Design Services Firms Have A Pricing Structure That Matches The Return On Investment (ROI)
You might need to weigh the pros and cons of outsourcing your web design efforts, which could take some number crunching. But oftentimes, it’s more cost effective to go with an agency that is working on a dedicated project for a specific length of time than it is to hire an entire employee full time.
Agencies come in all shapes and sizes and offer different pricing options based on strategy, implementation, and design. Choose the e-commerce development company that best fits your needs financially and logistically, ensuring you get the features you want on the schedule you need.
Lay this information out in advance so both parties have a comprehensive understanding of what to expect. This should be done through an airtight contract that explicitly details expectations, timeframe, and payment.
Of course, if you’re looking for more concrete examples, the table above has a number of leading e-commerce web design and development agencies that can transform your business for the better.
The Best eCommerce Companies Add Value Your Online Retail Business
Top eCommerce Web Design Companies Provide Data Analytics & Insights
It’s important to track your brand’s progress through data and insights so you can learn what tactics are effective. The best e-commerce website companies have the tools to keep these metrics front and center.
Insights come from understanding valuable data sets. If you and your team can’t understand what certain numbers, trends, and behaviors truly mean, you won’t be able to reach your goals and make your business better.
However, leading e-commerce design agencies are able to set objectives, determine if a website is achieving them, pivot the strategy as needed, and report to you regularly and clearly.
It’s important for a brand to keep growing. The online e-commerce markets are constantly evolving -- and you need to transition along with it in order to stay relevant.
E-commerce web design agencies offer in-depth analytics, enabling them to draw the necessary conclusions. This will help your business determine the right layout, content, design, navigation and more that will increase visitors, conversions, and revenue.
eCommerce Web Development Firms Solve Business Problems
E-commerce agencies know the tactics and strategies to not only help your business reach its goals. In addition, they can solve problems that are caused by inconsistent branding, poor functionality, and design.
By using an e-commerce website design and development company, you’re signing on a team of individuals who can track analytics and report to you their findings in an efficient way. These firms have a better understanding of what the analytics really mean, and can offer them to you more frequently than an in-house team might.
Whether your revenue is dwindling, or your branding is failing in terms of consistency, e-commerce website agencies intimately understand the business strategies that go into a design that leads to sales. They know how to identify problems and implements solutions within your web design to solve them with ease.
Plus, eCommerce companies have access to the top web hosting services like Drupal, Magento, Salesforce, and Shopify that boost your bottom line and increase conversions.
Top Web Design Firms Offer Unbiased Guidance And Support
When you run a business, you know everything about it — the good, the bad and the unnecessary. Similarly, employees who work for a brand breathe in those insights daily and want to infuse anything and everything they can into a brand’s products, marketing materials, and designs.
But that’s not always necessarily helpful — and can oftentimes lead brands astray by seeming too unfocused and disorganized. An e-commerce site agency can bring an unbiased viewpoint to the table that can help brands more effectively and display their thoughts and goals.
They can pick and choose what matters and what doesn’t and integrate that into a web design. Top-rated eCommerce design companies have the experience and talent to know what web design elements will lead to sales, which is necessary to create a web design that works.
The Brand-Boosting Benefits Of A Professional eCommerce Agency
You should invest time, money and resources into building a solid, functioning and engaging eCommerce platform that tells your users that they can trust you.
When selling products online, you have to innately understand your consumer base and give them what they’re looking for. You have to create an experience that will keep them coming back for more.
These top eCommerce web design firms those services and then some, giving your brand the boost it needs to become a leader in the industry.
