Creating and even optimizing a Shopify store can be a creative challenge. There are a number of things to consider such as the store design and the features you give it. It can be quite hard to find inspiration, particularly when it comes to being the best in your industry. Well, worry no more as we have compiled some of the best Shopify stores in different industries to help get your creative juices flowing.
So, what does it take to make a Shopify store great? An important aspect in achieving success is making sure that it is easy to browse through your shop and simple to make purchases. Shoppers should face little friction when exploring your site in their most preferred way whether through search or navigation menu, and the path to purchase should involve as few steps as possible.
Speaking of exploring Shopify stores, navigation is key when it comes to optimizing the user experience. Did you know that 8 out of 10 consumers will leave an online store that fails to provide convenient website navigation? Hence, equipping your store with an intuitive menu and hierarchy will go a long way in helping you to avoid a mass exodus of customers.
Read more: Shopify Navigation: Best Practices for Your Store
Now, let’s talk about content. This is essentially the meat of your business, the element that consumers interact with to get a feel of your brand and products. It’s no longer enough to simply present products to customers without any thought. There should be a personalized experience available to whoever visits your website, notably through tailored product recommendations. Shoppers also crave more genuine content like reviews and user-generated content, alongside easily digestible product information to assist in the decision-making process and gain a feeling of trustworthiness.
Finally, top stores make a point of having a clear brand image that echoes throughout their store. Design, language, tone of voice, in addition to the content present all play a part in communicating your brand image.
With that being said, it’s time to dive into the Shopify stores that tick the above boxes plus more.
Mavi is a fashion retailer that promises their customers products that are superior in quality, made using innovative fabric to provide the perfect fit. The Shopify store of this brand has many features that help reinforce their promise to customers.
Mavi focuses on social proof to help drive sales.
One way this is done is through the prominent use of social proof. Upon landing on Mavi’s homepage, visitors are greeted with product images from the social feed of happy customers and the star rating. This display of highly-rated items fortifies their claim of superior quality as 91% of consumers trust product reviews as equally as recommendations from friends and family. Moreover, Mavi hits the nail on the head by prioritizing visual user-generated content as this form of UGC is way more influential.
To further drive home the allure of their clothes, when shoppers click onto a product page, they are shown the number of people who have viewed the item recently. This use of FOMO - fear of missing out - can act as a great final push to get shoppers all the way to purchasing.
Mavi promises to help unite their customers with the perfect-fitting jeans. Therefore, they go to great lengths to provide a comprehensive experience that enables this for visitors.
Mavi gives browsers a number of filter options a customer would take into account to find the perfect jeans. Shoppers can get closer to their desired product by filtering based on length, fit, rise, and waist size all in one go as they please. There’s also a size guide to further help customers feel confident that they are making the right choice.
Mavi filter options.
Another shining aspect of this store is the reviews feature. On product pages, not only can customers read reviews by verified shoppers, but they are also presented with some options to sift through reviews in a way that will give them the relevant information to their needs. This includes filtering by level of stretch, the body type of the reviewer, and the reviewers’ opinion of the fit.
Allbirds prides itself on producing sustainably footwear, apparel, and accessories that are simple in design and super comfortable in use. This idea of simplicity and nature is very evident on their store, particularly through the clean and minimalist design of it.
The brand also takes a simple approach to browsing and navigation. There are just four menu items for visitors to choose from with all category and subcategory options never surpassing seven. This is especially great as our short-term memory can only hold seven things at once, thereby, Allbirds has ensured that traversing through the site will be a breeze.
Finding the right product is also easy for consumers who are not sure where to start. They can just scroll down the collections and recommendations broken down by use, alongside concise descriptions right on the homepage.
(Source: Allbirds)
The brand also avoids jargon at all costs. Rather than using industry-standard language to describe the products available, everyday terms are utilized further reinforcing simplicity. Shoppers can filter products based on whether the material is light and breezy, best for everyday wear or stormy weather.
Skincare requirements range greatly from consumer to consumer. This is something Dermalogica clearly understands and reflects on its Shopify store.
In addition to jumping to pages based on product categories,, it’s also possible to head to collections based on the consumer's particular skincare concern and usage type. These become filter options when the customer is on a category page.
Dermalogica provides browsing options that are highly relevant to skincare shoppers.
Providing highly customized skincare regimes by professionals is a key selling point of the brand. However, giving this to customers online can be a bit of a challenge. This is expertly overcome thanks to the technology embedded in its store.
Professional skin analysis from the comfort of their customer’s home. (Source: Dermalogica)
Customers can get a virtual skin analysis right on the website by connecting their webcam. Their face is then examined and they are then presented with tailor-made product recommendations to address the skin concerns the app picked up. For consumers wanting a more human experience, a virtual skin consultation with a professional is available, or they can chat with a skin therapist.
Knowing what beauty product is right for you or how to best use it can be a hard task without help. This is a concern that Sephora addresses through their website by placing a high focus on education.
Guides informing customers of the best products for each particular concern can be found under every menu option on the store. There are also interactive quizzes that shoppers can take to come up with a selection of products tailored to their needs. As Sephora is an incredibly large store with swarths of products, this form works well to lower the risk of choice paralysis, whilst providing customers with a good starting point.
Sephora’s Hair Care Guide defines terms so their customers can easily identify their hair condition and begin shopping. (Source: Sephora Healthy Hair Care Guide)
The product pages of this store also do a great job of informing customers in a digestible, user-friendly way. Every product page includes a how-to video. This allows consumers to visualize how the product will look and should be used which can act as excellent reassurance.
Information on the product page is given in a manageable way. Visitors are first shown the highlights of a product through iconography and short, snappy text. The description is sectioned to emphasize key areas of concern for shoppers.
Sephora product description. (Source: Sephora)
Ratings, reviews, and Q&As are also prominent features on product pages. All of these together work to efficiently provide shoppers with all the information they need to make the right decision.
When you’re shopping for groceries, you spend quite a bit of time in the supermarket, right? You probably don’t want to devote just as much time to shopping for groceries online. Hence, Yummy Bazaar takes the hard work out of wandering for you thanks to their Shopify store’s setup.
Yummy Bazaar has a heavy use of images which acts to mimic the in-store grocery shopping experience and also help customers quickly identify the goods they need. The homepage can take you straight to where you want to be with their seasonal goods carousel, top food categories, and new arrivals.
(Source: Yummy Bazaar)
The large selection of products are broken down into intuitive food-related categories with a dropdown mega menu. Once a customer is on a category page, items can be added to the cart immediately.
Searching for specific products is easy thanks to the auto-suggest feature of the search function and the displaying of items right as you type. Shoppers also have the ability to filter products based on their dietary requirements in addition to price and category, providing a speedy solution to fulfilling a shopping list.
Death Wish Coffee lays claim to have the world’s strongest coffee. This bold claim is reflected in every inch of their Shopify store.
(Source: Death Wish Coffee)
The color scheme, imagery, and written content on this store give off a sense of toughness and boldness - feelings we’re sure to match the experience of drinking their coffee. Strong colors, large typography, and tongue-in-cheek conversational tone work hand in hand to emphasize the hard-as-nails image this brand has. The use of fun, dynamic content makes shopping for their coffee a highly engaging experience.
Headphone Zone puts a lot of emphasis on information to help their customers purchase with confidence.
To assist in the consumer’s decision-making process, the products found in different categories have stickers stating whether they are a Best Seller, Award Winner, or Our Pick. Upon clicking onto a product page, shoppers are presented with performance indicators such as the product’s ranking in its category and star rating.
Another great feature is that shipping and returns information is given right on the product page rather than during checkout. This is a big move as unexpected shipping costs and too much time to ship are common reasons for cart abandonment.
Customers can view crucial information like time to ship, rating, and returns information all at once at the top of the product page. (Source: Headphone Zone)
Details about consumer electronics are overwhelming and riddled with jargon. Instead of bombarding their customers with complex information, Headphone Zone highlights key features with icons, uses high-quality images to split up paragraphs, and even features the opinions of their Headphone Gurus and industry insiders. All of these provide compelling and insightful information in an easy to comprehend way.
The personable quote from a Headphone Guru acts as a nice touch and the succinct description of the product can help customers easily decide if this is the right headphone for them. (Source: Headphone Zone)
They also have an impressive approach to cross-selling. Consumers are savvy and can recognize the opportunity to squeeze more cash out of them. This means it’s crucial to approach cross-selling and upselling genuinely. Take a page out of Headphone Zone’s book. They let the consumer know exactly how additional products will complement the currently viewed one.
(Source: Headphone Zone)
Your home is your sanctuary, a place that you strive to protect. So if you’re investing in a home security system, you’ll want to be sure that it is proven to work and is something you’ll be comfortable in using right away. Ring achieves this by presenting contextual evidence through videos.
A robbery is prevented thanks to Ring. (Source: Ring Security Cameras)
On popular category pages, there is a dedicated section where visitors can view Ring in action. Here, you can see real-life instances of their equipment being used to successfully protect the houses. These informative and personable videos increase trust by presenting relatable situations. Additional instructional videos can be found on product pages to ease the complexity of figuring out how these systems work.
Visitors to the site are given even more context via the compare feature. At a glance, they are able to assess the components of every product in a given category against one another.
Another notable feature of the Ring website is the sticky add-to-cart button. This is particularly useful as the product pages are full of information that visitors need to scroll through. Thanks to the sticky add-to-cart button, consumers can purchase the product no matter where on the page they make their decision.
Urban Natural Home differentiates itself from its competitors by providing top-notch furniture, free from harmful chemicals served with the utmost care. This value proposition is evident through the simple store design with high-quality images, making the products the shining star.
The plain background means all the attention is on the products. (Source: Urban Natural Home)
The pristine images fortify the brand’s claim and also make it very easy to inspect the materials. This is boosted even further thanks to the swatches presented over the product images.
Revival Rugs produce one-of-a-kind rugs at affordable prices. Viewing rugs as everyday art pieces that are personal to and reflective of its customers, the company has taken great steps to help shoppers envision how its products will fit in their homes.
(Source: Revival Rugs)
Rug size is a menu option as well as a section displayed on the homepage. Having images accompanying the rug sizes helps visitors to imagine how the products will fit in a room.
On product pages, not only can shoppers find super close-up shots of the rug, but they are also able to view the item in their chosen room by uploading a picture. If they don’t have an image to upload, customers can select from pre-made templates. This makes for an incredibly engaging and personalized shopping experience.
Thanks to augmented reality technology, visitors to Revival Rugs can get a real idea of how products will look in their homes. Customers are even able to browse and search for products within the AR tool. (Source: Revival Rugs)
Great Shopify stores should make it easy for customers to find what they are looking for and inspire purchases. This can be achieved in a myriad of ways like by encouraging trust with reviews and UGC, having a strong message that is clearly communicated throughout the store, and including functionalities that enable intuitive browsing.
If any of these examples have inspired you to level up the filter and search capabilities of your Shopify store, try out Boost Product Filter & Search. With it, you can turn virtually anything into a filter option, and you can optimize your store’s search function with auto-suggest, instant results as-you-type plus more.
We hope these store examples have filled your mind with ideas for your store to help you step your game up in time for the holidays.
.jpg)
