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Standing out in eCommerce isn’t just about providing potential customers with a unique product, it’s about making a difference to the shopping experience. With new brands constantly entering the online market, striking the right balance between a unique, memorable experience and seamless usability has never been more important.
A well-designed, considered customer journey isn’t just a bonus; it’s what drives conversions and builds long-term customer loyalty. Here are 10 examples of standout eCommerce features worth considering to create a smoother, more engaging shopping experience for your customers.
Jean shopping can be one of the most frustrating experiences for many - especially online. And with the cost of a quality pair steadily rising, shoppers want to be sure they’re getting the right fit for their body type, which has long been a pain point for eCommerce businesses. Denim brand Nudie Jeans addresses this challenge with their website’s fit guide; a clear, visual tool that breaks down their different styles. Each fit of jeans is presented with a 360-degree view, allowing customers to see how the jeans fit from every angle. Once a pair has been selected, the guide also highlights the key features of that particular style, potentially increasing conversion rate by making it easier for shoppers to find the perfect fit to suit their tastes. Offering these more immersive experiences is key to increasing your eCommerce store’s sales, as the average conversion rate of any eCommerce store is just 2-4%. In comparison brick and mortar stores have a conversion rate of 20-40%, and this massive jump is due to customers often being unsure of the product quality and fit online. But with their innovative fit guide, Nudie Jeans likely have less of a problem.
Online shoppers are less likely to buy on their first visit, and with financial pressures mounting, online purchases in 2025 are more considered than ever. This has led to greater use of online wishlists, but the real opportunity lies in seamlessly bridging the gap between wishlist and checkout.
Fitness brand and eCommerce giant, Gymshark, does exactly this, integrating their wishlist functionality within the checkout drawer, allowing users to view their wishlist while shopping and move items to their cart with a single click. It also works in reverse, enabling customers to save cart items within the wishlist for potential purchase another time. This interlinking of two core functionalities not only prevents dead ends in the shopping journey but also creates opportunities for personalised emails, such as abandoned cart reminders and wishlist stock updates.
A small functionality on paper, but one that supercharges Gymshark’s entire CRM strategy.
One of the golden rules of eCommerce is to keep customers within the shopping experience, especially once they’ve reached the cart, as taking customers’ focus away from the shopping journey can negatively affect your conversion rate. Fashion brand ClothingCulture has found a way to double down on this, seamlessly integrating product upsells within the cart drawer.
ClothingCulture’s approach keeps the experience clean and minimal, highlighting only the key product information needed to encourage an additional purchase. Upsell content can often feel overwhelming or intrusive, sometimes even deterring customers from completing their order in the first place. However, ClothingCulture takes a more refined, considered approach, enhancing the shopping journey rather than disrupting it.
Known for their carefully curated in-store experience, where shoppers often leave with far more than they intended, home furniture giant IKEA has successfully translated this approach to their online marketplace. A standout feature of IKEA’s eCommerce store is their shoppable images, which help customers visualise fully styled spaces, a common challenge in homeware and renovation.
For many businesses, the main barrier to implementing shoppable images is the cost of producing high-quality content to showcase products in context. A smart alternative, particularly for small to medium-sized brands, is leveraging user-generated content. With permission, showcasing how real customers have styled your products not only adds authenticity but also creates opportunities for subtle upselling.
Fit guides are nothing new in eCommerce, but the way they’re designed and the information they provide continue to evolve. Fashion eCommerce giant, ASOS, has moved beyond confusing size charts and conversion grids with their fit assistant guide, a custom sizing tool that simplifies the fit process.
By answering a few questions within their account, customers receive a tailored experience where the right size is automatically selected for them when browsing products. This is especially useful for retailers with large inventories or for those stocking multiple brands, where sizing can vary. Not only does this improve the shopping experience, but it also helps reduce return rates by ensuring customers get the right fit the first time.
Sometimes, the best way to communicate a product’s true value, whether it’s the latest bit of tech for your WFH set-up or a high-tech hiking jacket, is through video. Video content allows customers to see the finer details, mimicking the in-store experience of picking up and inspecting a product. In the instance of The North Face, their eCommerce store uses video to show the product's details in action on product pages. For example, the waterproof protection on their jackets, which you may not otherwise notice, by interweaving video to showcase these details with the standard product imagery the North Face justifies products that are of a higher price point. Which may be the extra push needed for customers to convert.
Beyond that, movement helps content stand out in a crowded digital landscape, where consumers are bombarded with ads daily. Shoppers today don’t want to wade through lengthy product descriptions; they’re used to watching a 30-second clip and moving on. That’s why any video content you create needs to be high-quality, engaging, and concise. Striking the right balance between capturing attention and driving conversions, rather than increasing bounce rates, which The North Face has nailed down to a science.
Recent studies show that social media has a major influence on purchasing decisions, with around 81% of consumers saying their friends' social posts impact what they buy. Athletics leader, Nike, taps into this social-first behaviour with their ‘How Others Are Wearing It’ feature, which gives potential buyers that extra push towards checkout by showcasing real people, whether influencers or everyday customers, wearing their products.
Nike takes this a step further by pinning featured items directly within the images, effectively turning social content into a ‘build the look’ tool. This not only inspires shoppers but also encourages upsells, potentially increasing the number of items per order.
Whilst the best product pages are packed with information designed to influence purchasing decisions, ultimately, the focus should remain on the all-important ‘Add to Cart’ (ATC) button. Enter the sticky ATC, a feature that keeps the purchase option within view at all times.
Sports and apparel brand, New Balance, implements the sticky ATC feature effectively, positioning it in the top right corner of the screen on desktop and at the top of the screen on mobile, keeping it within easy reach. This positioning ensures that when a customer is ready to buy, they can act immediately without needing to scroll back up. This design keeps the sticky ATC feature clean and stops it from being a distraction for customers, as it displays only the essentials: product title, price, and the purchase button.
Most shoppers are familiar with urgency tactics like “Low in stock” or “XX purchased in the last 24 hours,” - it’s a useful tactic to encourage urgency and slightly increase conversion rate - but these are typically shown at a broad product level, for all products within a category or collection. Long-time Cake Agency client, P&Co, takes a more refined approach to this tactic by instead applying this feature at a variant level.
Once a customer has selected a colour and size, P&Co’s site pulls through real-time inventory information for that specific product variant. If stock is below a certain threshold, a warning message appears, creating a genuine sense of urgency without feeling like a pushy sales tactic. This dynamic approach to urgency messaging makes it feel more authentic and potentially increases its effectiveness.
One of the best ways to build customer loyalty is through freebies and discounts, people love a reward for their repeat custom. Most brands have loyalty programs in today’s eCommerce space, to the point that customers expect them as standard from larger brands. By today’s standards, in order to actually get buy-in, a loyalty program needs to standout amongst others.
Some standout examples include P&Co’s Loyalty Dept and Represent’s Prestige scheme. Both introduce gamification through the use of a tiered structure, where the more you buy, the better the rewards. Some of the perks that Represent offer through their prestige scheme include 1 point for every pound spent, early access to new releases, Christmas gifts and secret promo codes. The exclusivity of these ranks within the scheme make customers feel unified and as though they are part of the brand.
This gamified approach encourages customers to strive for the highest loyalty tier, increasing engagement and repeat purchases, ultimately driving more sales for your business.
Stand out eCommerce features are never going to pick up the slack from a poor product offering, eCommerce store, or an unoptimised marketing mix. However, if a customer is intrigued and is on the verge of checking out, standout eCommerce features can potentially tip them over the edge - taking them from a potential customer, to a fully fledged one.
If you think your site could be missing small but valuable opportunities to boost sales, or if you’d like us to audit your site and identify key improvements, get in touch - we’d love to explore how we can help.
Be it bin bags, rum, or pine log cabins, Digital Designer Jess has certainly been asked to keep her mind flexible, and adapt her skill set throughout the course of her career so far.
Craving progression and a design challenge above all else, it seems fitting that, as a designer, Jess’ biggest hobby is branding. But, when she’s not split between branding and working on user interface design, you can find Jess hiking up a mountain, taking care of her cats Misty and Minx, or cooking, though probably no two at the same time.
