Mobile usage is driving almost every web design, digital and marketing trend forecasted for 2016.  With continued growth in the e-commerce world, those sites are providing similar design patterns to give shoppers convenient and easy shopping experiences.  Below are some of the e-commerce design trends that will take over 2016.

1. Card and card-like layouts. Cards in e-commerce design refers to images, text and other resources that are associated with a single topic.  Cards are great for organizing categories and card layouts respond well to all mobile screen sizes.

2. Interruption merchandising. People hate pop-ups and have ever since their birth in the 90s.  Interruption merchandising is the new term and it is making a comeback in the future of web design.  Commonly, these pop-ups offer a discount in exchange for subscribing to an email list or following social media profiles.  Email marketing is such a powerful tool for e-commerce sites, this interruption is important to help them grow their business.  Typically these pop-ups will show once you have started scrolling or click on another page of the site.

3. Lifestyle videos and photography.  If your business isn’t using videos on your website, then you are still stuck in 2013.  In 2016, e-commerce sites will feature large videos and photos to boost site performance on all platforms.  These rich materials share the lifestyle surrounding the brand instead of just promoting a product.

summer spirit

4. Similar UI design patterns. Since mobile Internet usage continue to increase, responsive design patterns cause many e-commerce sites to look very similar.  To give shoppers the best experience on mobile, designers are using similar user interface patterns for an easy to navigate site.  This same design pattern will be even more frequently used over the next year.