There are certain things I notice when I land on an online store.
I've been designing Shopify websites since 2015, and after looking at hundreds of stores, you start to recognise a few patterns.
Some are obvious. Others are small.
And before anyone gets offended, there's absolutely nothing wrong with building your own Shopify website. That's one of the best things about Shopify. You can get a store up and running without hiring a developer.
But there's a difference between getting a website online and creating a good shopping experience.
Here are a few things that tend to give it away.
1. The homepage is far too long
You scroll. And scroll. And scroll some more.
There are testimonials, brand values, a founder's story, every collection, every featured product, an Instagram feed, three newsletter sign-up forms and some overly large image sections.
By the time you reach the footer, you've forgotten why you came.
Your homepage should never contain your entire website.
It needs to help people understand what you sell, why they might want it and where to go next, without overwhelming them with too much information.
2. The homepage is far too short
The opposite problem.
A big hero image, a vague welcome sentence and a button that says Explore.
Explore what, exactly?
Minimalism can be wonderful, but sometimes it leaves customers with very little information.
If I land on your website and still don't understand what you're selling, the design has missed something important.
There's no ideal homepage length. It depends on the business, its products and what customers need to know.
3. The homepage is just an image
One enormous image with text baked into it. Maybe a button underneath.
It might look beautiful, but what happens on mobile?
The text becomes tiny, important information is inaccessible or difficult to read, and Google has very little actual content to work with.
Images should support the website, not replace it.
4. There's no About page
Someone is considering spending money with a business they've never heard of, and there's absolutely no information about who's behind it.
No story. No people. No indication of where the business operates.
You don't need an elaborate founder story or a professional photoshoot.
But customers often want to know they're buying from a real business run by real people.
An About page is one of the simplest ways to help establish that trust.
5. Every image looks suspiciously AI-generated
AI imagery has its uses. But when every image on a website looks like it came from the same impossibly perfect imaginary world, I start wondering what the actual products look like.
This is especially problematic for product photography.
Customers need to see what they're buying. The real colour, texture, size, finish and details.
A beautiful image that doesn't accurately represent the product isn't particularly helpful.
And when every image feels artificial, it can make the brand feel that way too.
6. The product page tells me almost nothing
A product name. A price. Three photographs.
And that's it.
What is it made from? How big is it? How do I use it? What's included? How should I care for it?
The answers depend on the product, of course.
But if someone has to email you to ask basic questions before buying, your product page isn't doing enough work.
A good product page should help someone understand the product and decide whether it's right for them.
7. The navigation makes sense to the business owner, but nobody else
This is a common one.
Collection names that sound lovely but don't tell customers what's inside them.
Or a menu with so many options that finding anything becomes an exercise in patience.
Business owners know their products intimately. Customers don't.
Navigation should be organised around how people look for products, not necessarily how the business thinks about its catalogue.
8. The mobile website feels like an afterthought
Everything looks great on desktop.
Then you open it on your phone.
The text is enormous. The product images are awkwardly cropped. The menu is difficult to navigate. And the add-to-cart button is somewhere near the bottom of a very long page.
For many Shopify stores, mobile accounts for the majority of traffic.
It deserves more than a quick check before launch.
9. There are pop-ups everywhere
You've been on the website for approximately four seconds.
Would you like 10% off? Would you like to join the mailing list? Would you like to spin a wheel? Would you like to enable notifications?
You haven't even seen a product yet.
Pop-ups can work. But timing, frequency and relevance matter.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is give people a chance to look around.
10. The website looks beautiful, but shopping feels difficult
This is probably the biggest giveaway.
Everything has been designed to look impressive, but the practical details haven't been thought through.
Product options are confusing. Important information is buried. Filters don't work properly. Delivery costs are difficult to find.
It might be lovely to look at.
It's not enjoyable to shop.
Good eCommerce design isn't about following a formula
To be clear, none of these things automatically means a website was poorly designed.
Some brands genuinely need long homepages. Others can communicate everything important in a few carefully considered sections.
A simple product page might be perfectly adequate for one product and completely insufficient for another.
The point is that good eCommerce design involves understanding what you're selling and how your customers make buying decisions.
It's about making useful information easy to find, removing unnecessary obstacles and creating an experience that feels right for the brand.
And yes, making it look beautiful too.
But beauty alone doesn't make a good online store.