E-commerce: 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Next-gen Web Design

3. Engage the community. Allow site visitors to share information such as tags, ratings, reviews, playlists, etc. For examples of sites that use tags, check out etsy.com and flickr.com.

4. Re-evaluate e-commerce metaphors, i.e., shopping carts, wish lists, etc. For example, “deliver on the shopping cart metaphor by placing a bar along the top or side of the page that expands when the shopper wants to see what she’s placed inside,” Messing said. He cautioned retailers not to take customers to a separate shopping cart page to prevent them from getting lost. Retailers can also enable pop-up windows to provide shoppers with more information on a featured product so they don’t have to click through to a new page.