Ready for 2014? Check Out The Latest Web Design Trends

In today’s digital world, we prefer to see newer and better web design trends. People wish to see more and more of the web. Their minds are strongly affected by the latest and the hottest web design trends. The aim of  Web Designers is to provide information in a more effective and cordial manner. So, if you wish to stay in the competition, you need to keep up with the latest web design trends of 2014.

In 2013,there has been an excessive surge in latest web design trends. We are likely to see some of these trends this year too. Now that we have entered in the year of 2014, it is essential to adapt more hotter and cheerful web design trends. Therefore, we bring you a list of the latest web design trends, which are most likely to be seen in 2014. Make sure to check out all of these web design trends.

Simple

It is not necessary to make cluttered and heavy designs every time. In some cases, simple web designs can really be more effective. Websites can be made simple, yet elegant. Simple websites can be really effective for portfolio websites, as it can display information more clearly and succinctly.

Visitors don’t like to see congested stuff anymore. You may have heard the phrase “Less Is More” many times, and simplicity can serve the purpose in a more effective manner.. We expect more of simple, yet elegant website design this year.

Video Backgrounds

Video Background web design trend can really come up in 2014. Use of motion pictures in the background, instead of static pictures or text can really be a hot trend. Using video can really attract website visitors, as videos gives a good idea and impression of a business. It not only gives an idea about the business but also convinces the visitors that a business is professional.

Video background web design trend can be a game changer for business websites. It may turn business leads into sales.

Interactive Web Designs

Web design is not only limited to static videos, images, or text. Nowadays, web designers are trying to come up with websites which are user interactive. Interactive sites are those sites which engages users with a website in an interesting manner. I am sure you might have heard about parallax scrolling websites. Such websites are known as interactive websites.

These websites can be really fruitful for users who love web designs and have enough time to engage with websites. Interactive sites can be a good way to display information while a user is enjoying the website.

Mix and Match Typography

Mix and Match Typographic web designs started to become famous in the end months of 2013. These type of web designs are built by mixing different kinds of fonts on a single webpage. These websites are a little crazy in design, but can really look awesome if correct fonts are mixed and matched with each other.

This can be a hot trend in 2014. Earlier these type of designs were found on T-shirt goodies, but making websites with mix and match typography is a nice and bold idea. Maybe this year will see more of such websites with mix and match typography.

Neon Colors

Usage of neon colors on websites could be the latest web design trend in 2014. Neon colors are usually used in fashion industries, where funky colors are used to design clothes. But, 2014 will see the usage of bold, fluorescent colors more in web designing.

Usage of neon colors could emphasize website’s elements and give a bold look to websites. It will make the websites appeal more energetic and real.

Solid Colored Fullscreen Web Designs

Usage of solid colors as backgrounds for websites can really be a good idea, given that right color scheme is implemented on the website. There are lot of websites which use solid colors as their website background, and they have used them efficiently. Many of the web designers think that sidebars should be excluded from the websites and full-screen websites should be made.

Usage of solid colors on a full screen website can be very useful for websites showcasing less information. These websites serve the purpose efficiently. We hope to see more of web designs with solid colors in 2014.

Responsive Web Designs

In the era of digital world where people not only access internet from laptops or desktops but smart phones and tablets too, it’s essential for making a website which is accessible on all devices and looks great on such devices too.

This year will see most of the websites responsive. It is first concern of web designers nowadays to create a flexible layout that looks good on most of the portable devices. The year 2014 will see most of the websites responsive and flexible.

Large Image Backgrounds

Most of the portfolio websites nowadays concentrate on large image backgrounds. It really attracts visitors create a great impact on the people. Using high quality stock images can be a great way for clearing the purpose of a site immediately after a visitor sees it. This is one of the hottest website trend in 2014.

Infinite Scrolling

Infinite scrolling websites are the websites which have a lot of user generated content on it. If a user scrolls down, the page keeps loading more and more content making the visitor think that the website has infinite content. These kind of websites can be great for websites which has a lot of user generated content and images. One drawback of the trend is that it makes the browser load time slow, which can frustrate a user.

Flat Design

Flat design was one of the major trends in the year 2013. Flat design involves the usage of flat images an text. It avoids any shadows, bevel and emboss. Flat websites display information very clearly and apparently. More and more flat websites might be created this year, witnessing the popularity and interest of the people in flat designs.
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Wrapping It Up

I showcased 10 Web Design Trends that you are most likely to see in 2014. So, choose the trend perfect for you and go ahead, create your website according to the latest web design trends. Do you have any other web design trend that you think I missed? Feel free to drop it in the comments below. We would like to hear from you.

7 Innovative & Effective Features That Will Make Your E-Commerce Store Stand out

Everyone is shopping online these days. From kids’ games to apparels and from laptops to mobile phones, people are shopping for most products online. Online shopping is being seen as one of the easiest and most convenient ways to shop for products, with shoppers choosing to shop online rather than making their way to a brick and mortar store to buy products.

This is the reason why we are seeing more and more online retailers opening stores today; eCommerce has become big business, but it has also become intensely competitive.

The question is – how can you ensure people buy from your eCommerce store and not choose to make their purchase from a competitor’s store?

The best way to ensure that your eCommerce store gets noticed from the vast sea of online stores is to offer an incredible shopping experience to your customers. There are many effective and innovative features that can help eCommerce sites deliver a great user experience.

Here are 7 of them:

1. Virtual Try-On

Shoppers prefer trying the product before purchasing it to see whether it looks good on them or fits them correctly. One of the many limitations with shopping online is the inability to try on the product before purchasing it. This is one of the main reasons shoppers prefer brick-and-mortar stores to eCommerce stores, while buying apparel.

But some eCommerce stores have begun offering ‘virtual try-on’ to get around this issue and deliver a better online shopping experience to their users. This feature helps overcome one of the biggest online shopping limitations for shoppers, which is trying a product before purchasing it. The virtual try-on program allows shoppers to try the product (clothes or any accessories such as eye glasses) on photos of different models or upload their own photos to virtually wear the product.

This is a ‘must offer’ feature that can help your eCommerce store stand out from the crowd.

BonLook, for example, is a well-designed site that raises the user-experience bar by offering the virtual try-on feature. Apart from uploading a photo, it offers an option of using a webcam which allows visitors to try-on glasses and get 180 degree views of how these glasses look on their face.

2. Product for Rent

There are certain items that aren’t used regularly, for e.g. camping gear. These are items that one uses once or twice a year or perhaps seasonally and they are then stored somewhere safe for the rest of the time.

Rather than buying such items, wouldn’t it be better to rent them?

E-commerce stores should provide such items for rent to users, which once used can be returned back. This feature will be much appreciated by users as it will help them save a lot of money.

Lending Luxury, a members-only website, offers the inexpensive alternative of renting to women who don’t want to pay the full retail price for a dress they will only wear once or twice, or to fashionistas who just want to change their look often. It has thus transformed the online retail industry by making designer dress rentals a convenient and accessible experience for millions of women.

Gift Registry

Special occasions like buying a new house, getting married or expecting a baby requires a celebration, and with celebrations come lovely gifts from friends and family. A recipient compiles a list of items they wish to receive and hands it out to their friends and family. A registry helps prevent gift givers from duplicating gifts.

E-commerce stores should implement a ‘gift registry’ feature on their site to attract customers’ networks. A customer can upload a wish list on the eCommerce site; this list includes products available on the site, and friends and family can pick products from this list and buy them on the site itself.

This feature will lend credibility to your brand and also improve sales.

Amazon, an eCommerce giant makes it easy for friends and family of its customers to choose the perfect gifts for them by setting up gift registries. An email with a link to the registry is sent to friends and family. The site also helps users send ‘Thank You’ cards once gifts have been purchased. Amazon offers an innovative feature called ‘Universal Registry’ that allows customers to add items to their registry from any website.

Share on Social Media

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are an almost ubiquitous part of people’s lives. The social networking boom is in full swing with more and more people actively joining these sites every year. E-commerce stores should leverage these social channels to increase revenues and boost sales.

Featuring social proof prominently on your website is essential, but it’s equally important to make it easy for your customers who already love your products to share their likes with others. Online retailers should incorporate social sharing buttons on product pages allowing shoppers to post and share product ‘likes’ with friends and family.

Eventbrite, an online ticketing service, is making excellent use of this feature. When visitors book tickets to upcoming concerts or conferences using Eventbrite, the website prompts them to share their purchases via social media. Customers can also find out through Facebook which of their friends are attending these concerts.

Live Feed

Social proofing is a smart marketing tactic in both online and offline retail. When shoppers are in a situation where they are unsure of the product they should buy from the various available options, eCommerce stores should provide them with a cue by reflecting others choices.

Book Depostitory.com, the UK’s largest online bookseller, captures all activity taking place on site. It has a great live feed on Google Maps which shows people around the world placing orders for books. It allows visitors to share the page with their social networks on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Gifting Cards

Gift cards are one of the most popular gifts given, especially around the holiday season like Christmas or Valentine’s Day. Brands should offer the option of gift cards on their websites to increase brand visibility and build customer loyalty.

According to reports (see here) :

§  In the US, 41% of consumers tried a retail store, restaurant or hotel for the first time because they received a gift card for that business.

§  72% of consumers tried a business for the first time because they received a gift card returned to that business.

§  70% of consumers spend more than the value of the card.

These stats prove that gift cards can be an effective way to increase online sales, acquire new customers and encourage return visits.

Walmart, for instance, offers an amazing gifting option which allows customers to send any item available on the site with a gift-wrap and a personalized message to friends or family.

Customer Photos

All eCommerce retailers are aware of the fact that visuals greatly impact shopping behavior. This is the reason why we find high quality product photos on all reputed eCommerce sites. But you can take it a step further by crowdsourcing pictures on Instagram. When visitors see images of other regular people using your product, they are more likely to buy.

West Elm, for instance uses a service called Olapic, to curate a customer gallery. The best part about their galleries is that they integrate a link to the product into the customer’s description of the picture. After clicking on a photo, you can quickly ‘shop the look.

The above mentioned sites offer some unique and novel features that ultimately help them increase their revenues. You can get inspired from these features and come up with innovative ideas for your eCommerce site to ensure it stands out from the crowd.
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The Logistics of E-Commerce Delivery

What differentiates the good from the great is the attention to the basic elements; the specifics; the nitty-gritties that give a bigger product the finer definition. Be it the carvings that decorate the stone walls of our great temples or the intricate calligraphy that adorn the mosques, it is true that “God is in the details”. Not just right for architecture or design, this theory holds good across fields. Even when it comes to e-commerce, the main factor that makes or breaks a company is its efficiency in getting the finer aspects right. In a world that is exceedingly networked, anybody can start up their online marketplace. Setting up the logistics behind it is what proves to be a bigger hiccup.

Growth of E-Commerce

Worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales are expected to plummet by 20.1% this year to reach $1.500 trillion. (Source: eMarketer.com)E-commerce in Asia specifically is increasing steadily, thanks to China and India expanding e-commerce facilities by the day. Internet penetration with service providers giving plans at lower costs, Smartphone usage, demographics, regulations and rules, industrial real estate facilities and most importantly, logistics, are some of the key factors that directly impact the growth of e-commerce.

While a burgeoning growth in internet and technology gives everyone an equal playing field, it is solely the logistics of delivery that prove to be the deciding factor in the growth, success, competence and dynamism of any e-commerce venture. Research indicates that when a company’s supply chain management functions well, consumers are sure to prefer that business over any other.

Retail Logistics Over the Years

The last 40 years have seen a paradigm shift in the way delivery systems work across the globe. From the time in the 70s when retail stores were directly sourcing their goods from suppliers or wholesalers, to centralized store deliveries in the 80s, global sourcing and import centres in the 90s to e-commerce and e-fulfilment distribution networks in the new millennium, retail logistics have evolved and how!

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E-tailers toggle between options of employing courier companies, specialist third-party logistics provider to handling the logistics in-house. At the end of the day, whichever means they use to get to their end, all that matters to the company are a few key points that need to be executed – efficient and accurate delivery, cost-effective service and a cutting edge enterprise resource planning software or ERP that organizes product planning, cost and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales, inventory management, shipping and payment. If an e-tailer is into cross-border trade, this entire process needs to be implemented by the logistics agent with greater exactness, now that international laws and regulations come into play.

The entire function of procurement, storage, invoicing and delivery are determined by four factors – speed (so the delivery is ‘on time, every time’), accuracy (so people get what they ordered for), scalability (so growth is met competitively) and surge (the traffic Vs fulfilment graph). The greater transparency with which this entire supply chain management is setup, the more an e-tailer wins the faith and favour of the customer. Research by Endicia suggests that shoppers value delivery time, facilities like free shipping etc over anything else, when it comes to shopping online.

Reverse Logistics

Due to loss, damage or incorrect delivery, e-commerce players also need to establish a reverse logistics unit that helps with product returns. A good returns process coupled with an efficient Customer service team will go a long way into rebuilding the trust of the customer who feels denied with a wrongful or damaged delivery.

One other thing to do is to establish proper preventive measures to avoid loss or damage. Accurate labelling, using tracking facilities, employing quality materials for packing, insuring parcels, providing package cushioning and appropriate packing, travel and delivery services would go a long way in saving plenty of money, time and energy spent in returning a broken good.

Current Trends in Retail Logistics
Successful e-commerce thrives by embracing new logistics models and utilizing distribution properties. With plenty of innovation and refinement, there are better facilities available today in terms of logistics. Mega e-fulfilment centres stocked up with merchandise that operate 24 X 7 have even made same-day delivery, a possibility. Items are now picked from exclusive parcel hubs, categorized at sortation centres and sent to parcel delivery centres to ensure that the right packages reach at the right time.

With competition increasing by the hour, more and more local depots for rapid order fulfilment will become a possibility. A research by JLL indicates that the evolution in the offing is for multi-channel retailers to move to omni-channel, which ensures that “all the channels (store, web or mobile) are managed in an integrated way to give the customers a seamless experience, however they choose to shop and from whatever location.

The Way Ahead

All the talk of advancement apart, as per a recent research by Webgistix, the trick of the trade seems to be the usual – get the basics right in order to have a competitive edge and not lose out on the customer base!

And once that sets in and a company is looking towards expansion, there is the next round of factors to tackle. E-commerce related warehousing has been concentrated mostly in Tier 1 cities in most countries and unexplored markets could be a great place to stretch business into. With better management, an encouraging tax structure and more facilities to establish distribution networks, these facilities can spread uniformly and take development even to the villages. Many developing nations still have miles to go before ecommerce becomes a common way of life.

“Feet-on-the-ground knowledge, particularly of supply chain, properties, real estate transactions and cross-border commerce opportunities, is vital”, says the JLL research when describing what will set one e-tailer from the other. Carbon neutral shipping, sustainable packaging, etc are other interventions that impact the environment the least, ensuring socially responsible commerce.

With cross border trade assuming a larger role, significant changes need to be made to ensure a good distribution network, especially in emerging markets. The global retail landscape has never been more receptive to innovation and growth. The escalating numbers of e-tailers will be a reason to delight over only if backed by successful logistics fulfillment. This is a $231 billion industry. The race is long and hard and the only way to stand out is to reach high. And a good logistics team will do just that – deliver you safe and sound, right to the very top!