In the growing world of eCommerce, the design of a website plays perhaps the most crucial role. It is how consumers experience your business and what you offer. It plays a make-or-break part in possible conversions.
Hence, it is the portion that is given a lot of importance, and for a good reason. While website design concepts are continually evolving to make websites look more clear-cut and sophisticated, Chinese eCommerce websites like Alibaba, are known to have messy and hectic designs. Is there a proper reason for Alibaba’s eCommerce website design to be messy or is it just a lack of proper execution and understanding? Let’s find out.
Alibaba’s eCommerce design, why is it messy?
Despite Alibaba’s messy eCommerce website design, the business seems to be doing very well, baffling all westerners and professional website designers. There has thus been a lot of research put into the reason why Alibaba and other Chinese eCommerce platforms have such messy and cluttered designs.
As per the generally accepted rules of website designing, an eCommerce platform, no matter what product it sells, must be clear, neat, and tidy in appearance. Starkly different from this western theory are various successful Chinese eCommerce websites. Take Alibaba, for example, this eCommerce platform is incredibly cluttered, and when you visit the website, you will see a lot of animations, pop ups, relevant and irrelevant images, overuse of red hues and gold, and a lot of text and data.
While this may go against all globally accepted rules of website design, it is no secret that these websites are very successful and profitable. Seeing as how this is a trend among businesses in this region, there has to be a reason behind it. The most commonly accepted reason behind the messy website design of Alibaba is the influence of Chinese culture.
Alibaba and any other similar eCommerce platform originating in that region will have a lot of information, making it appear haphazard. However, it is with good reason that these websites are designed in this manner. As per the applicable rules here, the presence of a lot of information and data looks that way because of the way Chinese characters are written and read. Additionally, it was found that having a lot of text and data was representative of a lot of services and products, which would have consumers browse the website in more detail.
The use of images, colours, and popups are all designed to encourage more browsing. Colours like Red and golden are considered auspicious in this part of the world, and hence, it is used vividly in website designing. Popups are usually aimed at presenting different products which may interest a particular client or maybe a bestseller.
These websites only use some AI features which are aligned with western standards, whereas the design of the website itself is derived entirely from Chinese artistic standards. By including their cultural perspectives with western technology and having a solid portfolio of products for the customers’ various needs, Alibaba is continuing to grow.