What Is Responsive Designing For E-commerce Websites? Pros And Cons!

Last updated on November 29th, 2023 at 03:46 pm

Have you ever shopped on Amazon, Flipkart, or Meesho? You must have accessed these websites through mobile phones since a significantly smaller number of the population access shopping websites through desktops or laptops. Right? According to recent statistics, “80% of people access shopping websites through mobile phones. “Keeping these statistics in mind, it is quintessentially essential for an eCommerce website to be mobile responsive.

Many people think they have to make their eCommerce websites mobile responsive because it is a fad. But it’s not true. You’ve to work on the responsiveness of your websites because it triggers a real-time response. You could understand the importance of responsive design through the pros and cons.

Pros:

Responsive Design Works On Set Of HTML Code & Single URL

Unlike unresponsive design, responsive design can efficiently work on a single URL & HTML code. It means you can easily update your website without making comprehensive efforts. It streamlines the process and continually ensures that site visitors can easily access the latest content effortlessly, regardless of their device.

User experience

Only responsive websites have the power to deliver the best-of-kind user experience since these can be tailored for different devices. UX designers aren’t pressured to change the elements of the website for mobile as per the desktop version. They are free to remodel the site as per the likes and dislikes of the mobile users.

SEO friendly

Responsive websites are SEO-friendly. SEO friendly means – ‘A website which is liked (In fact LOVED) by Google. According to the updated guidelines of Google, ‘Responsiveness is one of the ranking factors. No matter how beautifully designed your website is, everything is a waste of time if it does not load in seconds.

Increase Profit and Sales

As we have already mentioned, most consumers access shopping websites through mobile phones or other portable devices. So, incorporating responsiveness will help you to increase sales and profits. Mobile-friendly websites experienced a 42.289% increase in revenue.

Low Maintenance

Since responsive websites are made to fit all possible screen sizes, they need quintessentially less maintenance. Such websites use the same elements and content. Only a slight change will be required in case of updates.

Effortlessly Track Users

Responsive websites save much of your money and the development effort required to create separate websites for different mobile devices. That saved time, effort, and money can be used to track site visitors and create effective strategies to take them through the purchase funnel.

Cons:

Since we have studied the pros of a responsive website, it is difficult to imagine there could be downsides to a responsive web design. But everything present on earth has pros and cons. The same goes for responsive design.

Navigation Becomes Complex

eCommerce websites are usually broad. They contain a large number of categories. Such websites are easy to navigate on desktops, but it becomes challenging to ease the navigation of such broad websites on mobile devices. Consequently, the user experience will suffer, leading to a decrease in sales & profits.

No compatibility with the old version of the IE browser

It is suggested to avoid incorporating responsive design in your website if your site is using the IE browser. You’ll face a terrible bounce rate if you consider opting for responsiveness in that scenario.

Slow Page Loading Speed

However, responsive design is impactful when it comes to user experience. But, if you don’t pay proper attention to UX while incorporating UX into your website, page speed will suffer. We know that slow-loading web pages have a devastating impact on conversion rate, bounce rate, customer satisfaction, search engine rankings, and consumer loyalty. Here we’re not trying to emphasize that responsive websites work slowly. We’re only trying to say that efficiency should not be compromised with Aesthetics.

Pro Tip:
In some cases of ‘Slow Page Load Speed’, it is better to update the existing elements. While in most cases, it is always better to update the website from scratch.

The Development Will Take A Lot Of Time

Responsive design is difficult to develop. It needs a lot of aspects to be kept in mind. Also, we don’t suggest incorporating responsiveness in an already-built unresponsive website. The designing and development phase should be carried out from scratch.

Expensive

Because of the complexities & intricacies involved in responsive design, it can be expensive for you. Here, you can’t just prepare mockups in Photoshop and hand them over to the developer. The creation of a responsive website is entirely dependent on the UX designers. They have to re-architect a site based on the users’ likes and dislikes, irrespective of the devices they are using. Such a motive can easily be accomplished if style and development work closely.

It is suggested to take care of responsiveness in the initial website development stage.

It’s Difficult To Control The Layout

Responsiveness is all about liquid layout, which is difficult for designers to control because it demands designers to display different wireframes and prototypes for mobile and desktop layouts. Once these two designs work well, you can only consider the responsive strategy to have come out well.

Are You Confused After Reading The Pros And Cons?

Here’s the puzzle solver:

Final Comments!

There are specific pros and cons of incorporating responsiveness into the websites. But, as per our research and findings, we have found out that the weightage of cons is quintessentially more than the pros. So, an eCommerce website must be responsive. Careful design and development can curb the cons quickly. In the long run, you’ll face negative repercussions if you don’t make your website responsive.

If your website is built on an IE browser, it is suggested to consider carrying out the designing and development phase from scratch, as you can avoid adding responsiveness for now. But, technological advancements will demand your website to be responsive. You may lose partial or whole of your sales owing to the lack of this vital feature.

Guarantee: Relying on the pros of responsiveness will lead your eCommerce website to the path of success!

So what’s your call?

Are you going to opt for responsiveness for your website or not?