Online shoppers expect e-commerce sites to follow certain design and layout conventions, including logo position and function, the placement of product navigation, and the use of a “hamburger” menu on mobile devices. When online retailers follow these conventions, shoppers’ expectations are met and, hopefully, sales follow.
A design convention is simply a description of the way that something, like positioning an element on a page, is usually done. It describes the normal, customary way of laying out an online store. Shoppers come to recognize common design conventions and expect online retailers to follow them.
