The Ultimate eCommerce - Header and Navigation Menu

As we continue to explore the universe of an ultimate eCommerce website, it's time to focus on a foremost element -- Website Header.

The header of a webpage typically includes the company logo or brand identity, as well as the main navigation menu. A website navigation menu is the place on each page where links to other pages on your website are displayed. One of the challenges of creating responsive designs is creating navigation menu that works on the larger screens as well as on the smaller screens such as mobile phones, tablets and desktops. The success of your eCommerce site can greatly hinge on your header's usability design and navigational functions.

Let’s take a look at items that should be included in the header:

Login or Register
Categories and filtering options
Products
Shopping cart or bag
Email signup
Search
Featured
Sales
Store locator
Guest or Customer Services
Language

And things to remember:

Make your logo a clickable element to your homepage
Keep a clean and minimalist design for easy navigation
Use short and descriptive labels
Put your navigation in standard locations on the web page
Do not go overboard with multi level drop down menus - Avoid creating a drop down with more than two levels overall
Place the most important items at the beginning of the navigation and the least important ones in the middle
Checkout button clearly visible on the Shopping Cart summary page
On websites that have a lot of pages, use breadcrumb navigation to enhance the way users find their way around