The menu system that helps visitors move through your site — usually a main menu (header), footer links, and sometimes a mega menu or sidebar for larger catalogs.
Good navigation is invisible; bad navigation makes people leave.
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Navigation is one of those things you don't notice when it's working well, but you definitely notice when it's not. It's the scaffolding of your site — the framework that tells people where they are, where they can go, and how your products are organized.
For ecommerce brands, navigation has two jobs:
- Wayfinding — helping people find what they're looking for without frustration
- Discovery — surfacing products they didn't know they wanted but might love
Your main navigation is prime real estate. It should reflect how your customers think about your products, not how you've organized your inventory in the back end. If you sell candles, your nav might be organized by scent family, by room, by occasion, or by size — whatever makes the most sense for your audience.
A well-designed nav also reduces friction. If someone has to click around aimlessly to find your size chart, your return policy, or a specific collection, they're more likely to bounce. Make the important stuff easy to find.
For brands with larger catalogs, a mega menu (a dropdown with multiple columns, images, and links) can be a game-changer — but only if it's designed thoughtfully. A messy mega menu is worse than a simple one.
Examples / tips:
- Organize your nav by how customers shop, not how you think about your products. (E.g., "Gifts Under $50" often works better than "Miscellaneous.")
- Keep your main nav to 5–7 top-level links. Too many choices = decision paralysis.
- Use your footer for secondary links (About, FAQ, Contact, Policies) so your header stays focused on shopping.
- Include a visible search bar — especially if you have a big catalog.
- Test your nav on mobile. If it's hard to use on a phone, most of your traffic will struggle.
- Don't bury your best-sellers or new arrivals — feature them prominently.
