Developing a responsive mobile-first design guide for e-commerce with the users in focus

Mobile e-commerce is an increasing trend. Still, many sales sites are not adapted to mobile interfaces. Important factors in the design of successful e-commerce applications are trust, high quality graphics, and easy navigation. However, a typical design approach is to strip down functionality and this can have a negative impact on the user experience. The goal of this thesis was to create a style guide that can be used to develop responsive e-commerce sites through a mobile first implementation strategy. A style guide was created by applying modern design theory and by investigating existing e-commerce solutions. Moreover, a prototype of an e- commerce solution was developed using the style guide. This prototype was evaluated by an expert group of usability professionals. The study indicates that the style guide is a useful and effective tool in the design and development of e-commerce systems. We conclude that a mobile first strategy needs to be combined with subsequent traditional desktop design.