It’s never been more important for young designers to have strong e-commerce sites, and those that succeed will have an enormous opportunity for growth at a critical survival point.
“AI and misinformation have us questioning everything, consumer trust in the quality of product [has eroded], and e-commerce wholesalers are no longer a reliable partner,” says Tony Wang, former brand strategy director at Ssense, who founded consulting firm and venture fund Office of Applied Strategy in 2020. “Laying the foundations for a successful DTC business should be young designers’ top priority right now.”
Several brands that come to Wang have released exciting collaborations with larger brands and enjoyed viral moments on social media that create a lot of impressions and drive traffic to their stores, but they’re struggling with conversion. “Where young designers don’t have the cash to invest in real estate or get a physical store, they must focus on e-commerce, but then customers don’t have the ability to touch and feel the product,” Wang says. “So e-commerce sites have become all about: how do you design for credibility in a 2025 environment where trust in brands is at an all-time low?”
Thanks to developments in AI and other commerce tech, best practices have shifted from when many designer brands likely set up their online stores in the past two decades. Getting it right will require investment, but returns are clear.
Jamie Davidson, who previously built LN-CC’s e-commerce site before founding his web design agency Dazze studio, tells Vogue Business that Dazze’s recent redesign and development of bespoke jewellery brand Bentley & Skinner’s website has led to a 154 per cent total sales increase in the last 10 months, compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, Bita Shahian, the founder of e-commerce web design agency Exhibea, says that the company’s work on lifestyle and activewear label Sporty & Rich’s website led to an 18.9 per cent increase in conversion and 7 per cent rise in revenue per customer over the last two years.
Photo courtesy of Sporty & Rich
Figure out your platform
Brands must first decide whether to build their site in-house or work with an external agency, and then choose the platform they’ll use. Where luxury conglomerates have larger budgets and their own in-house web design teams, most experts advise individual brands to partner with an agency.
