Interested in starting an online store or doing a website redesign?

Even if you’re just looking for inspiration to make small tweaks to your site, this list of the top 15 Shopify stores in 2018 is sure to give you new ideas and help you grow your store.

We’ve sifted through hundreds of Shopify stores and extracted the best of the best to feature in this article. We even break down what makes them good so you know exactly what to copy!

Disclaimer: Many of these Shopify stores use Bold Commerce's apps. Despite that, we still believe they are excellent Shopify store examples you can learn a lot from to improve your online store.

Let’s dive into these eCommerce websites.

Best Shopify Stores In 2018

Here are the best Shopify stores of 2018:

1. Scratch Coffee

Here’s what I love about Scratch Coffee’s store - it really delivers on the wow factor.

Right off the bat, you’re drawn in with a stunning hero image and a strong Call To Action (CTA).

The next thing you notice is the featured video.

In general, videos are a great way to showcase your brand and products. They convey information more clearly and quickly than boring old text!

Plus, videos are also exceptionally impactful in the F&B industry.

In this specific context:

Scratch Coffee could dedicate an entire paragraph to wax lyrical about how their hand dripped coffee is made with ethically sourced beans from Ethiopia. But showing consumers the actual process (using a video) is way more convincing.

Next, you get a handy little compilation of all the coffee roasters who use Scratch Coffee.

There’s a ton of roasters on this list, which helps with social proof. If all these guys use Scratch Coffee, they must be good!

Side note: Social proof is a major factor in your conversion rate. We talk more about it in our guide to optimizing your online store for conversions.

Also, check out this section where Scratch Coffee features its newest roasts.

When you hover across a product, you get two CTA buttons. Because of the bold colors, these really stand out from the original image, and they’re simple and effective.

One final point…

Look at how Scratch Coffee promotes its newsletter.

It isn’t just asking you to “sign up to be in the loop,” it’s asking you to “join the insiders.” This conveys a sense of exclusivity… it’s as though you’ll belong to a special club!

Note: The above email opt-in form is NOT GDPR compliant. You need to include a checkbox for people to give consent to receive email promotions. Learn more about GDPR compliance (and making sure your site is legal) here.

2. Solo Stove

One of my favorite Shopify store examples is Solo Stove.

Again, the first thing you see with Solo Stove is a great hero image, with a clear CTA.

This is followed by two short paragraphs which tell us what Solo Stove is about. Among other things, we learn that their designs are patented and their stoves are award-winning.

Immediately after that, we see a long list of publications where Solo Stove’s products have been featured in.

It’s a double-whammy for Solo Stove’s credibility… at this point, the average visitor will be more or less sold on Solo Stove’s expertise in this industry.

Moving onto their products!

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love Solo Stove’s product photography. They show their products in context, the colors are vibrant and inviting, and it just makes you want to whip out your credit card and spend some money.

They’ve also got this nifty section which illustrates how the technology behind their stoves work.

As you scroll through steps one to five, the image on the right changes to reflect each step.

Again, this is great because they’re not laying out the information using lengthy paragraphs and overwhelming their readers in the process.

For more social proof, there’s also this section where you can browse through Solo Stove’s branded hashtag, and check out the photos their customers uploaded on social media.

The customer photos aren’t just for the aesthetics, by the way. These can help boost your conversions by up to 19%!

A few more things to point out and we’ll be done with Solo Stove.

First, their product page highlights that they’re offering free shipping to entice customers to make a purchase.

Also, they also attempt to upsell their customers on the product page. Makes sense - if you’re in the market for a camping stove, you’ll probably need some other accessories as well.

I’ve saved the best for the last…

Check out Solo Stove’s exit pop-up.

No, don’t go - you might get cold.

Brands often shy away from incorporating humor into their website copy, but Solo Stove really nails it here. Subtle, yet makes your smile.

Note: Again, this exit-intent pop-up is NOT GDPR compliant. It should have a checkbox or a double opt-in email to be legal. Click here to learn more.

3. Beantown Roasters

Subscription box businesses are extremely lucrative.

You can make recurring revenue (something hard to achieve in the world of eCommerce) while also building extremely loyal customers.

Beantown Roasters is one of the best subscription based businesses we know!

If it’s their best-selling k-cup variety sampler pack that you’re after, you can make your purchase directly from the homepage with three clicks of a button.

First, choose your flavour combination. Then, indicate if you want a one-time purchase or a subscription. If you’re getting the subscription, tell them how often you want your variety pack delivered. That’s it - you’re done!

Of course, if you want to purchase the other packs or individual blends, you’ll have to navigate to the individual product pages. But it’s the same easy interface you’re dealing with - and again, you only use three clicks to add an item to your cart.

Ease of usage aside, Beantown Roasters’ customer reviews are also a nice touch.

Note how these three reviews (which appear first) are all fleshed out - they don’t say generic things such as “great coffee” or “tastes good.” I suspect that they sifted through their stockpile of reviews and took the three most comprehensive ones to display up front… which is a smart move!

One last tip when it comes to reviews:

Don’t format your reviews into pictures - have them displayed using plain text. This way, search engines can crawl the content, and you get more page rank out of them!

4. Flatspot

Next up, we have independent skate shop Flatspot.

At first glance, they might seem like most other eCommerce websites...

But once you start exploring the products, you’ll realize that you can check out the available sizes of an item just by hovering across it.

It even works for trousers, check it out:

Personally, I would love it if this became an industry norm. Think of all the time you’ll save when you’re shopping online!

5. So Worth Loving

Regardless of what industry you’re in, it’s important to be able to connect with your customers. And that’s what apparel store So Worth Loving does best.

On their website, you’ll find a personal message from SWL’s founder, Eryn.

It’s positive, it’s upbeat, and it ends with a CTA for readers to share their story. And guess what? Hundreds of people have.

If you want to build a brand and a legacy, there’s no better way to go about doing it than to create a community, like how Eryn does with SWL.

Instead of making it a one-way conversation, reach out to your readers! You can get them to share their stories, vote on upcoming products, give feedback about your existing items, etc.

Last but not least, SWL also has a press kit on their website. Basically, this is a page where media can go to download SWL’s logos, pictures of their founder and store, and more.

How does this benefit SWL?

Well, let’s say you’re a writer for an online magazine, and you’re working on an urgent story on entrepreneurship. You need to feature one clothing brand in your story, and you have a choice between SWL and two other stores.

You log onto SWL’s website, and realize that all the materials you need can be found on their press kit page. When looking at the other stores, however, you can’t find a decent picture of their founder. This makes your choice a no-brainer!

6. ban.do

Lifestyle brand ban.do’s website design is colorful, fun, and almost impossible to look away from.

First, instead of using a static picture on their hero section, they use a series of fun video clips. Interestingly enough, these clips aren’t overproduced, and the majority of them just feature a couple of girls goofing off and having fun.

It almost feels like something you’d see in your friend’s Instagram Story, which gives ban.do extra brownie points when it comes to authenticity.

Pro tip: Working with Instagram influencers can be a great way to increase your store’s traffic and sales!

Then there’s their Compliment Generator…

Which is a fun tool that churns out compliments upon request. Pretty nifty!

They even have a Fun Downloads section, where you can download wallpapers, Spotify playlists, and even ban.do very own sticker app.

From the customer’s perspective: you get cool shit for free. Why not?

From ban.do’s perspective: the more customers interacting with ban.do’s materials, the more they’ll remain top-of-mind. Talk about a win-win!

One final thing…

As you check out ban.do’s product pages, you’ll realize that all of them come with personalized recommendations below the fold.

Statistics show that personalized recommendations can increase your average order value by 10.3%, and increase your revenue by a whopping 26%.

Bottom line? If you’re not using personalized recommendations on your eCommerce store, you’re leaving money on the table.

Not sure how to get started? Check out our Bold Brain app, which creates personalized recommendations based on customer data.

7. Pura Vida Bracelets

When you’ve got a ton of SKUs, it’s important to build a great filtering function into your eCommerce store. That way, your visitors don’t get overwhelmed by the many options.

Here’s how Pura Vida Bracelets does it:

At the first level, you get the option to filter according to color, metal, stone, charm, category, and even charity.

Once you’ve done that, you can also click the “Sort By” button, and choose whether the products are shown based on price, popularity, new arrivals, etc.

Plus: there’s already a banner at the top informing you about the free shipping... but in case you don’t notice this, Pura Vida also highlights the same information right smack in the middle of their products.

Why is this important? According to one study, 9 out of 10 consumers say that free shipping is the number one incentive that makes them shop online. If you’ve got a free shipping policy, then make sure you display it loud and proud!

Last but not least, Pura Vida’s product pages are also pretty cool.

You get this “Send to Messenger” option, which allows you to share the product with your friends.

Plus, the site also informs you that X number of people have the same item in their carts at the moment. More social proof!

8. Kylie Cosmetics

When you’re a celebrity who starts a makeup line, here’s how you milk your star power:

Mark out the items you want to promote (perhaps the ones which give you the highest margin?) as your personal favorite, and watch the money come streaming in.

Psst: you don’t need to be Kylie Jenner or Beyonce in order to use this same strategy.

As the founder of a brand, you’re in the know, which automatically elevates you to “Cool Person” status. As long as your customers recognize your name (and face!), you can go ahead and place your stamp of approval on select products, like how Kylie does.

One other thing that we like about Kylie Cosmetics? They use videos in their product pages.

Consider this: 73% of US adults are more likely to make a purchase after watching a product video and 58% of shoppers think that companies with product videos can be trusted. There’s really no arguing with these numbers!

9. Studio Neat

Next up, we have consumer tech company Studio Neat, which really delivers on small but impactful details.

First, their drop-down menu features miniature-sized icons, which delivers a ton of clarity. Customers can now tell what’s what with just a quick glance!

Then there’s the fact that they’ve listed a phone number on their website - this builds trust and results in higher conversions.

10. Veestro

Meal subscription service Veestro does several things well, including their customer reviews. You can learn a lot about growing an eCommerce business from them.

Now, what makes their reviews exceptionally effective?

First, the date of each review is clearly indicated. This gives the customers confidence that they’re seeing recent reviews, not reviews from eons ago.

Second, each review is also accompanied by a picture of the food.

Of course, it’ll be better if these are pictures taken by your actual customers, but if it’s too hard to secure those, just use your own photos instead. Pictures make the review section more visually appealing and draw the reader’s attention.

Reviews aside, Veestro’s “Why Plants?” section is also pretty awesome.

On this page, they serve you some pretty hard-hitting stats: 53% less risk of Alzheimer’s disease… that’s huge.

Even better, they include a one-liner at the bottom to reference where these stats are from. This builds credibility and trust!

Last but not least, this is pretty genius:

Every time you add an item to your cart, the banner on top of your page changes to reflect how much money you need to spend to get free shipping.

Veestro does this with our Sales Motivator App. It’s a great way to incentivize your customers to increase their order value!

11. Little Wolf Coffee

With its fun, quirky illustrations, Little Wolf Coffee really stands out from the crowd. (We like coffee, can you tell?)

The site is neatly organized, and the About Us page comes with CTAs to encourage visitors to get in touch with the company.

Pro tip: You can use your About Us page to increase sales. It’s the perfect spot to build trust with your visitors and include a nice CTA.

Next up, the product pages give you all the information you need - they even tell you when the coffees are roasted and when they’re shipped.

Finally, the cart is easily editable, and you also have the option to leave specific instructions for the seller. (Little Wolf Coffee probably gets plenty of customers purchasing subscriptions as a gift - hence the need for this function!)

12. Caveman Foods

Caveman Foods, which sells nutrition bars and other related products, has a pretty kickass product page.

With their product pages, Caveman Foods:

• Indicates the product’s overall rating, and its number of reviews
• Shows both the total price and the unit price
• Gives you an option to purchase a single product or sign up for a subscription
• Gives you a button which you can click for more nutrition info

What happens if you’re not ready to make a purchase and you want to keep browsing?

Just scroll to the top of the page, where Caveman Foods has neatly laid out the other flavors within the same category. How thoughtful!

13: V-dog

Dog food store V-dog’s website is pretty impressive. They’ve got a killer hero image (how adorable is that dog?!), a clear CTA, and a clean-cut color scheme.

Plus, check out that little pop-up on the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

Yup, you get a notification whenever someone makes a purchase from V-dog. That’s some pretty powerful social proof right there!

(You can get this same functionality using the Sales Pop app by Beeketing.)

Next, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, and you’ll see the various ways you can contact the brand.

As a consumer, this is pretty reassuring. If anything goes wrong with your order, you know you have three different ways of reaching out to the company.

When it comes to their product page, V-dog does a good job at upselling items.

Here’s how they do it:

Once you add an item to the cart, you’ll get a pop-up asking you to add some other stuff to your order (without paying for extra shipping!).

It’s simple, but effective. (They use our Product Upsell app to get the job done!)

Last but not least, V-dog also has a kickass testimonials section.

Remember what I mentioned about including customer pictures in your product reviews if possible?

Check it out:

V-dog has tons of reviews, all of which feature their customer’s dogs. My personal favourite is the one that reads “V-dog literally saved our dog’s life” - the before and after picture which accompanies this review is pretty mind-boggling. Talk about powerful.

14: Schoolhouse Electric

Like Solo Stove, Schoolhouse Electric shows off its customers’ pictures, which are uploaded using a branded hashtag.

Here’s the difference: while Solo Stove puts these photos in a separate section of their eCommerce store, Schoolhouse integrates these pictures into their product pages.

When you click on the Lanai Throw Pillow (pictured above), you get to see customer pictures featuring that exact product.

When you click on another product, the feed changes to include pictures featuring this product.

How cool is that?

Scroll further down the product page and you’ll see these two other sections. These are your recommended products and your recently viewed products.

The easier it is for your customers to browse new products (and access products that they’ve previously viewed), the more likely they’ll find something they like. So take a leaf out of Schoolhouse’s book! 

15: Lucky Tackle Box

Rounding off our list is Lucky Tackle Box, which is a fishing subscription box company.

There are plenty of persuasive elements that Lucky Tackle Box has on its homepage, including:

• A countdown timer that lets you know how quickly you’ll have to make your purchase if you want to get your box shipped within a week
• A promo code which gives you an extra bonus lure, and
• A pop-up informing you that someone else has just made a purchase

Pro Tip: It’s been proven that using countdown timers in emails can help increase conversion rates by 3x! While I haven’t chanced upon any case studies for countdown timers on websites, it’s safe to say that they’ll also boost your conversions.

Moving on!

Further down their homepage, Lucky Tackle Box also lists the value of each of their boxes, which isn’t something that all subscription companies do.

Why is this important? It gives your customers more certainty and reduces the friction associated with making a purchase.

If you’ve got a reputable brand which your customers already trust, then this might be less crucial for you. But if you’re a new entrant to the market and not many folks know about your brand, this will help nudge your customers into making that first purchase.

Runner ups to check out for even more inspiration

While the 15 Shopify store examples we shared above are amazing, there are obviously loads of other great stores built with Shopify.

If you’re hankering for more examples and inspiration, check out these runner ups:

• Pop Chart Lab
• Happiness Abscissa
• Taylor Stitch
• Jeffree Star Cosmetics
• Ratio Coffee
• Little Sparrow Tea
• And Shark Tank’s own Slawsa
  
  

Learning from the top Shopify stores of 2018

Congrats, you’ve made it to the end of the list! There are some truly stunning eCommerce stores built with Shopify.

At this point, you’re probably buzzing with ideas and raring to go. I know I am!

We’ve learned about everything from using social media hashtags for social proof to creating subscriptions and upsell offers and more. It’s a lot to take in!

If you’re excited to change up your website design, but don’t know where to start, we can help! Our website design services have helped multiple stores break seven figures and beyond.

Want to learn more? Check out our other blog posts for Shopify store owners:

• eCommerce Content Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Increase Traffic & Sales
• eCommerce SEO: How to Optimize Your Store for Search Engines
• The Ultimate Guide to Writing High-Converting Product Descriptions
• How to Grow Your Shopify Website with Facebook Advertising

If you liked this article, please take a minute to share it with your fellow entrepreneurs. Everyone can benefit from a little inspiration!