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E-commerce fundamentals

Purpose: Mental model for catalog → cart → checkout → account — applies to retail and digital goods.

Harvest / review: 2026-05

Deep research: Baymard (summarize free content; link for detail)

Core user jobs

Job UX requirement
Find Search, filters, sort, clear categories
Evaluate Images, price, variants, reviews, shipping hint
Buy Low-friction cart + checkout
Return / support Policies visible; account order history

Principles

Principle Practice
Transparent pricing Total before pay; fees not surprise at end
Guest checkout Don't force account creation
Persistent cart Cross-session where logged in
Stock and delivery truth Don't sell what you can't fulfill

Page types

Page Focus
Category / PLP Scan, filter, compare
PDP Decide: gallery, specs, social proof, add to cart
Cart Edit qty, shipping estimate, continue CTA
Checkout Minimal steps; trust signals
Confirmation Order ID, email sent, next actions

Anti-patterns

Avoid Why
Hidden shipping until last step Top abandonment reason (Baymard)
Forced registration Kills conversion
Tiny product thumbs on mobile Can't evaluate

Agent hint

Checkout detail → checkout-and-payments.md

Sources