In this article

Color Psychology In Ecommerce

Oli Kashti - Writer and Fact-Checker for Fast Simon
By Oli Kashti

Updated December 12, 2024.

a row of colored pencils lined up against a blue background

Color psychology studies colors to understand the impact they have on emotions and behavior. This is a branding and marketing tool that humans have been using for centuries. Color psychology applies within your eCommerce strategy. If you haven’t heard of it before, now is the time to consider the impact of colors on your brand. Let’s take a closer look.

What Is Color Psychology?

Color psychology studies the effect of colors on people’s feelings and behavior. In the context of eCommerce, it examines how color can be useful to marketing strategies and products in order to increase sales and foster a positive shopping experience. 

The theory behind color psychology is that certain colors evoke certain thoughts and feelings. Through understanding this, brands can create a more powerful customer experience, with certain emotions being generated.

Color Psychology In Ecommerce

Because different colors can evoke different emotions in shoppers, it’s important for eCommerce brands to understand the effect of the colors they are using. This could change the way the shopper interacts with the brand, and brand image is something that should be curated carefully. It’s important that you don’t accidentally evoke emotions that aren’t in your plan.

Customers will make decisions based on colors, draw impressions on your brand and products based on them, and can create lasting emotions. Many consumers will have colors as one of the main motivators for their purchases; it’s a huge factor in the way people spend.

Customers can make a snap decision about your brand and product, and this can be highly motivated by colors. After all, we all know how visual merchandising is a huge part of the eCommerce experience

Different Colors Meaning

Let’s take a look at what the different colors mean within the context of eCommerce.

two hands painted with multi - colored paint against a blue sky


Yellow

Yellow is associated with youth and optimism. With references to the sun, it can evoke feelings of warmth and happiness.

Orange

Orange evokes a more aggressive type of feeling. It can be good to aid calls to action, making people act fast. However at the same time, it installs a feeling of confidence in the buyer.

Red

Red is a bold and exciting color. It’s most commonly associated with urgency, so mostly it’s associated with clearance sales. It inspires shoppers to act before it’s too late! When it comes to spontaneous purchases within certain time limits; this is your color.

Pink

Pink has connotations with femininity and romance. It evokes feelings of nature and flowers, and gives a gentleness. The softness and serenity make it a great option for a spring or summer sale, or something to do with nightwear.

Purple

Purple is traditionally associated with wisdom, and spirituality. Along with this comes ideas of creativity, imagination and thinking outside of the box. When an item is luxurious, artistic or slightly out of the box, purple could be a great option.

Blue

Blue evokes feelings of water, calmness and trust. This is a great way of helping customers trust your brand, but the kind of blue you use will also have an impact here. Many banks and businesses use blue for this reason, it symbolizes dependability and strength.

Green

The grass and nature is associated with green, so it brings feelings of health and peace. It’s also associated with money and therefore prosperity. It’s easy for the eyes to process, and helps to evoke a calm buying experience.

Black

Black is a bold color to use in your eCommerce strategy. It gives the impression of professionalism, and power. This can highlight luxury, or simplicity. It can be molded to your use, and can evoke a wide range of emotional responses.

Why Consider This

The colors you use will attract different types of customers. The combinations of different colors together also can create a different impression. The colors should be combined with other elements of your strategy to create the overall desired effect.

It’s important to remember that a huge percentage of eCommerce shoppers base their opinion on a store on the design alone. It creates a lasting impression that can seriously affect sales. Other elements that have an influence are:

When combining optimized color psychology with these elements, great outcomes can be created.