With over 20 years of experience, we transform your digital presence. We specialize in website and E-Shop development, SEO and Digital Marketing, ERP software and smart automation that take your business to the next level.
Address:
154 Egnatia Street, Thessaloniki 546 36
Phone:
+30 231 231 4095
E-mail:
hello@twodots.gr
Ready for the next step?;
How a rebrand with character builds trust, differentiation and a better buying experience for e-commerce brands.
Design Week's article on how Kit Studio drew inspiration from the walls of St John's for an anti-bland rebrand is more than just an interesting graphic design story. It's a practical lesson for any e-commerce owner who feels their brand has become «right» but not memorable. A similar logic can be seen in our article on KISS Radio rebrand and e-commerce branding, where consistency of identity acts as a tool of trust. The basic idea is simple yet challenging: instead of a rebrand starting from safe trends, neutral palettes and generic templates, it can start from a real, tangible, recognisable brand element. In the case described by Design Week, Kit Studio treated identity not as a decorative layer, but as a continuation of a space, an atmosphere and an existing cultural memory. This approach has tremendous value for ecommerce branding, because online brands often lack physical space to create experiences. So they need even more conscious brand assets: colours, typography, photography, microcopy, packaging design, product storytelling and a design system that doesn't resemble a hundred competitors.
For an online store, branding is not just the logo on the header. It's the set of signals that help visitors understand within seconds where they are, why they should trust the store and what makes it different. When the brand identity is «bland», i.e. bland, neutral and interchangeable, the e-shop is forced to compete mainly on price, discounts and performance marketing. But when the visual identity is rooted in something authentic, the brand can build customer trust, increase recognition memory and create a reason to return. The point is not to make every brand eccentric. It's to acquire a specific voice, specific visual decisions and a brand strategy that serves its commercial promise.
Many e-commerce brands invest in clean pages, symmetrical product cards and modern colours, but remain weak in the customer's memory. This is because the visual effect is often right as an interface, but poor as a brand experience. The user may complete a purchase, but not be able to remember the next day which store they bought from. Therein lies the problem with bland branding: it doesn't create discretion. Brand differentiation doesn't come from yet another beige background or yet another generic sans-serif font, but from decisions that are tied to the history, audience and commercial truth of the business.
The business importance of design has now been documented in terms of performance. McKinsey, in The Business Value of Design, analyzed hundreds of companies over a five-year period and found that companies with high performance on the McKinsey Design Index outperformed the rest in both revenue growth and total shareholder return. This does not mean that a new logo will automatically increase sales. It means that companies that treat design as a strategic function, rather than an aesthetic finish, have a better chance of growing. As the chart below shows, the outperformance of design-led companies is hard to ignore.
Source: McKinsey, The Business Value of Design, 2018
For an e-shop, this logic translates into very specific choices. The rebrand must affect the product page, photos, email marketing, packaging, social media templates, transactional emails and even the way error messages are written. If the identity only exists on the homepage, then it's not brand identity; it's window dressing. Conversely, when identity permeates the entire experience, the brand becomes more trustworthy, easier to recognize and harder to copy. This is where branding meets conversion rate optimization: aesthetics do not work alone, but as a mechanism to reduce doubt and enhance purchase intent.
The most interesting aspect of Kit Studio's approach is that it used an actual source of inspiration instead of resorting to abstract references. For an e-commerce owner, the equivalent question is: what is your «wall»? It could be the production workshop, the texture of a material, the archive of old packaging, the language of customer reviews, the geographic origin, the manufacturing technique, the founder's temperament or even a limitation that became a feature. Anti-bland branding doesn't mean adding noise. It means identifying the truest element of the brand and turning it into a consistent system.
This consistency is critical because e-commerce is by nature high friction. The visitor doesn't grab the product, talk to a salesperson and often compares prices across multiple tabs. According to the Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate in e-commerce is around 70.19%. The number is not just about design, but shows how easily a purchase is lost when trust, clarity or perceived value is not strong enough. Brand strategy plays a practical role here: it gives the user a reason to stay, believe, complete and return. The graph below shows the ratio between abandoned and completed baskets based on the average Baymard score.
Source: Baymard Institute, Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics
Authenticity, however, has to go through functionality. Too strong a visual identity that slows down the site, confuses navigation or hides mission information will hurt performance. Google has published data showing that as load time increases in a mobile environment, the likelihood of abandonment increases significantly. So ecommerce branding cannot be designed independently of the user experience. Animations, large images, custom fonts and editorial layouts should serve the experience, not detract from it. The graph below shows the increase in bounce probability as load time rises from 1 second to higher levels.
Source: Think with Google / SOASTA Research, 2017
A successful rebrand doesn't start with a moodboard, but with a diagnosis. Before changing logo, colors or packaging design, you need to understand what's not working today and what commercial opportunity the new identity needs to serve. The following guide can serve as a practical framework for e-commerce owners who want to refresh their brand without getting lost in purely aesthetic decisions.
Brand guidelines should not be a pretty PDF that is left forgotten in a folder. For an e-commerce brand, they are a tool for daily production. They should answer questions like: which product photo is on-brand, which phrase doesn't fit our voice, how to design a banner offer without looking cheap, how to present a discount without undermining the value of the product, how to write an abandoned cart email in a way that builds trust. The more practical the guidelines are, the less the brand depends on personal preferences and the more it works as a business system.
A complete set of brand guidelines for e-commerce should include rules for visual identity, tone of voice, product storytelling, UI components, social templates, email modules, packaging design and performance creatives. Advertising needs special attention. Many brands build a premium image on the site, but in ads they use overly aggressive design, stock images and messages that look like everyone else. This inconsistency reduces trust. If a user clicks on an ad and lands on an experience that looks like another brand, customer trust is weakened. Consistency doesn't mean monotony. It means that every touchpoint speaks the same language, with adaptation to the channel.
The biggest mistake in a rebrand is to treat it as a change in appearance without a change in behaviour. If the colours change but the service remains unclear, if the logo changes but the product pages don't better explain the value, if the packaging changes but the unboxing says nothing about the brand, then the effect will be temporary. Branding must touch the way the business presents, sells and supports its products. That's why the team involved shouldn't just be designers. It needs people from marketing, customer support, logistics, product management and, ideally, actual customers.
A good practice is to organise a brand audit with three columns: what we say we are, what we show we are and what the customer experiences. If you say you're premium but the photos are low quality, there's a gap. If you say you're simple and friendly but the checkout is complicated, there's a gap. If you say you're sustainable but don't explain materials, suppliers and packaging options, there's a gap. Anti-bland branding doesn't cover these gaps; it reveals and corrects them. That's the essential difference between aesthetic refresh and strategic brand building.
For TWO DOTS, this approach is of particular importance in e-commerce projects, because the creative must be linked to measurable business results. A strong brand identity can improve brand awareness, but it must also co-exist with fast loading, clean information architecture, proper SEO, persuasive content marketing and consistent performance campaigns. Brand is not across the board from performance. When designed properly, it is the foundation that makes performance more sustainable because it reduces reliance on constant discounts and rising advertising costs.
The story of Kit Studio and St John's reminds us of something many online brands forget: identity becomes powerful when it has a specific starting point. Not when it tries to please everyone. For an e-commerce brand, it's not just about looking contemporary, it's about being able to be recognised, trusted and preferred by the customer when there are dozens of similar options. Branding works when it turns authenticity into a system: visual identity, brand guidelines, user experience, product storytelling, trust checkout and content that doesn't look like it's been copied from the marketplace.
If you're planning a rebrand, start with the truest element of your business and ask how it can be made visible at every stage of the buying journey. That's where the difference between a nice redesign and a brand that gains commercial power lies. Anti-bland branding is not a trend. It is choice discipline, courage to differentiate and respect for the customer who needs reasons to believe before they buy.
TWO DOTS helps businesses connect branding, content and digital marketing with clearer strategy, better visibility and a more consistent customer experience.
Anti-bland branding is the creation of an authentic and distinctive identity that stands out from generic and bland approaches. It is important for e-commerce because it enhances consumer awareness and confidence, reducing reliance on discounts and promotions.
A successful rebrand starts with a diagnosis of existing problems and identification of the unique elements that differentiate the brand. These elements must then be translated into consistent brand principles that permeate every aspect of the customer experience.
Brand guidelines should include rules for visual identity, tone of voice, product storytelling, UI components and performance creatives. It is a daily production tool that ensures consistency and brand awareness across all channels.
A strong brand identity improves awareness and trust, reducing reliance on constant discounts. It positively affects performance, as it is associated with higher conversion rates and better user experience.
«Beautiful but generic» branding does not create distinctiveness and makes it difficult for customers to recognize the brand. This leads e-commerce brands to compete mainly on price rather than value, reducing customer loyalty.
Authenticity in e-commerce branding creates a strong connection with the audience and enhances trust and awareness. It helps differentiate the brand from the competition and increases the likelihood of customers returning.
Rebranding can enhance the commercial power of an e-commerce brand by creating a consistent and distinctive identity that aligns with its commercial promise. A well-designed brand identity increases brand awareness and encourages repeat purchases.
