Ecommerce websites consist of themes and templates made with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Executives typically define the requirements, designers create the layouts, and developers code or implement the components.
AI is upending that process.
Upwards of 97% of developers now use AI to plan software implementations and generate code. Increasingly, generative AI is also impacting website design.
AI is upending the traditional process of designing and coding ecommerce sites.
Website Theming
The conventional website workflow exists because people needed a way to convert ideas into HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Liquid (used for Shopify), React (a JavaScript framework), or another programming or templating language.
The workflow goes (went) something like this.
- An ecommerce owner or manager has an idea for a visual theme and communicates the concept to a designer.
- The designer translates the concept into a visual for developers.
- Developers code and assemble the designers’ theme, template, or function.
That handoff from business to design to development creates expense and delay. Once designed, a custom site or component might require weeks of back-and-forth revisions to code responsive layouts, test the interactions, and tweak the visuals.
AI Translates
AI tools can expedite the workflow, translating concepts into designs and designs into functional website themes.
Shopify Magic already helps merchants create product descriptions and other content, and is steadily expanding AI-powered capabilities across the platform. Netlify offers AI-assisted development workflows for creating boilerplate websites. Tools such as GitHub Copilot, Vercel’s v0, Bolt.new, and Replit generate functioning interfaces or application code from natural-language prompts.
The common thread is that executives can describe what they want, and AI generates it.
A merchant might ask for “a minimalist outdoor apparel store with oversized photography, earthy colors, and a streamlined checkout,” and AI produces the initial implementation. The better the instructions, the better the outcome.
AI Infrastructure
Figma’s acquisition of Payload CMS last year exemplifies this trend.
The companies have not revealed their long-term roadmap, yet the combination suggests a future in which a designer or even a business owner uses Figma’s AI to create a website design and convert it into a production website.
Instead of creating mockups for developers, designers could generate interfaces that translate to working websites. The design becomes the site.
The implications go beyond convenience. When AI can automatically translate layouts into production-ready code, the traditional separation between design and development is gone.
All of this is happening now. Many companies are vibe coding their own tools, components, and sites.
Benefits
Enterprise-level businesses will likely have the most AI-enabled theming capabilities, but the entire ecommerce industry benefits in at least four ways.
- Stakeholder control. The traditional workflow is inefficient. With AI-aided design and deployment, a stakeholder has direct control.
- Speed. AI-generated web themes are much faster to create. The design and development phases are much shorter.
- Cost. Human labor comprises most of the cost of ecommerce development. With relatively fewer hours designing and coding layouts, the overall cost drops significantly.
- Better decisions. Fewer hours also frees up stakeholders to test, iterate, and decide.
Hence the traditional handoff between stakeholders, designers, and developers will continue to shrink.
For merchants, the savings in time and money could be a game-changer.
