When it comes to ecommerce success, a great user interface isn't just nice to have. It's a competitive advantage. One of the most overlooked yet high-impact areas of ecommerce UI design is the mega menu. It’s more than just a navigational tool and can absolutely be a gateway to conversion, product discovery, and brand perception.
At KARL Mission, we’ve conducted countless competitor benchmarks across leading ecommerce brands, studying how different companies structure their navigation systems and how users interact with them across desktop and mobile. In this blog, we’ll walk you through what we’ve learned from years of research on ecommerce mega menu design. You’ll see what works, what doesn’t, and how you can apply these principles to your own site.
What Is a Mega Menu And Why Does It Matter?
A mega menu is a large, expandable menu that typically drops down from the main navigation bar to reveal multiple categories, subcategories, and links, often with visual elements like icons or images. They're common in ecommerce sites because they allow you to display a broad product catalog in a way that's easy to scan and navigate. We often describe the mega menu to our clients as a snapshot of the entire website - a condensed, visual preview that guides users to key sections at a glance.
But here’s the thing… not all mega menus are created equal.
A poorly designed mega menu can overwhelm users, bury important links, or fail entirely on mobile. A well-designed one, on the other hand, helps users find what they’re looking for faster, encourages deeper site exploration, and increases conversion rates.
In-Depth Benchmarking: 5 Mega Menus That Get It Right
Here’s what we found from analyzing some ecommerce brands on the web:
Best Buy: Structured, Consistent, and Mobile-First
Desktop:
The hamburger menu expands to display a detailed list of departments. Each section is broken down with clear headings and subcategories.
Submenus offer quick access links, such as member benefits and top deals.
The nav bar condenses as you scroll down, reducing its footprint but staying visible, a smart way to maintain orientation without dominating the screen.
Mobile:
On mobile, they have a horizontally swipeable category bar which is pretty common on ecommerce websites. It collapses as users scroll down, helping keep the interface clean while still offering quick access to top-level categories.
Best Buy appears to have taken a mobile-first approach to their mega menu design. The hamburger menu on desktop mirrors the mobile experience, creating consistency across devices and ensuring the menu scales intuitively for touchscreens.
Key Takeaway: Best Buy’s menu is well-structured and scalable, offering deep categorization while staying easy to navigate, especially thanks to its consistent mobile-first design.
Temu: Promotional and Highly Visual Navigation
Temu is a rising star in the ecommerce world, and its mega menu design reflects modern UX best practices.
Desktop:
The menu disappears on scroll, but reappears as soon as users scroll back up. A top banner displays three bold USPs such as free shipping, price adjustment, and pushes the mobile app. Icons like the thumbs-up draw attention to key categories and trending items.
The menu color also changes color scheme and highlighted links, depending on the current holiday theme.
Categories are represented visually and some are marked with a ’Hot’ badge.
Search is front and center with trending terms suggested and suggested search text prompting action.
Mobile:
Search bar opens a full-screen search UI, making it easier to browse and focus.
On the mobile category menu, each subcategory is presented with images and clear labels, creating an intuitive, image-driven experience. Below the list of sub-categories, users can keep scrolling and see a list of trending items within that section, encouraging deeper exploration. This visually rich structure makes the mobile menu feel more like a guided shopping experience than a basic navigation tool.
Key Takeaway: Temu treats the menu like a promotional tool, blending UX with merchandising, and nails the mobile-first experience.
Walmart: Scalable Simplicity for a Broad User Base
Desktop:
Unlike the other examples above, Walmart has a fixed top navigation bar ensuring access to departments, services, and the cart at all times.
Hovering over categories reveals subcategories.
The search bar is proactive, offering autocomplete and trending suggestions.
Mobile:
On mobile, Walmart uses a horizontally scrolling category bar (which we also saw above with Best Buy and Temu) which prioritizes categories like “Get it Fast” and “New Arrivals.”
When expanded, the hamburger menu is densely populated, but remains user-friendly thanks to the icons and the clear grouping of links into related sections. This structure keeps the menu navigable and intuitive, even with a large volume of options.
Key Takeaway: Walmart prioritizes clarity and efficiency, offering a familiar, well-organized menu that accommodates a large product catalog without overwhelming the user.
Apple: Subtle, Purposeful, and Brand-Aligned
Apple proves that a mega menu doesn't have to be big and complicated… it just has to be smart.
Desktop:
Apple’s menu is minimal, compact, and sticky, intentionally designed to stay out of the way. With the rest of the site being highly visual and image-driven, the navigation takes a subtle, supportive role, allowing the product visuals and content to take center stage.
The menu animation is smooth and comfortable. Opening the menu blurs the background, directing focus to the menu itself.
The search bar offers “Quick Links” before you type, then shows “Suggested Searches” as you type.
Mobile:
A super minimal version of the desktop menu keeps things simple and on-brand.
Key Takeaway: Apple’s approach demonstrates that less can be more, prioritizing clarity and elegance in a way that reinforces the brand and enhances the visual experience.
Origins: Content-Rich and Customer-Guided
Desktop:
Rotating banner showcases sitewide promotions and shipping offers.
The Best Sellers submenu showcases featured products with visual thumbnails and product links, making it easy for users to dive into popular items.
The Skincare submenu is organized not just by product type but by new/popular, Skin Concern, and Collection. There's also a prominent link to the Skincare Quiz, offering guided support for those unsure where to start.
While no longer live, Origins previously featured a visually engaging Ingredients submenu, which showcased ingredients and linked to an ingredient index - a clever, brand-aligned way to promote product education.
Key Takeaway: Origins turns their mega menu into an educational and conversion-focused experience, using it as a tool to support both product discovery and brand storytelling.
Why Benchmarking Competitors Is Crucial for Mega Menu Design
Great UI design often borrows from the best. Through competitor benchmarking, we study how high-performing brands structure their menus, organize information, and guide users so we can adapt or improve on those approaches for our clients.
Benchmarking helps you:
- Understand user expectations. Customers are already trained by Amazon, Walmart, and Apple. If your UX deviates too far from these norms, it can cause friction.
- Spot innovative ideas. You can pick up patterns like sticky headers, interactive search suggestions, or seasonal menu updates.
- Avoid known pitfalls. Knowing what doesn’t work can be just as valuable as knowing what does.
What the Top Ecommerce Sites Have in Common
Across our benchmark research, a few recurring design patterns emerged from successful ecommerce brands:
1. Smart, Responsive Header Behavior
The most effective sites adapt their headers to user behavior. Menus that collapse when you scroll down (to reduce visual clutter) and reappear when you scroll up (for easy access) are now the standard.
- Temu and Best Buy use this tactic effectively to balance usability and space.
- Walmart opts for a permanently sticky header, reinforcing fast access to search and navigation.
2. Visual, Organized Category Navigation
Long lists of text links are no longer enough. The best mega menus use:
- Icons and product thumbnails to aid recognition.
- Grouped and labeled links (e.g., by product type, need state, or collection).
- “Hot,” “Trending,” or “Bestseller” tags to draw attention to high-performing categories.
3. Intelligent Search Integration
The search bar is a primary navigation tool so make sure to consider and optimize the search experience. Smart ecommerce sites:
- Use autocomplete suggestions
- Highlight popular and trending searches (often with icons or images)
- Include default placeholder text like “Search Best Sellers”, which doubles as a CTA
- Offer quick links or “Suggested Products” before users even begin typing
4. Seamless Mobile Menus
Mobile navigation is not just a scaled-down desktop menu. Effective mobile mega menus:
- Use large, touch-friendly hit areas
- Feature collapsible or swipeable category menus
- Prioritize search, cart, login, and offers at the top of the mobile menu
- Support visual category browsing with images and badges
Best Practice Checklist for Ecommerce Mega Menus
Want to assess your own site’s menu? Here’s our ultimate checklist of what the top performers do:
✅ Sticky or scroll-reactive header
✅ Organized categories with visual labels
✅ Icons and tags to spotlight hot or trending items
✅ Rotating top banners for seasonal USPs
✅ Deep categorization without clutter
✅ Smart, suggestion-based search functionality
✅ Mobile-first design (not just responsive)
✅ High-priority actions visible at all times (search, cart, offers, login)
✅ Integration of brand content or product discovery tools (e.g., quizzes)
✅ Dynamic styling or themes tied to holidays, sales, or campaigns
Common Mega Menu Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
Too many options with no grouping - overwhelms users
Fix: Organize into 3–5 broad groups with clear headings
Search is underutilized or broken
Fix: Add autocomplete, trending terms, and actionable placeholder text
Menus don’t adapt to screen size or behavior
Fix: Prioritize a mobile-native experience with touch-friendly UI
Static menus that ignore seasonality or promotions
Fix: Update banners and menu items dynamically based on campaigns
Navigation is hidden or hard to find on scroll
Fix: Use sticky headers or reappearing menus on scroll-up
Final Thoughts: Your Mega Menu Is a Conversion Opportunity
If your ecommerce site has 100s (or 1000s) of SKUs, your mega menu is more than just a UX component. It shapes product discovery, drives traffic to priority collections, and supports marketing campaigns, all while reducing friction in the user journey.
Your users shouldn’t have to guess where to click next. Done right, your mega menu will help them feel confident, comfortable, and ready to purchase.
🚀 Need Help with Your Mega Menu?
If you're not sure where your navigation stands or you just want expert eyes on your UI, we’re here to help.
👉 Book a free consultation with our CRO and UI/UX experts.We’ll benchmark your site against top performers, identify friction points, and show you how to build a mega menu that converts.
Book a Free Website Consultation
Discover quick wins for your digital strategy. 100% guaranteed.
