Choosing a menu type for your store should not come down to “it looks nice” or “that’s what others do.” It should come from the store itself: what you sell, what device your customers use, how they buy. This article gathers the four menu selection factors worth weighing most, and for each one, suggests which menu type it nudges you toward.
There is no perfect formula. But if you can answer the four questions below, most of the decision will sort itself out.
Menu selection factor one: how big is your catalog
The first question is simple: how many categories does your store have, and how many products sit in each one?
A handmade shop with 3 categories and a few dozen products needs very different navigation from an electronics store with dozens of subcategories. If the catalog is small, a flat menu is enough. Customers just need a few clear choices, not many layers.
As the catalog grows, the problem flips. Customers need to see the structure — which category holds which subcategory — before they will commit to a click. This is where a Mega Menu shines: it spreads many columns at once, showing customers nearly the whole store on desktop in a single hover.
An easy sign: if you are cramming too many items into one long, dragging vertical dropdown, your catalog has outgrown the simple menu. That is the moment to think about a multi-column menu.
Factor 2: what device customers arrive on
This is the factor many people skip, even though it is one of the most important. You design on your own laptop screen, but your customers are looking on their phones.
The real numbers are fairly clear. According to Shopify, mobile already accounts for more than half of ecommerce visits, and for many stores the figure is even higher. You do not have to guess. Open Shopify Analytics (the Sessions by device type section), or Google Analytics (Reports → Tech → broken down by Device category), and you will see your own store’s desktop and mobile split right away.
When mobile is the majority
If most customers use phones, the menu has to sit within thumb’s reach. Research by Steven Hoober (a survey of more than 1,300 users) shows most actions are done with the thumb, and the easiest-to-reach area is the lower half of the screen. The top corner is the “reaching-and-straining” zone.
The practical consequence: a hamburger menu tucked away in the top-left corner sits in exactly the hardest area to reach. This is why the Tab Bar — a fixed navigation bar at the bottom — fits mobile-first stores. The most important items (Home, Categories, Search, Cart) always stay within thumb’s reach.
One point worth noting from Nielsen Norman Group: hiding navigation behind a hamburger makes the menu noticeably harder for customers to discover than when the menu is shown plainly. The Tab Bar is always visible, so it sidesteps this weakness.
When desktop is still the majority
Some industries — B2B, wholesale, high-priced products that need close inspection — still see many desktop customers. In that case a Mega Menu on desktop is the natural choice, since it makes good use of the wide screen.
The nice thing is you do not have to pick just one. Navi+ lets you configure mobile and desktop separately — for example a Tab Bar for phones, a Mega Menu for computers — within the same tool, no code needed. You do not have to trade off one group of customers for another.
Factor 3: what industry you are in
Buying behavior differs by industry, and the menu should follow that behavior.
Fashion leans toward discovery. Customers browse, look around, change their minds, and rarely know exactly what they want when they first arrive. A fashion menu should encourage browsing — by type, by collection, by occasion — and imagery usually helps, so a Mega Menu with images or a Grid Menu suits this group.
Electronics is the opposite. Customers usually know exactly the specs they need and want to filter quickly: by brand, by power rating, by price range. The catalog is also often large. This group leans toward clearly structured navigation and an easy-to-spot search box.
F&B and grocery prioritize speed and repeat purchases. Customers often come back to buy the same item again. A compact menu with few layers and shortcuts to familiar categories serves them better than a complex category tree.
Beauty sits in between: it has both discovery (looking for inspiration, reading reviews) and repeat purchases (out of cream, so buy the same tube again). A menu for browsing by skin type or need, plus a quick way to search, usually balances both.
This is a starting point, not a law. But knowing the behavior typical of your industry keeps you from designing against the way customers actually buy.
Factor 4: do you prioritize discovery or quick search
The last factor is about your goal: do you want customers to wander and discover (browse) or to find what they need and buy right away (search-first)?
If your store’s value lies in customers discovering something they didn’t know they wanted — decor, gifts, seasonal fashion — then the menu should open up the path to discovery. Show customers many categories, suggest collections, use imagery to guide them. Mega Menu and Grid Menu serve this style.
If customers arrive with clear intent and you want to shorten the path to the cart, prioritize search-first: a prominent search box, shortcuts to main categories, as few steps as possible. A FAB (floating action button) or a fixed Search item on the Tab Bar lets customers always type a keyword, no matter what page they are on.
This goal also ties into the cart. According to Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate is around 70%. Part of that comes from customers getting lost or facing too many steps. Clear navigation that is always within reach cannot fix everything, but it removes some of the reasons customers leave midway.
A general note: don’t trade away speed
Whichever menu type you lean toward, there is one constraint you should not ignore: the menu must not slow the page down. According to Google, a page is considered good when LCP is under 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds, and CLS under 0.1. A heavy menu that loads slowly, or makes the layout jump on load, will drag these metrics down — hurting both the experience and SEO.
So when you choose a tool to build menus, watch whether it is optimized for Core Web Vitals. Navi+ was built with this goal in mind, and it keeps your menu intact when you switch themes — you don’t have to rebuild from scratch every time you change your design. You can try it out at naviplus.io.
In summary
Four factors, boiled down to four questions:
| Question | Suggested menu type |
|---|---|
| Big catalog or small? | Small means a flat menu; large means a Mega Menu so customers see the structure |
| Mobile or desktop customers? | High mobile means a Tab Bar at the bottom; lots of desktop means a Mega Menu — you can do both separately |
| What buying style does your industry have? | Discovery (fashion, beauty) means an image-led menu; quick search (electronics, F&B) means clear structure and prominent search |
| Prioritize browse or search? | Browse means opening up the path to discovery; search-first means shortening the path to the cart |
You don’t need a perfect choice from day one. Honestly answer these four questions, pick the menu type that fits best, then watch the numbers and adjust over time.
This article is part of the larger guide on How to Choose the Right Menu Type for Your Shopify Store.