How to Choose a Storefront Theme: Classic, Minimal or Bold
Updated 5 min read
To choose a storefront theme, start with your product photos and your audience before you think about colors. In Zelect, Classic suits mixed photos and first-time visitors. Minimal suits clean, consistent images in fashion and beauty. Bold suits dark, high-contrast brands such as tech and gaming. Preview each one with your real products before you decide.
The theme changes how your products are presented. Your products, links and URLs stay as they are, so you can switch later without rebuilding anything.
What does a theme change on an affiliate storefront?
A Zelect theme controls the page background and the shape of the product cards. It also sets the photo proportions, the look of the buy button and the way category sections appear on your home page. Everything else is shared.
These parts are shared by every theme:
- The search box in the header
- One page per category and one page per product
- The first four products of each category shown on your home page, two per row on phones and four on desktop
- A multi-store option when a product has two or more links
- Your footer description and social links
Two settings sit on top of any theme. You can set a primary and a secondary color, and Zelect picks dark or white text for buttons automatically so labels stay readable. You can also choose any Google Fonts family; the default is Poppins.
If you are still deciding what a storefront should hold, the guide on what an affiliate storefront is covers the basics first.
How do Classic, Minimal and Bold compare?
Here is what each theme does, read straight from how the layouts are built:
| Classic | Minimal | Bold | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page background | Light gray with white rounded cards | Plain white with thin gray lines | Near-black |
| Product photo shape | Square (1:1) | Portrait (4:5) | Tall portrait (3:4) |
| Product name and price | Below the photo, price in your primary color | Below the photo, in black | Laid over the bottom of the photo |
| Short description on cards | Two lines, always visible | Two lines, always visible | Shown only on hover |
| Buy action | Full-width rounded button with the store label | Text link with an arrow | Slim row with an arrow that glows on hover |
| Category sections on home | White card with a small cover and a "view all" button | Bordered card with a small cover | Wide dark banner using the category cover |
| Plans | Free, Pro, Ultra | Pro, Ultra | Pro, Ultra |
Prices and plan details can change, so check the current Zelect plans and pricing before you pick a paid theme.
When should you pick Classic?
Pick Classic when your photos come from many different stores. Imported images rarely share a background or framing. Square crops inside light cards make that mix look tidy.
Classic is also the most explicit theme about what to do. Every card has a filled button with the store name on it, so a visitor arriving from a video does not have to guess where to tap. That makes it a safe choice for broad audiences and for anyone who just started.
Example: a creator who posts weekly finds from Amazon and AliExpress, with photos straight from the listings, will usually get a cleaner page from Classic than from either alternative.
Classic is also the only theme on the Free plan. Its header shows your logo, or your store's first letter in a colored badge if you have no logo yet. If you are setting up for the first time, the step-by-step Zelect setup guide walks through it with this theme.
When does Minimal work better?
Minimal works when your photos already look like a set. Portrait crops and thin dividers between products let the images carry the page. Mismatched photos show up fast here, because there are no card backgrounds to hide them.
The buy action is quieter. Instead of a filled button, each card has a text link with an arrow, and the store label appears over the photo when someone hovers with a mouse. Visitors who already trust you will not mind. Cold traffic may need a clearer prompt in your post or caption.
Minimal fits fashion, home decor and much of the beauty and skincare niche, where people browse by look. It also uses a wider page on large screens, which helps if your audience shops from a laptop.
Is Bold right for tech and gaming creators?
Often, yes. Bold puts your products on a near-black page with tall photos, uppercase category titles and product names printed over the image. Products shot on dark or colorful backgrounds look strong here. Plain white-background product shots can look like bright boxes on a dark page.
Your secondary color shows up as an accent on category labels (the default is amber), and the primary color lights up the buy arrow on hover. Choose a primary color that stands out against black.
One detail matters on phones. Bold shows the short description only on hover, and phones have no hover. On mobile, visitors see the photo with its name and price, then tap through to the product page for the rest. Write product names that explain the product on their own.
Bold suits the tech and gadgets niche and seasonal campaigns where you want the page to feel like a launch.
How do you test a theme before committing?
Load real products first
Add at least eight real products across two or three categories, with their actual photos. Sample content hides the problems you are trying to find.
Check it on your phone
Open the storefront on the phone you use for posting. If your visitors arrive from a bio link or a story, this is the view that counts. Look at whether names and prices are easy to read and whether the buy action is obvious.
Switch and compare
Change the theme, reload the same category page, and compare. Your products and links stay in place, so the comparison is fair.
Watch what visitors do
On the Ultra plan, Zelect shows link clicks for each product, along with page and product views. Give a theme a couple of weeks of normal posting before you judge it, and read the guide on tracking affiliate link clicks to know what to look at.
What should you fix before blaming the theme?
A theme cannot rescue weak inputs. If a page feels off, check these first:
- Photos. Replace blurry or cluttered images, and keep one style per category when you can.
- Product names. Short, specific names read better in every layout, and Bold depends on them.
- Categories. A home page with three clear sections beats one long list. The guide on organizing affiliate products shows how to group them.
- Category covers. All three themes use the cover image at the top of each category page, under a dark overlay. Pick covers that still read when darkened.
- The path from your profile. If few people reach the store at all, look at your bio link clicks before changing the design.
Once the store looks right, the next step is getting buyers to trust it. The guide on turning followers into buyers picks up from there.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Minimal or Bold on the Free plan?
No. The Free plan includes the Classic theme only. Minimal and Bold are part of the Pro and Ultra plans, along with more products per storefront, and Ultra adds click analytics. If you start on Free, you can move to a paid theme later without rebuilding your products or categories.
Which font can I use in my Zelect theme?
You type a Google Fonts family name and the storefront loads it for headings and body text. Every theme starts with Poppins. Pick a font with clear regular and bold weights so prices and product names stay readable on small screens.
Do buy buttons look the same in every theme?
No. Classic shows a full-width rounded button on every card, Minimal shows a text link with an arrow, and Bold shows a slim row with an arrow icon that lights up in your primary color. All three open the external store in a new tab.
What happens when a product has links to several stores?
The main button uses the first link and its label, such as Amazon. When a product has two or more links, every theme adds an option that opens a small window listing all the stores, so visitors can choose where to buy.
