When ecommerce teams think about improving product pages, the focus is often on adding more content: better descriptions, richer specifications, customer reviews, shipping information, FAQs, and buying guides.

But there is a surprisingly common design decision that can make all of that content significantly harder for shoppers to find.

According to recent research from the Baymard Institute, 29% of ecommerce sites still rely on horizontal tabs as the primary way of organizing product page content, despite years of usability testing showing that the pattern consistently underperforms.

The Problem with Horizontal Tabs

Horizontal tabs are a familiar design pattern. You'll typically see sections such as:

• Description
• Specifications
• Reviews
• Shipping & Returns

Only one section is visible at a time, while the rest remain hidden behind clickable tabs.

On paper, this seems like a clean and efficient way to keep product pages short.

In practice, however, Baymard's testing found that shoppers frequently overlook important information hidden within these tabs. Users naturally expect product pages to reveal content as they scroll. When critical details are hidden behind a tab interface, many shoppers simply never find them.

As Baymard notes, users often assume that "simply scrolling vertically" will reveal the information they need. When that expectation isn't met, they can leave the page believing the information doesn't exist.

That creates a serious problem for ecommerce brands.

When Information Becomes Invisible

Product pages exist to answer questions and reduce purchase hesitation.

If a shopper can't easily find:

• Product dimensions
• Material information
• Customer reviews
• Shipping policies
• Return information

they may delay their purchase or abandon it entirely.

Baymard's research observed participants repeatedly scanning pages without noticing tabs that contained the exact information they were actively looking for. In several cases, users concluded that information was unavailable when it was actually sitting one click away behind a hidden tab.

The issue becomes even more pronounced on mobile devices.

Because of limited screen width, mobile tab interfaces often hide additional tabs off-screen, requiring users to horizontally scroll before they can even discover all available content sections. This creates another layer of friction in an experience that should be as effortless as possible.

The Better Alternatives

Rather than hiding content behind horizontal tabs, Baymard recommends two approaches that performed significantly better during usability testing.

1. Expanded Sections

This approach displays product content in a single vertical flow.

Users can scroll naturally through descriptions, specifications, reviews, and other information without needing to switch between tabs.

For desktop experiences in particular, this layout closely matches user expectations and makes content much easier to discover.

2. Collapsed Sections (Accordions)

For longer product pages, especially on mobile, accordion-style sections provide a strong alternative.

The section headings remain visible, clearly signaling what information is available, while allowing shoppers to expand only the content they want to view.

Unlike horizontal tabs, accordions make it obvious that additional information exists.

It's Advice We Give Every Total Commerce Client

One of the recommendations we regularly make during eCommerce UX audits and Shopify redesign projects is to avoid hiding important product information behind horizontal tabs. Instead, we encourage layouts that make descriptions, specifications, shipping details, and FAQs easier to discover through natural scrolling or clearly labelled accordion sections. It's something we've seen improve the shopping experience time and time again, so it's encouraging to have independent usability research from the Baymard Institute that reinforces the same conclusion. Having evidence from one of the industry's leading UX research organizations helps validate what we've long believed: the easier it is for customers to find the information they need, the more confident they'll feel about making a purchase.

Good UX Is About Discoverability

One of the most important lessons from Baymard's research is that a shorter page is not necessarily a better page. Many brands adopt horizontal tabs because they make product pages appear cleaner and more compact. But if that visual simplicity comes at the cost of discoverability, it can ultimately hurt conversions.

Product page content only creates value when customers can actually find it.

If reviews, specifications, shipping information, and FAQs are hidden behind interfaces that shoppers routinely overlook, the investment in creating that content is largely wasted. For e-commerce brands focused on improving conversion rates, reducing customer uncertainty, and creating a more intuitive shopping experience, moving away from horizontal tabs is often a simple but impactful UX improvement.

You can read Baymard Institute's full research article here: https://baymard.com/blog/avoid-horizontal-tabs