I'm looking into creating an e-commerce website for a family business, and I've been pondering how to design it.

After taking a look around at popular e-commerce websites, they all seem to be very simple and clean looking (white backgrounds, minimal flash/animation, and only include a few colors in the palette, etc). Some examples:

amazon.com
ralphlauren.com
zappos.com
nordstrom.com
macys.com
shop.avon.com
gap.com

Personally, those sites seem like they run pretty efficiently, but also seem kind of boring to me.

What do you guys think about fancy/plain websites and how they compare in terms of attracting viewership?
Can you give any examples of fancy websites that are "successful"?

simple/plain/less flash = all to aid the wideness of the audience and the simplicity of use.

content is king

if a site has the content people are looking for looks rarely matter. Looks will help to grab people's attention but some prime examples where the site creator gave 0 fucks about design are some fo the most used sites on the web. Craig's List and Reddit being the most prominent examples.

Granted, I would still prefer to go to a site that looks good.

Exemple of sports channels I really like;

The french version (flash/best graphic) :
http://www.rds.ca/

The english version (no flash/boring but really clear) :
http://www.tsn.ca/


I think the first one is more enojoyable personnaly but, need alot more tweak from the website designer/prgrammer when there's changes.
The second one, a way more simple version, deliver the same informations but I way less attractive to the eyes. Easier to edit.

It's the path you choose. Both are viable, both have cons.

good luck!