Background Create Sections In Ecwid
Have you ever Wondered if you are using the ideal ecommerce platform for selling on the internet? Can you occasionally stumble upon a new service that’s more functional and more economical than what you’re using today? Starting a small business is all about keeping your costs low, and finding an ecommerce platform to help you with that is half the battle. Unfortunately, when you run a small business website it often becomes tricky once you would like to attract on a new ecommerce platform or even just alter your site whatsoever. Read our Ecwid review to find out more about this solution. Create Sections In Ecwid
Click Here to sign up to Ecwid now!
Many options Intentionally make a closed system, which can be tedious to maneuver away from once you begin. However, with a stage called Ecwid, you do not need to be concerned about this. Actually, the whole goal of the business, which began in 2009, is to quickly and inexpensively create an internet store system on your existing websites.
You do not have To make a whole new website. Just implement Ecwid on any stage, CMS or social networking (in five minutes) and you’re all set.
This raised my Attention, because I know the struggles that come along with attempting to migrate sites, particularly when it comes to ecommerce. So, I wanted to put together a comprehensive review of this Ecwid system to find out whether it’s worth the time.
How Many Men and Women Use Ecwid?
It is quite Remarkable what Ecwid has achieved since 2009, with more than 1 million retailers getting signed up. What’s even more cool is that the Ecwid merchants span over 175 different countries, showing that this isn’t just a platform for most people in the US or Europe. Even businesses in developing nations have a opportunity to get an internet store going, and you don’t have to trash your prior website if you have one.
The usership Continues to grow, particularly considering Ecwid is currently PCI DSS Level 1 certified. If you are not certain what this is, it is pretty much the gold standard for safety in the ecommerce world. You can rest easy knowing you and your customers’ information is safe and protected.
In addition to The overall merchant count, over 20,000 active users are using the Ecwid Shopping Cart for WordPress. The difference between that 20,000 along with also the 1 million is the fact that you don’t need a WordPress site in order to implement Ecwid. So, the 20,000 simply identifies WordPress users using the plugin.
What’s Ecwid, and how can it function?
Ecwid is a hosted Alternative for building an online shop. Unlike competing products like Shopify, Bigcommerce and Volusion, which permit you to build a fresh website with e-commerce performance, Ecwid is geared more towards people who already have a website and just want to add an online store for this.
Much like other E-commerce platforms, Ecwid allows you to install’catalogs’ of all products, and add photographs, pricing, weight etc. for each. You are able to specify shipping rates, accept credit card payments etc — all the key things that you would expect to be able to perform using an e-commerce alternative.
However it differs Significantly from competing products like Shopify, Volusion, Squarespace and Bigcommerce in that it is not actually designed to allow you to produce a fully-featured, standalone e-commerce site; instead, it is intended to allow you add an internet store to an present online presence.
(That said, Ecwid have Recently added some new functionality, called’Starter Website’, which does let you produce a one-page standalone offering. We’ll chat through this in more depth later on in the review.) Create Sections In Ecwid
Click Here to sign up to Ecwid now!
The Product works by providing you a widget that gets put on other websites — hence the title Ecwid: it is short for’E-commerce Widget’. You get a couple lines of HTML code (the widget) to add into an present website or social networking profile, and your shop is displayed wherever you have inserted this code.
Features
Ecwid makes Strides in the market by catering to businesses that don’t want to begin a brand new website. The primary feature is that you can take your old site and immediately incorporate the Ecwid system inside a couple of minutes.
You can also Mirror the system on several other sites if you anticipate selling elsewhere online. Handle all these websites from 1 place rather than switching between multiple dashboards.
Another nice Feature is the syncing between multiple devices. Sell on-the-go with your smartphone. This means that you can visit a tradeshow to make a number of sales and each one of these sales are represented on the backend of your site.
The system is Also designed to integrate well with social networks, and that means that you may sell your things on Facebook if desired. One part of Ecwid we especially enjoy is the shipping aspect. With real-time transport integrations you always know what’s going on with your requests and at which they are being sent to.
What other trendy Items are comprised with Ecwid?
It runs on a super quick framework
It comes with an address book for customers and clients
The machine has over 43 translations for selling around the world
You get lots of promotional tools like coupons, discounts, and bulk pricing and more
Create your own customized email notifications
Utilize the automatic tax solution (automatic tax rates at checkout, tax reporting and submitting )
Point-of-sale performance
Thanks Into Ecwid’s point-of-sale (POS) functionality, you may use your Ecwid shop to sell not only online but in bodily places too — in shops, market stalls, at concerts and so on.
With Ecwid’s POS Functionality, irrespective of if a customer purchases a product in store, online, on their phone or through Facebook, everything stays in sync – i.e., the merchant’s catalogue, inventory and client / trade info.
There is a few ways that you can use this attribute: the simplest is probably to use’Paypal Here.’ This involves downloading the Ecwid iOS program from the Apple’s App shop, linking it to the Paypal Here service, and then taking payments using a mobile card reader (pictured above).
You’ve got two options when it comes to POS Hardware and Paypal Here: you can buy a chip and swipe reader (for $24.99) or a chip and tap reader (for $79.99). Both can be ordered straight from Ecwid.
There’s a couple of Things worth noting the Paypal Here integration: it’s only available to merchants in america and UK. Second, it’s not yet available on Android devices. (On their site, Ecwid state it’ll be available shortly — but they’ve been saying that for quite a while now). Create Sections In Ecwid
If you are based outside That the US / UK, or want to utilize another mobile device type, the good thing is that Ecwid also works with all the Vend, Clover, NCR Silver and Square POS systems. These all ease using a wider selection of hardware at a physical retail location (full-sized card readers, receipt printers, cash drawers tablet stands etc.) and are usable in more countries.
Although you could avail Of this Paypal Here POS choice on all paid-for programs, you will need to be to the most expensive’Unlimited’ plan if you would like to avail of a Vend, Clover, NCR Silver or Square integration.
Responsive storefronts
Ecwid Storefronts are responsive, meaning they will display properly across devices — desktop, tablet and mobile. In a age where smartphone internet surfing is eclipsing desktop surfing, this is important.
Free program
Unlike many similar Products, Ecwid offers a totally free plan.
Granted, it’s a fairly Standard plan, in which attributes like discount coupons and service aren’t available, and it merely allows you to sell up to ten products in two classes — but this could actually be adequate for some users, and using it is a fantastic way to try out the system.
But, A key point to note about the free program is the fact that it isn’t good from an search engine optimization standpoint — you need to be on a paid plan to ensure that your product pages speak to search engines accurately (more on SEO under ).
Speech detection
Ecwid is forward of the Pack because its storefronts could be automatically translated into nearly 50 different languages — customers can view your store in their own language, without you having to worry about creating alternate versions of this. Ecwid provides this functionality by discovering visitors’ language mechanically according to their browser settings / IP address.
Competing products like Shopify And Bigcommerce are nevertheless to supply this type of functionality — they force you to rely on third party programs, the production of multiple shops or Google Translate to supply different language variations of your store, which is less than perfect. So a definite triumph for Ecwid here.
Ecwid and search engine optimisation
Search engine Optimisation (search engine optimization ) in Ecwid is a pretty straightforward affair. You are able to edit the title of your page and its meta description; the applicable fields are pre-populated for you automatically, however you can tweak them to match your search engine optimization objectives.
So Far as I can tell But you can’t manually change the URL of a product — you have to make do with the one which Ecwid generates for you. This isn’t ideal because key words in URLs are used by some search engines to categorise content during indexing.
But, The URLs that are automatically generated by Ecwid comprise the title you have given to your own product – so in the event that you include some keywords on your product name (maybe not a bad idea anyhow ) your URL will include them too. This serves as something of a workaround, but I would prefer whole control over URLs. Create Sections In Ecwid
One area where Ecwid does not perform quite so Well on the search engine optimization front entails AMP — accelerated mobile pages. As its name suggests, AMP pages load faster on mobile devices. This encourages people to remain longer on your webpage, thus increasing’live time’ –something which is believed by many SEO experts believe to be rewarded by Google with preferential treatment in search results. Additionally, Google sometimes highlights AMP webpages in carousels in search results, giving AMP articles an extra little boost.
Unfortunately However — and unlike most competing products like Bigcommerce or Shopify, you can’t produce AMP variations of your goods using Ecwid.
Importing and exporting data
Like many competing Goods Ecwid allows you to import and export your data in CSV format.
The Export option permits you to export product information, orders and customers (again, in CSV format) and ensures that if you feel the need to migrate your shop to a different e-commerce platform, then you should not have any major difficulties doing so.
Using Ecwid with other platforms
Ecwid and WordPress
WordPress doesn’t Provided any e-commerce functionality from this box, so anyone wishing to sell on the platform will require a third-party solution like Ecwid. There’s an Ecwid plugin available, therefore adding an Ecwid shop to your WordPress site is very straightforward — you can get up and running with a couple clicks.
You just sign up for an Ecwid accounts and install the free plugin.
Ecwid and Squarespace
Squarespace comes with Increasingly excellent e-commerce attributes, but the number of payment gateway options is very limited — you need to utilize Stripe or Paypal. (And with Stripe only works if you’re selling products from certain countries). Another principal issue with the built-in Squarespace selling tools is they don’t facilitate dropshipping, and complete export of products isn’t currently possible.
Integrating Ecwid with Squarespace permits you to bypass these limitations, and adding it to some Squarespace site is quite easy: it is a simple matter of including a code block into a webpage and pasting some HTML to it.
Ecwid and Wix
As With Squarespace, there is currently no dropshipping choice for Wix users, so again Ecwid can offer a fantastic workaround. A committed program is offered by Ecwid to allow you integrate the item onto a Wix store easily.
Apps and plugins
Ecwid provides a pretty Restricted number integrations with other apps that are well-known. Integrations do exist with services Mailchimp, Xero and Freshbooks; but to be honest the assortment of integrations may be extensive — competing products such as Shopify offer a much wider range of apps. Notable omissions in the Ecwid store include Quickbooks and Zendesk, for example (that said, a Quickbooks integration is coming soon).
The Image is better when it comes to CMS plugins: All these are available for WordPress, Wix and Joomla, enabling to you set up Ecwid on one of these platforms very easily. Create Sections In Ecwid
Interface and ease of use
Ecwid’s Interface is rather user friendly. Like many similar online store builders, you get a vertical menu on the left which allows you to access key functionality, and the area on the right can be used to edit or display related products, site content and reports.
Much like any e-commerce tool, you’ll need to Spend a reasonable amount of time getting your head around creating catalogues and product variants, setting up transport prices etc…but there is nothing here that should represent too much of a learning curve.
Matters are helped by an ‘onboarding checklist’ that’s provided to you when you log in for the very first time.
If You are stuck however, you can always get in contact with Ecwid’s support team — more on this later — or, if you’re on a’Business’ or’Unlimited’, you are able to take advantage of this included customization service (you get 2 hours and 12 hours customization time from Ecwidon these programs ).
Ecwid and GDPR
I’m not a Lawyer, so please be aware the below observations should not be interpreted as legal information, but I am planning to do my best to spell out a number of the major GDPR issues facing Ecwid consumers under.
With the introduction of The EU’s new GDPR legislation, there are several legal steps that website owners now need to take to ensure that they are adequately protecting EU customers’ and visitors’ privacy. There are severe financial penalties for doing so (to the point where it is typically a great idea to speak with a lawyer about what to do); and even if your business isn’t based in the EU, you still will need to obey the regulations where any website visits from the EU are concerned.
Based on my Understanding of the crucial GDPR rules, the principal priorities for potential Ecwid store owners would be to:
· Provide adequate privacy and cookie cutter notices
· Process and store information securely
· Get explicit consent from people signing up to mailing lists that it is fine to send them e-newsletters
· Provide a means to opt in or revoke permission to use of non-essential cookies on a website (and also to log that consent).
There doesn’t seem to be Whatever stops you meeting the first few requirements easily enough with Ecwid, though you will need to spend time and potentially money creating adequate notices and crafting data capture forms so that they are GDPR compliant.
Where things get Complicated with Ecwid is your fourth requirement — cookie cutter consent. To Guarantee GDPR compliance, You Have to exhibit a cookie banner to your customers which
· Allows them to select which cookies they would like to run BEFORE those cookies are conducted (i.e., to provide’prior permission’)
· Logs their consent to conduct cookies Create Sections In Ecwid
· Enables them to revoke consent at a later stage
So for Instance, If you Utilize a Facebook Advertising cookie in conjunction with your Ecwid store, you’ll be breaking GDPR laws unless you have a banner set up which does all the above.
Now, out of the box at Least there isn’t a means to deal with the cookie approval issue with Ecwid. Nor is there a decent app available from the Ecwid app store (the only option on this front that I can find, the’EU cookie banner’, does not seem to provide the essential functionality — despite costing $1.99 a month to use).
It Seems to me that the only option available to Ecwid consumers is to use a professional product such as CookiePro, which does supply all the essential functionality to generate cookie approval fully GDPR compliant. Despite being a powerful product however, Cookiepro does require quite a lot of configuration and you will want to put quite a great deal of time apart to set this up.
Setup and Design
I really enjoy The fact that you’re able to run a website without paying for anything. This makes the setup process that much simpler, since you just need to punch in your email and create a password to go right to the backend port.
The machine has Wizards for each platform that you would like to set your store on. If you’ve got a WordPress site, simply walk through three steps to get up and running. You can even click on options like Facebook and Joomla, based on the place you want to sell.
The backend Design is flawless, because it walks you through every website creation and integration step with a few fine photos and text. Once you obtain your store implemented on a website or societal page it looks fairly sleek.
The layout Depends somewhat on the theme you have on your site, however as you can see below, it shows photos well and appears clean and simple to navigate. I particularly enjoy the Shopping Bag area, which can be outstanding and easy to locate for clients when they want to market.
Although many Websites are going to be cellular friendly, its fine knowing that Ecwid includes a native shopping application for both iOS and Android. Merchants now receive a native shopping application for iOS and Android.
This means you Can mange your store and sell on the go, while also giving your customers an opportunity to buy products from the cell interface.
The closing Design item that makes sense to mention is your language instrument. Since conducting an online store generally requires you to reach out to individuals from all over the world, you’re bound to stumble upon some customers who’d like to read product webpages and other content in their native tongue. Ecwid supports 45 languages, so when a user would like to translate from English to Spanish, that is not a problem in any respect.
The Ecwid Program Market
Having the Chance to put in applications is a sure fire way to scaling up your ecommerce site in a reasonable manner. Ecwid includes a place known as the Ecwid App Market. It offers 65 software, helping merchants extend their shop performance readily. Create Sections In Ecwid
A Few of the apps Can give you a hand with rating and reviews, rewards programs, automatic advertising tools, analytics, customized design themes and much more.
SEO and Marketing
Ecwid is a Third party solution to your present site, so you would typically have to implement additional SEO and advertising tools to really get out the word. That said, Ecwid supplies quality SEO features to help merchants increase their visibility in Google searches.
Moreover, Google now indexes AJAX websites, so all Ecwid stores are indexed by Google without any excess work. It gets better with WordPress sites, since you gain access to additional search engine optimization plugins and the default search engine performance around the dashboard.
Managing Your Inventory
The Ecwid Inventory system is as straightforward as they come, since it doesn’t appear to incorporate any of the unnecessary bells and whistles you may find on other e commerce platforms.
Each step is Clear and concise, so that you may just go in there and type in a product name, price and image then save the product for later. Obviously you can always open up the Powerful Options, however they separate these for when you’re ready to start ramping up your store.
As an example of the stock Rich management toolset, you obtain access to things like out of stock product tracking, mobile device stock management, barcode scanning and more.
Customer Care
Ecwid provides A Chat With Earnings attribute that is always one of my favourite ways to converse with companies. Simply send them a query and you can work on something else until they respond.
The company also Provides a potent support section with FAQs, a knowledge base, email capabilities and a forum.
Overall, the Service outlets include telephone support, online chat support and email support, maintaining the response time brief and encourage quality .
In my eyes, the Platform has everything you could want concerning support.
Payments and Security
It is not necessarily Simple to locate an ecommerce platform that does not charge transaction fees, but that’s just what you get with Ecwid. They never control any kind of transaction fee with any of those programs they offer, which makes it desirable for any shop that’s trying to keep down costs and also to improve margins.
Keep in mind that Ecwid isn’t a payment processor, so you have to setup something such as PayPal or Stripe to process all of the trades that come through your site. It is rather simple to implement one of these systems, since Ecwid incorporates with over 40 global payment choices. However, each one of these processors have their own trade fees so you have to prepare for them.
It’s rather Evident that Ecwid takes security seriously, because the company is a PCI DSS Level 1 accredited supplier. The business also claims that every transaction that includes sensitive information is transferred through a secure HTTPS channel. Create Sections In Ecwid
What if you Would love to collect both offline and online payments? Maybe you’d like a point of sale integration?
Ecwid Integrates with with Square, Clover, Vend POS, iZettle and PayPal card readers, enabling Ecwid to turn your performance into both an offline and online system.
Advantages and cons of utilizing Ecwid
Benefits
· Ecwid represents a very easy way to add e-commerce to any existing website.
· Point-of-sale performance can be obtained, and there are quite a few ways to apply it.
· The item is cheap by comparison to other solutions.
· It supports multi-language versions of your shop.
· The shop layouts are responsive.
· Plugins / apps are available for major platforms (like WordPress, Drupal and Wix).
· It allows users of website building products that don’t facilitate dropshipping to begin doing this (i.e., Squarespace, Jimdo, Wix etc.)
· The’starter site’ option is a good stopgap measure for retailers who want a shop quickly, but have yet to develop a full website in order to bring the Ecwid widget to.
· The free Ecwid program isn’t time-limited, includes service, and is fairly generous concerning attributes.
Disadvantages
· The Paypal Here POS system is limited to the US and UK.
· The Paypal This POS process is limited to iOS users.
· Phone support is only available on the more expensive programs.
· There’s a limited number of programs / integrations available in the Ecwid App store.
· You can not alter product URLs, which is slightly annoying from an search engine optimization point of view.
· You can not create AMP versions of product pages utilizing Ecwid.
· Creating Ecwid GDPR-compliant (with regard to obtaining cookie consent) sounds hard.
· The free version doesn’t let you access any of the search engine optimization tools.
Pricing
Ecwid comes With four plans, one of which is totally free. They promote the free plan like crazy, and mention that a number of different platforms drag you in free trial, where you may eventually need to pay.
That is where Ecwid stands outside, and you can see that the other payment programs are fairly affordable.
The Free program Allows you to sell 10 products, while the Venture program ups that count to 100 products and you get items like an iPhone direction app. The Business plan goes up to 2500 products for a wonderful price and you get live chat support. Priority support comes alongside the Unlimited plan and you can also sell an unlimited number of products.
Ecwid is one of The most economical solutions on the market. You can see that it is actually cheaper than many of the other programs we’ve reviewed previously, so if you’re searching for value, this could be the perfect plugin for you.
Summary
In short, I’m Beginning to think that Ecwid is among the best ways to sell online, as long as you employ the best methods to improve your sales online as well. Ecwid is a slick system, with superb easy implementation steps, which makes it perfect for your small business audience. Create Sections In Ecwid
Click Here to register up to Ecwid today!