Intro Web Store
Have you ever Wondered if you are using the ideal ecommerce platform for selling on the internet? Do you occasionally stumble upon a new service that’s more practical and more economical than what you’re using now? 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 company site it frequently becomes tricky once you want to bring on a brand new ecommerce platform or perhaps just alter your website whatsoever. Read our Ecwid review to find out more about this solution. Web Store
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Many solutions Intentionally create a closed system, which can be tedious to move away from once you get started. But with a stage named Ecwid, you do not need to worry about this. Actually, the entire aim of the company, which started in 2009, is to quickly and quickly make an internet store system in your existing websites.
You don’t have To create a completely different site. Just apply Ecwid on any platform, CMS or social network (in five minutes) and you are all set.
That raised my Attention, because I know the struggles that come along with attempting to migrate websites, particularly in regards to ecommerce. So, I wanted to gather an in-depth review of the Ecwid system to find out if it’s worth the time.
How Many Men and Women Use Ecwid?
It’s rather Remarkable what Ecwid has done since 2009, with over 1 million merchants getting signed up. What is even more cool is that the Ecwid merchants span over 175 different countries, demonstrating that this is not just a platform for most people in the united states or Europe. Even companies in developing nations have a opportunity to find an internet store heading, and you don’t even have to trash your prior site in case you have one.
The usership Continues to grow, particularly considering Ecwid is now PCI DSS Level 1 accredited. If you are not sure what that is, it is pretty much the gold standard for security in the ecommerce world. You can rest easy knowing that you and your clients’ information is safe and secure.
Along with The overall merchant count, over 20,000 active users are utilizing the Ecwid Shopping Cart for WordPress. The gap between that 20,000 and also the 1 million is the fact that you don’t require a WordPress site in order to implement Ecwid. So, the 20,000 only identifies WordPress users with the plugin.
What’s Ecwid, and how does it work?
Ecwid is a hosted Solution for building an online store. Unlike competing products such as Shopify, Bigcommerce and Volusion, which permit you to construct a new site with e-commerce functionality, Ecwid is geared more towards people who already have a website and simply wish to add an internet store to it.
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 and so on — all of the crucial things that you would expect to be able to perform using an e-commerce alternative.
However it differs Apart from competing products such as Shopify, Volusion, Squarespace and Bigcommerce since it isn’t really designed to allow you to create a fully-featured, standalone e-commerce site; rather, it is designed to enable you add an online store to an present online presence.
(That said, Ecwid have Recently added some new functionality, known as’Starter Website’, that does let you create a one-page standalone offering. We are going to chat through this in more depth later on in the inspection.) Web Store
Click Here to sign up to Ecwid today!
The Product operates by providing you a widget that gets placed 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 existing site or social networking profile, and your store is displayed wherever you’ve inserted this code.
Characteristics
Ecwid makes Strides in the market by catering to companies which don’t want to begin a brand new website. The main feature is that you can choose your old website and quickly integrate the Ecwid system inside a couple of minutes.
You can also Mirror the machine onto various different websites if you anticipate selling elsewhere on the web. Manage all these websites from 1 place instead of switching between multiple dashboards.
Another pleasant Feature is the syncing between multiple devices. Sell on-the-go together with your smartphone. This usually means you could go to a tradeshow to generate a few sales and each one of these sales are reflected onto the back part of your site.
The system is Also made to integrate nicely with social networks, so that you can sell your things on Facebook if needed. One part of Ecwid we especially enjoy is the shipping aspect. With real time transport integrations you always know what is happening with your orders and at which they’re being shipped to.
What other trendy Things are comprised with Ecwid?
It runs on a super fast frame
It comes with an address book for customers and customers
The machine has over 43 translations for sale around the planet
You get a Lot of promotional instruments such as vouchers, discounts, and bulk pricing and more
Create your own customized email notifications
Use the automated tax alternative (automatic taxation charges at checkout, tax reporting and submitting )
Point-of-sale performance
Thanks To Ecwid’s point-of-sale (POS) performance, you may use your Ecwid shop to market not just online but in bodily places too — in stores, market stalls, in theatres and so on.
Together with Ecwid’s POS Functionality, regardless of if or not a customer purchases a product in store, online, on their phone or through Facebook, everything remains in sync – i.e., the retailer’s catalogue, inventory and customer / transaction information.
There’s a couple of ways that you can take advantage of this attribute: the simplest is probably to use’Paypal Here.’ This involves downloading the Ecwid iOS program from the Apple’s App store, connecting it to the Paypal Here support, and then taking payments utilizing a cell card reader (pictured above).
You’ve got two choices when it comes to POS Hardware and Paypal This: you can buy a chip and swipe reader (for $24.99) or a chip and also tap reader (for $79.99). Both may be arranged straight from Ecwid.
There is a couple of Things worth noting the Paypal Here integration: first, it’s only available to retailers in the US and UK. Second, it’s not yet available on Android apparatus. (On their site, Ecwid say it will be available shortly — but they’ve been saying that for quite a while now). Web Store
If you’re based outside The US / UK, or want to work with another mobile device type, the fantastic thing is that Ecwid also functions 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 racks etc.) and are usable in more nations.
Although you can avail Of the Paypal Here POS option on most of paid-for programs, you’ll want to be on the priciest’Unlimited’ plan if you want to avail of a Vend, Clover, NCR Silver or Square integration.
Responsive storefronts
Ecwid Storefronts are responsive, meaning they will display correctly across devices — desktop, tablet and mobile. In an era where smartphone internet surfing is eclipsing desktop browsing, this is vital.
Free program
Unlike many similar Products, Ecwid provides a totally free program.
Granted, it is a fairly Basic plan, in which features like discount vouchers and support aren’t accessible, and it only allows you to sell up to ten products in 2 classes — but this could really be sufficient for some users, and using it’s a fantastic way to try the system out.
But, A vital point to note about the free program is the fact that it is not good from an SEO point of view — you need to be on a paid program to make certain that your product pages talk to hunt engines accurately (more on SEO under ).
Speech detection
Ecwid is ahead of the Pack because its storefronts can be automatically translated into nearly 50 different languages — customers can see your store in their own language, without you needing to worry about creating alternate versions of this. Ecwid provides this functionality by discovering visitors’ language automatically according to their browser settings / IP address.
Competing products like Shopify And Bigcommerce are nevertheless to supply this sort of functionality — they force you to rely on third party programs, the creation of numerous shops or Google Translate to supply different language versions of your shop, which can be less than perfect. So a definite win for Ecwid here.
Ecwid and search engine optimization
Search engine Optimization (SEO) 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, but you can tweak them to match your SEO 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 creates for you. This is not perfect because key words in URLs are used by some search engines to categorise content during indexing.
However, The URLs which are automatically generated by Ecwid comprise the name you have given to your own product – so in the event that you include some keywords in your product title (maybe not a bad idea anyhow ) your URL will include them also. This serves as something of a workaround, but I’d prefer whole control over URLs. Web Store
One place where Ecwid does not perform quite so Well on the search engine optimization front involves AMP — accelerated cellular pages. As the name suggests, AMP pages load faster on mobile devices. This encourages people to stay longer on your page, thus increasing’dwell time’ –something that’s considered by many search engine optimization experts consider to be rewarded by Google with preferential treatment in search results. Furthermore, Google sometimes highlights AMP webpages in carousels in search results, giving AMP articles an extra little boost.
Regrettably However — and unlike most competing products such as Bigcommerce or Shopify, you can not create AMP variations of your goods using Ecwid.
Importing and exporting information
Like many competing Goods Ecwid allows you to import and export your data in CSV format.
The Export option allows you to export merchandise data, orders and customers (in CSV format) and ensures that should you ever feel the need to migrate your shop to a different e-commerce platform, then you should not have any significant difficulties doing so.
Utilizing Ecwid with other platforms
Ecwid and Twitter
WordPress doesn’t Provided any e-commerce performance from this box, so anyone wishing to sell on the stage will need a third-party solution like Ecwid. There’s an Ecwid plugin available, therefore adding an Ecwid store to your WordPress site is very straightforward — you can get up and running with a couple clicks.
You simply sign up for an Ecwid accounts and install the free plugin.
Ecwid and Squarespace
Squarespace includes Increasingly excellent e-commerce features, but the amount of payment gateway options is quite limited — you have to use Stripe or Paypal. (And with Stripe only functions if you are selling goods from certain countries). Another principal issue with the built-in Squarespace marketing software is that they don’t facilitate dropshipping, and complete export of merchandise isn’t currently possible.
Integrating Ecwid with Squarespace permits you to bypass these constraints, and adding it to a Squarespace website is very simple: it is a simple matter of including a code block to a webpage and pasting some HTML to it.
Ecwid and Wix
As With Squarespace, there is currently no dropshipping option for Wix users, so again Ecwid can offer a good workaround. A dedicated program is offered by Ecwid to allow you integrate the product on 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 more extensive — competing goods such as Shopify offer a much broader range of apps. Notable omissions from the Ecwid store comprise Quickbooks and Zendesk, such as (that said, a Quickbooks integration is coming soon).
The Image is better when it comes to CMS plugins: All these are offered for WordPress, Wix and Joomla, enabling to you install Ecwid on these platforms very easily. Web Store
Interface and ease of use
Ecwid’s Interface is rather easy to use. Like many similar online store builders, you receive a vertical menu on the left that allows you to access key functionality, and the area on the right can be used to edit or display related products, site reports and content.
As with any e-commerce tool, you’ll need to Spend a fair amount of time getting your head about creating catalogues and product variations, establishing shipping rates and so on…but there is nothing that should represent too a lot of a learning curve.
Things are aided by an ‘onboarding checklist’ that’s provided to you when you log in for the first time.
If You’re stuck however, you could always get in contact with Ecwid’s support staff — more on this later — or, even if you are on a’Business’ or’Unlimited’, you can take advantage of this included customization service (you get two hours and 12 hours personalization period from Ecwidon these plans).
Ecwid and GDPR
I am not a Lawyer, so please note that the below observations should not be interpreted as legal information, but I’m going to do my best to spell out some of the major GDPR problems facing Ecwid users under.
With the introduction of The EU’s new GDPR legislation, there are several legal measures that website owners now need to take to ensure that they are adequately protecting EU clients’ and visitors’ privacy. There are severe financial penalties for doing this (to the point where it is typically a great idea to speak with a lawyer on what to do); and even if your company is not located in the EU, then you still need to obey the regulations where any website visits in the EU are concerned.
Based on my Understanding of the key GDPR principles, the main priorities for prospective Ecwid shop owners would be to:
· Provide sufficient privacy and cookie cutter notices
· Process and store information securely
· Get explicit consent from those registering to mailing lists it is fine to send them e-newsletters
· Provide a way to opt in or revoke permission to use of non-essential cookies onto a site (and to log that consent).
There doesn’t Appear to be Anything that stops you fulfilling the first few requirements readily enough with Ecwid, although you will need to spend time and possibly money generating adequate notices and crafting information capture forms so they are GDPR compliant.
Where things get Complicated with Ecwid is the fourth requirement — cookie approval. To Guarantee GDPR compliance, You Have to exhibit a cookie banner to your visitors which
· Allows them to choose which cookies they want to conduct BEFORE those biscuits are conducted (i.e., to provide’prior consent’)
· Logs their consent to run cookies Web Store
· Allows them to revoke consent at a later stage
So for Instance, If you Utilize a Facebook Ads cookie in conjunction with your Ecwid shop, you will be breaking GDPR legislation unless you have a banner in place which does all of the above.
Nowout of the box at Least there is not a way to deal with the cookie approval issue with Ecwid. Nor is there an adequate program available from the Ecwid app store (the only option on front I can find, the’EU cookie banner’, does not appear to supply the necessary functionality — despite costing $1.99 per month to use).
It Appears to me that the only alternative available to Ecwid users would be to use a specialist product such as CookiePro, which will provide all the essential functionality to generate cookie approval fully GDPR compliant. Despite being a strong product however, Cookiepro does require quite a lot of configuration and you will want to set quite a great deal of time aside to set it up.
Installation and Layout
I really enjoy The fact that you’re able to run a website without paying anything. This makes the installation process that much simpler, since you simply have to punch in your email and make a password to proceed straight to the backend interface.
The machine has Wizards for each platform that you would like to place your shop on. In case you have a WordPress site, just walk through three steps to get up and running. You can even click on options like Facebook and Joomla, based on where you would like to sell.
The backend Design is perfect, because it walks you through each site creation and integration step with some fine text and photos. Once you obtain your store implemented on a site or societal page it appears fairly slick.
The design Depends upon the subject you have on your site, but as you can see below, it displays photos well and appears clean and easy to navigate. I particularly enjoy the Shopping Bag place, which can be outstanding and easy to find for customers when they want to market.
Though many Websites will be cellular friendly, its nice understanding that Ecwid involves a native shopping application for both iOS and Android. Merchants now get a native shopping application for iOS and Android.
This means you Can mange your shop and market on the move, while also giving your clients a chance to buy products from the cell interface.
The closing Design thing which makes sense to mention is the vocabulary tool. Since running an internet store generally requires you to reach out to individuals from all over the planet, you’re bound to stumble upon some clients who would like to read product pages and other content in their native tongue. Ecwid supports 45 languages, so if a user would like to translate from English to Spanish, that is not a problem in any respect.
The Ecwid Program Economy
Possessing the Chance to install software is a sure fire way to scaling your ecommerce site in a fair way. Ecwid has a location known as the Ecwid App Market. It provides 65 applications, helping merchants extend their shop functionality readily. Web Store
A Few of the programs Can help you out with reviews and rating, rewards programs, automatic advertising tools, analytics, customized layout themes and much more.
SEO and Marketing
Ecwid is a Third party remedy to your current site, so you’d normally need to implement additional SEO and advertising tools to really get out the word. Nevertheless, Ecwid supplies quality SEO qualities to help retailers increase their visibility in Google searches.
Moreover, Google now indexes AJAX websites, therefore all Ecwid stores are indexed by Google without any excess work. It gets better with WordPress sites, as you acquire access to additional search engine optimization plugins and also the default search engine performance around the dashboard.
Managing Your Inventory
The Ecwid Inventory system is as simple as they come, since it doesn’t seem to incorporate any of those unnecessary bells and whistles you may find on other ecommerce platforms.
Each measure is Concise and clear, so that you can just go in there and type in a product name, price and picture then save the product for later. Obviously you could always open up the Powerful Options, but they different these for when you are ready to start ramping up your own store.
As an example of the inventory Rich direction toolset, you obtain access to items like out of stock merchandise monitoring, mobile device stock management, barcode scanning and much more.
Customer Support
Ecwid offers A Chat With Earnings feature that is always one of my favorite ways to converse to companies. Simply send them a question and you can work on something else until they respond.
The Business also Provides a powerful support department with FAQs, a knowledge base, email capabilities and a forum.
Overall, the Support outlets include telephone service, online chat service and email support, maintaining the response time brief and encourage quality .
In my mind, the Platform has everything you could want in terms of support.
Payments and Safety
It’s not always Simple to find an ecommerce platform which doesn’t charge transaction fees, but that is exactly what you get with Ecwid. They never control any kind of transaction fee with any of the plans they offer, which makes it desirable for any shop that is trying to keep down costs and to improve margins.
Keep in mind that Ecwid is not a payment processor, which means you have to setup something such as PayPal or Stripe to process all of the transactions that come through your website. It’s pretty easy to employ these systems, since Ecwid integrates with over 40 international payment choices. However, each of those processors have their own trade fees so you have to get ready for them.
It is rather Clear that Ecwid takes safety seriously, since the provider is a PCI DSS Grade 1 accredited supplier. The company also states that each transaction that includes sensitive information is transferred through a secure HTTPS channel. Web Store
What if you Would love to accumulate both online and offline payments? Perhaps you’d like a point of sale integration?
Ecwid Integrates together with Square, Clover, Vend POS, iZettle and PayPal card readers, allowing Ecwid to turn your operation into both an online and offline system.
Benefits and cons of using Ecwid
Advantages
· Ecwid signifies a very simple way to add e-commerce to some present website.
· Point-of-sale performance can be obtained, and there are quite a few ways to implement it.
· The item is cheap by comparison to other solutions.
· It supports multi-language versions of your store.
· The store layouts are responsive.
· Plugins / apps are available for major platforms (like WordPress, Drupal and Wix).
· It allows users of site building products which don’t facilitate dropshipping to begin doing so (i.e., Squarespace, Jimdo, Wix etc.)
· The’starter website’ option is a good stopgap measure for merchants who need a shop quickly, but have yet to develop a complete site in order to bring the Ecwid widget to.
· The free Ecwid program isn’t time-limited, includes support, and is fairly generous in terms of attributes.
Disadvantages
· The Paypal Here POS system is limited to the US and UK.
· The Paypal Here POS system is limited to iOS users.
· Telephone support is only available on the more expensive plans.
· There is a restricted number of programs / integrations offered from the Ecwid App shop.
· You can not change merchandise URLs, which can be slightly annoying in the search engine optimization perspective.
· You can’t create AMP versions of merchandise pages utilizing Ecwid.
· Making Ecwid GDPR-compliant (with respect to getting cookie consent) seems difficult.
· The free version doesn’t let you get any of the search engine optimization tools.
Pricing
Ecwid comes With four strategies, among which is totally free. They promote the free program like crazy, and mention that a number of different platforms drag you into a free trial, where you will finally need to pay.
That is where Ecwid stands out, and you’ll be able to see that the other payment plans are rather reasonably priced.
The Free plan Allows you to sell 10 products, whereas the Venture plan ups that depend to 100 goods and you get things like an iPhone direction app. The Business plan goes up to 2500 products for a superb price and you also get live chat service. Priority support comes along with the Unlimited program and you might also market an unlimited number of products.
Ecwid is one of The most economical solutions available on the marketplace. You can see that it is actually more affordable than a lot of the other programs we’ve reviewed in the past, so if you’re searching for value, this could be the right plugin for you.
Conclusion
In short, I am Beginning to believe that Ecwid is one of the greatest ways to market online, as long as you implement the best methods to enhance your earnings online too. Ecwid is a sleek system, with superb easy implementation measures, which makes it perfect for your small business audience. Web Store
Click Here to sign up to Ecwid today!