Did you know that you can customize your checkout without any coding? Or that you can scan damaged barcodes with the Ecwid Mobile App?
It’s time to get you up-to-date on new helpful tools in your Ecwid store! Check out fresh Ecwid updates that make running an online store easier than ever by simplifying your storefront design, shipping, taxes, managing orders, and more.
Customize Your Checkout Without Coding
If you sell online with Ecwid by Lightspeed, your store benefits from a clean and modern one-page checkout. It’s designed to make placing an order convenient for your customers, preventing cart abandonment due to a long or awkward checkout process.
At the same time, we understand that businesses are unique, just like their target audiences. That’s why we wanted you to be able to tweak the standard checkout to better adjust it to your business.
Now you can add custom fields to any part of your checkout page in less than a minute. No coding needed!
Custom fields allow you to collect additional information from customers, such as gift messages, shoppers’ tax IDs, packaging preferences, delivery preferences, and whatever other information you might need.
An example of a custom checkbox field at checkout
The settings of custom fields are very flexible. You can:
- Add a title and placeholder for instructions for each field and choose a field type (text fields, radio buttons, dropdowns, date and time, selection buttons, checkboxes).
- Make it so that filling out fields can be required or optional for your customers.
- Add as many custom fields as you need to any checkout step.
- Sort checkout fields as you like when you add two or more custom fields to the same checkout page.
The rich custom field settings allow you to adjust the checkout as you need while keeping the checkout process convenient and quick for your customers.
Learn more: How to Customize Online Checkout to Improve Shopping Experience & Sales
Set up custom fields for your checkout using these instructions from the Help Center.
Manage Taxes with Ease
"I love calculating taxes manually," said no one ever. Luckily, you can enable automatic tax calculation in your Ecwid store and get a precise tax rate on each order, depending on the customer and store locations.
Until the recent update, the automatic tax calculation tool was available for products with standard tax rates and stores based in the USA, the EU, the UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. To make managing taxes even easier, we made automatic tax calculations available for more countries and products.
Calculate Taxes Automatically for Non-Standard or Tax-Exempt Products
Before recent updates, automatic tax calculation worked with standard tax rates. If you sold non-taxable products or items with a tax rate different from standard tax rates, you had to set up taxes manually. Luckily, you don’t have to do that anymore!
Now, automatic tax calculation works with non-standard tax rates too. For example, this works for reduced tax or zero tax products.
After you set up product-specific tax rates for your items, your store will automatically calculate the correct taxes at checkout. It’ll consider special product rates, plus store and customer locations.
The standard tax rate is applied by default unless you set up a non-standard tax rate for a product.
Complying with your country’s tax laws takes less effort, no matter what products you sell.
Learn how to assign product-specific rates for automatic taxes in our Help Center.
Enable Automatic Taxes When Selling in non-EU countries in Europe
Great news for sellers from non-EU European countries! Now, automatic tax calculations are available for shops in Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, and Switzerland.
You no longer need to manually calculate taxes or adjust tax settings according to tax changes in your country. All tax rates are up to date and automatically updated when a country announces upcoming changes in their sales tax rules.
Learn how to set up automatic taxes in your Ecwid store in our Help Center.
Make Your Store Entirely Multilingual
If you sell abroad or your business is based in a country with several official languages, it makes sense to make your store multilingual. This way, your customers can shop in their preferred language.
All you have to do is add translations of your catalog, like product names, descriptions, options, and category names. Ecwid by Lightspeed will automatically translate the rest — texts on buttons, invoices, and notifications.
With the latest updates, you can manually translate more in your Ecwid store, such as:
- Captions for the "Order comments" section on checkout so that customers speaking different languages understand what this checkout field is for.
- Titles and descriptions of shipping methods, local delivery, and in-store pickup options to let customers know when orders will arrive, among other important information about shipping.
- SEO titles and meta descriptions for product pages. This way, you can optimize how your products show up to an international audience in search engines and get more visitors from the search results.
You can have Ecwid translate a shipping method name to match the customers’ language
Learn how to offer your store in multiple languages in the Help Center.
Save Time Editing Product Attributes in Bulk
You might already be familiar with Bulk Product Editor, a spreadsheet-like tool that lets you update product information for dozens of products at once. This tool saves you time and effort when you need to edit many products at once, as you don’t have to open product pages one by one to make changes to item information.
After the recent update, you can bulk edit even more details of your catalog, such as product attributes and their translations. These are additional product details, for example, dimensions, colors, brand, or materials.
Updating product attributes with Bulk Product Editor
You’ll appreciate the new settings if your store has a large product catalog. No matter if you need to edit materials or colors for 5 or 50 products, you can do so quickly and easily.
Learn how to use Bulk Product Editor in the Help Center.
See Where Your Orders Come From
Have you ever wondered how many customers bought a product after clicking on your Google ad? Or, how many orders come through Instagram? Your store analytics are invaluable to see what promotions and tools work best so you can double down on the marketing campaigns that bring you more orders.
Of course, you can always use the analytics tools of the different websites and applications to better understand where your customers come from. However, busy business owners don’t always have time to switch between tools.
That’s why we updated your ecommerce store to allow you to track your order sources right in your Ecwid Control Panel! Whether it’s from Facebook Shop, an abandoned cart email, or a Google ad — you can easily see where your order came from on the order details page.
Thanks to UTM (or Urchin Tracking Module) tags, tracking the sources of your orders is not only possible but easy. You can assign certain links with UTM tags, allowing you to track traffic that is coming to your website from said links. Each link will be associated with a certain source, like Facebook or Google. Then when a customer clicks a link with the UTM tag and makes a purchase in your store, you will see where the order came from.
For example, this order was placed through an abandoned cart email
If you have several orders from the same source, you can click a link on the order details page to see the list of orders associated with this source. In just one click, you’ll see how many sales you got thanks to that particular source.
You can download the order source information along with other information about orders. This way, it’s easier to compare your campaigns and see which one brings more revenue.
Learn how to create UTM tags and use them to track the sources of your orders in the Help Center.
Manage Your Store On Mobile Effortlessly
With Ecwid Mobile apps for iPhone and Android, you can manage your online store wherever you go. With our recent updates, the app can simplify order processing like never before.
Scan Text with Your Phone to Minimize Typing
The Ecwid mobile app saves you time typing product details, customer addresses, phone numbers, emails, and tracking numbers. This is all possible thanks to a tool called the Live Text feature. You can use it if you have an iOS 15 (and later) device.
All you have to do is point your camera at the text on a picture or document, and the app will instantly upload the text into the text field. That drastically saves you time and effort when you need to edit order and customer information. No need to type in an email address, phone number, customer’s name, address, and so on. Let your phone do it in a second!
Scanning text with the Ecwid Mobile App to add a customer name
Live Text works with both handwritten and printed text in English, Chinese, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. To start using Live Text, double-tap any text field in the Ecwid app and choose to scan the content. Point your camera at the text on a picture, and it will automatically upload into the text field.
Scan Even Damaged Barcodes Successfully
With your Ecwid mobile app for iOS or Android, you can scan barcodes on products to add new items to the catalog, connect barcodes to existing products, and quickly find items and orders in your store. You can also scan barcodes on shipping labels to connect the tracking number to a specific order.
Now, your barcode scanner is even more helpful! Our new update allows the scanner to recognize and decode even poor-quality barcodes in any lighting condition. Even if a barcode is damaged, slightly visible, upside down, or dirty, you can still scan it with your Ecwid app and successfully continue with your day-to-day tasks.
Learn more about using a barcode scanner in your Ecwid app in the Help Center.
Set Cost Prices for Products
Cost price is the amount of money it takes for you to produce a product. Whether you make products yourself or buy them from a supplier, keeping track of your cost price and retail price (the one customers see) helps you determine your profit.
Now you can set a cost price for each product and product variation in your store. Don’t worry, cost prices are hidden from customers — only you see them in your Control Panel.
After you set up cost prices for your products, your store will automatically calculate the profit and the profit margin. This way, you’ll see how much money you make from each product.
Cost prices are invisible to customers in your Ecwid store
Set up cost prices using the instructions from the Help Center.
Show More Accurate Delivery Dates
Showing an estimated delivery date at checkout improves a customer’s experience in your store, as it helps shoppers quickly decide which shipping or delivery option to choose from.
We made the estimated delivery time tool more flexible so that you can go the extra mile for your customers, earning their trust and increasing retention rates:
- Set up delivery time and pickup preparation time for each product. This way, more accurate delivery dates will be shown on product pages and checkout to help customers choose the best shipping, delivery, or pickup method.
- Show the delivery date right on a product page. It’s especially useful when shipping or delivery needs to be extra predictable during the holiday season. For self-pickup, you can show an estimated available time for pickup.
Customers can see an estimated delivery time on product pages
Learn more about informing customers about an estimated delivery or pickup date in the Help Center.
Buy Shipping Labels for More Countries
With Ecwid by Lightspeed, you can buy shipping labels right from your Control Panel, print them, put them on your parcels, and drop them off at the nearest post office.
Buying shipping labels from your Control Panel is more convenient and saves you money. Rates for labels bought through the Control Panel are lower than retail rates at the post office. You can save a great deal of money, especially if you ship many orders.
Now buying shipping labels in the Control Panel is available for sellers from more countries:
- Sellers from the Netherlands can purchase PostNL shipping labels for domestic shipments within the EU.
- Sellers from Belgium can buy bPost shipping labels for domestic shipments within the EU.
Buying a shipping label from PostNL from the Control Panel
Learn more about how to buy discounted shipping labels in our Help Center.
Show Every Detail of Your Products
With the new zoom-on-hover effect, customers using a desktop can view even the smallest details on your product pictures. This feature helps show off your products’ material, texture, and intricate patterns. A lifesaver for businesses selling apparel, jewelry, accessories, or any other products with lots of small details.
The zoom-on-hover effect is enabled automatically for all high-resolution product pictures that are 1.5x bigger than the product thumbnail shown on the product page.
The zoom-on-hover effect is immediately available for new Ecwid sellers. If you created your store some time ago, reach out to our Customer Care team and they’ll enable the zoom-on-hover effect for you.
Add More Payment Options
Offering your customers more payment options helps prevent abandoned carts. Shoppers are more likely to finish a purchase when they see convenient and familiar payment options at the checkout.
Even before our update, you could choose from 80+ safe and convenient payment options using an Ecwid by Lightspeed store.
Now there are even more options!
Enable One-Touch Payment with Amazon Pay
You can enable one-touch payments using the Amazon Pay button at checkout with the Amazon Pay app from the Ecwid App Market. Customers won’t have to enter their card details. Instead, they’ll check out using the payment details stored in their Amazon account.
Amazon Pay at checkout
Amazon Pay is available for merchants from the US, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Allow "Buy Now, Pay Later" with Zip Payments
Let customers pay for purchases in installments with the Zip Payments app from the Ecwid App Market. Shoppers can pay for the order with four interest-free payments spread over 6 weeks. The app is available for sellers from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, India, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE, the UK, and the US.
You can also offer customers other "Buy Now, Pay Later" options through Klarna, Afterpay, Clearpay, Laybuy, or PayPal.
Accept Payments with Cayan
If you sell in the US, you can offer your customers to pay with Cayan. This payment option is displayed at the store checkout and customers don’t need to leave the store to complete the payment. That makes for a more convenient checkout experience.
Accept Payments with Viva Wallet
European sellers can accept online payments with the Viva Wallet app from the Ecwid App Market. This option supports multiple payment methods, such as credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, Alipay, JCB, WeChat Pay, and local payment methods. Viva Wallet is especially popular in Greece, so Greek sellers should make sure to take advantage of this powerful tool.
Power Your Store with New Apps
The Ecwid App Market offers dozens of apps to customize your store, promote it, try new sales channels, and offer more payment and shipping options. Here are a few new apps you can install in your Ecwid store.
Connect Your Store to Telegram
Now you can sell your products on Telegram, one of the most popular messenger apps. With the Telegram Storefront app, you can create a messenger bot for your Ecwid store that helps customers buy, search, and share your products.
You can also use the app to promote your store in Telegram communities and send messages to your subscribers to generate repeat sales.
Customers can buy products from a Telegram bot for your Ecwid store
Check out the Ecwid App Market to learn more about the Telegram Storefront app and install it in your online store.
Sell More Products with Product Bundles
To motivate customers to buy several products instead of one, display the Amazon-style "Frequently Bought Together" bundle on your product page. For example, when someone is looking at buying sunglasses, suggest that they add a belt and a summer dress to their order.
You can do that with the new Upsell & Cross Sell Kit app that helps you increase how much your store sells.
Check out the Ecwid App Market to learn more about the Upsell & Cross Sell Product Kit app and install it in your online store.
Manage Product Ribbons Easily
Product ribbons help you highlight featured products on your storefront, whether it’s a bestseller, sale item, new product, or any other item that deserves a spotlight.
Examples of product ribbons
However, when you have a large product catalog, managing product ribbons manually might take some time. Luckily, with the new AutoRibbons app, you can get that time back by automating product ribbons management.
The app allows you to create rules that automatically enable ribbons for specific products. For example, the app can automatically assign a "New" ribbon on products that were launched less than a week ago. Or disable "Sale" ribbons for products when the sale is over.
Check out the Ecwid App Market to learn more about the AutoRibbons app and install it in your online store.
Stay Tuned
At Ecwid by Lightspeed, we constantly work to make selling online more streamlined for business owners. Make sure you don’t miss new tools that simplify your day-to-day routine. You can find more information about tools and updates here:
- For the full timeline of updates, big and small, visit the Help Center.
- Peek into the What’s New tab in your Control Panel to enable tools that require manual activation.
- Subscribe to the Ecwid Blog newsletter to be the first to know about the most exciting tools.
- Bookmark the Ecwid Updates section of the blog.
Have an idea on how to make an ecommerce store function better for you and thousands of other merchants? Need help fine-tuning your Ecwid store to your business’s needs? Don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Care team with your questions—we’re happy to help!
The post 20 Awesome Ecwid Updates That Will Save You Hours of Work first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.
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Anastasia Prokofieva, Khareem Sudlow
