Are you using an appropriate eCommerce platform for marketing over the web? Have you ever come across a tool that offers more functionality at a much lower cost than what you’re paying for the current service? Setting up a small scale industry is about keeping your expenses low, and discovering such a platform that can give you a hand on this is like halfway accomplished.
When you’re running a small scale industry, you get confused about whether to invest in a new eCommerce solution or some modifications to your existing website!
Let’s catch a glimpse of our Ecwid review to find out more information on this aspect.
There are many eCommerce platforms accessible online. Most of them establish a closed system and so it is arduous to get out of that system afterward. Fortunately, that’s not the case with Ecwid! The company primarily works with a clear motive of assisting people in building an online store efficiently and economically.
What Is Ecwid And How Does It Work?
Ecwid stands for “Ecommerce Widgets”. Ecwid is a SaaS-based solution, which is all you need if you want to create your specific eCommerce website. To the companies who do not want to come up with a fresh new website, instead want to integrate their old site, Ecwid is just the right solution for them.
With Ecwid, users can use an intuitive builder interface to create online catalogs. The platform also provides a rich set of features such as images, shipping rates, accept credit card payment, etc. One thing that makes Ecwid different from other platforms is – Ecwid is not an independent online store, but a bonafide widget.
This platform can be embedded on Facebook or Twitter, mobile apps, forums, and marketplaces, as well as on your website. All your Ecwid storefronts are synchronized and easy to manage with a single control panel.
Who Should Use Ecwid?
The key factor behind utilizing the eCommerce widget is pretty straightforward. You can use your existing website and still upload your eCommerce store there without any trouble. There are enormous systems that compel you to litter your current website and adapt to the one they are offering, which is not the case with Ecwid.
It is perfect for the small scale traders as they can do the merchandising smoothly and with no expense.
Features offered by Ecwid
Marketing
You can use the top advertising sites such as Google and Facebook with this platform. Besides these two, Ecwid will help you make sure your goods get out there, and people know about your business.
Within this e-commerce platform, the marketing approaches that you can implement and take advantage of are:
Google advertising.
Facebook advertising.
Abandoned cart recovery
Offer discounts to encourage purchases
Reach past visitors with remarketing
Give discounts as per the order amount which will apply automatically during the checkout process
Email newsletters
Google Analytics yo get the detailed information
Sales Channels
With Ecwid, you can sell on Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Mobile Google Shopping, Vend, eBay, and Amazon on other channels. You need to upgrade to a Venture plan, which is a paid product, in order to do this.
Click on All Sales Channels to reach your sales channels, and you can start adding your Ecwid shop to your choices. Just remember that in these third-party marketplaces, you need to have an account before you can integrate your Ecwid store with them.
Reports
This platform offers the reports and analytics function so as to make users aware of –
what offers are running well
which products are selling
how much customers are spending
and much more at the click of a button
With the Ecwid mobile app, which includes push notification, when an order gets placed, or payment has been accepted, you can retrieve data and track sales. You can analyze visitor behavior by connecting your ECWID store to Google Analytics for an even better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
Design
You will rarely find this feature in other applications. It also allows you to change the dimension of the pictures which you cannot usually do in other platforms. This e-commerce platform lets you highlight your product by providing the users the choice to make their product’s picture’s background blacken. Also, you can perform various functions such as turning your photos into a portrait mode, landscape mode, and square mode.
One can also center the content or align it to the right and left. In case you don’t want to show some particular stuff on your product page, you can remove it as well. For example – If, you do not want to display the pricing of the product, you can complete this action by going to the control panel and making the changes as per your needs.
Payment Gateway
This platform provides 40 gateways for payment. A payment gateway is basically a tool that charges the credit card of a customer and then transfers the amount straight to you. The companies will charge you fees, as it is not Ecwid who is paying this amount.
Similarly can be done with this e-commerce platform, it ensures that wherever you are you can bill your customers. All you need to do is to combine the Point Of Sale systems with other apps or make use of the POS system of this platform itself to make it happen.
Upon setup, you can make use of your mobile to charge money, and then pay for the POS system.
If you want this feature, you need a card reader, which means you need to purchase separate hardware that you can bring with you to read the customer’s card and have the payment processed by Ecwid.
Shipping and Pick-up
You can be an international seller or a local seller. Ecwid knows this, so delivery and pick-up options have a feature. You can add new shipping methods, prices, and even offer in-store pick-ups with the shipping option. The customers can pick up the item they purchased from your home or brick and mortar store.
You can also choose the destination of your delivery. This is significant, as this is how you measure the shipping costs to the shipping address of your customer.
The handling fee feature can also be used, but only if you are in the paid plan. The handling fee is what you charge to the shipping courier for the effort of packing and taking the item. This is a cost separate from the price of the product and the cost of shipping.
Apps
This platform has hundreds of apps from which you can choose. You just have to choose from the categories shown on the left if you have no idea where to start. If you want, you can also use the search box to scan for devices you already know about.
Not all apps are free of charge. Some are paid, and some are offered for a short period of time. You will be required to pay a monthly subscription fee after the free trial, charged to your credit card.
How much does Ecwid cost?
This platform offers four different plans to its individuals. And the good thing is that one of its plans is forever free.
Each plan has different features, and you can choose which one best suits your business needs, depending on the level of your business and budget. It is important to note that there are no transaction fees charged by Ecwid in all plans.
Free plan
The free plan comes at zero cost. Although under this offer, you can enjoy much of its features, but this place proves to be a perfect fit for small businesses to start. The free plan is not a free trial. You can change to the business, venture, or unlimited plans as per your requirements and whatever suits best to your business.
It’s features –
Mobile-based responsive shopping cart
Online store
A starter site for free
Unlimited bandwidth
You can add online to any website
You can add store over any online website
Selling on multiple sites at the same time is possible
Chat support is available
Capable of operating on channels such as Blogger, WordPress, Squarespace, Tumble, Wix, Joomla, Adobe Muse, and more.
The Venture Plan
The second plan is the Venture plan. Its monthly price is $10. You can also pay the monthly amount on an annual basis at just $8.
The venture plan includes (with regard to sales channels)
Facebook Shop
Instagram Store
Online Store
Mobile Point-of-Sale
It also includes features such as –
Mobile-based responsive shopping cart
Online store
A starter site for free
Unlimited bandwidth
You can add online to any website
You can add store over any online website
Selling on multiple sites at the same time is possible
Chat support is available
Facebook pixel
Google shopping
Inventory management
Support for up to 100 items with a size of 100 MB per file.
Advanced SEO tools
SM tools
Automate your tax calculations
Give users access to the app market (through extensions).
Discount coupons
The venture plan includes (with regard to mobile experience)
Android and iOS store management application.
Mobile responsive shopping cart
The Business Plan
If you want to expand and grow your business quickly, this is the perfect plan for you. Its monthly price is $21. You can also pay the monthly amount on an annual basis at just $17.
This plan offers the following features –
eBay integration
Staff accounts (up to two)
Market places
Create orders
Product dimensions
Pricing groups (Wholesale pricing)
Abandoned cart saver
Abandoned cart recovery (Automated)
It also supports free online chat and telephone on an annual basis for 2 hours). In addition to all these services, the business plan covers all channels as well as venture and free plans. Users can enjoy the storage limit of 1GB per file and 2500 products.
The Unlimited Plan
This package gives you the opportunity to sell everything you can sell online, retail, and mobile. This is the main plan in the four-plan deal from this platform. Users can enjoy the most advanced features. Its monthly price is $70. You can also pay the monthly amount on an annual basis at just $56.
This plan covers every single feature included under the previous three plans. Apart from that, it includes –
(sales channel) POS – Point-of-sale
Priority support
File size – up to 10 GB.
Unlimited storage
iOS and Android shopping application of your own brand
Free customization (12 hours)
Only in the US, UK, Japan, and Australia, the square POS integration is available
Also, this plan works for all the major platforms.
For Whom?
Before you move forward towards knowing the features, pros, and cons of Ecwid’s, you might be thinking of whether it is the right choice for your business.
According to Ecwid – it is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses that undergo the selling process.
This platform basically provides multi-tiered pricing plans so that individual needs get fulfilled. It is a forever free e-commerce platform.
Pros and cons of using this E-commerce platform
Pros
This platform is fairly flexible and responsive.
It helps in setting up the stores in multiple languages.
It offers vast number of ecommerce apps at reasonably priced packages.
This e-commerce platform comes with no limits relating to time and provides a decent number of features.
For major league platforms such as Drupal, WordPress, and Wix, the app/plugins are accessible.
It is General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant.
You can add ecommerce to any current functioning site easily.
For tradespeople who doesn’t have ready websites, there is a Starter site plan which they can enjoy.
You can use the POS feature to set up an additional offline store.
This platform accommodates companies with dropshipping.
The App Store offers a number of useful applications for ecommerce.
Cons
The option of editing the URLs of your products for SEO is not available.
Only the iOS users can use the POS system.
Phone support facility is provided only to the Premium subscribers.
On this platform, you cannot build a full ecommerce website.
You cannot avail for the SEO features under its Free plan.
It does not support AMP versions of the product page.
The App Store has a limited number of apps / integrations available.
It is difficult to make this platform GDPR compliant (in terms of obtaining consent for cookies) and there are no resources to help with this.
Final Thoughts
Ecwid is a strong platform and forever free ecommerce widget that can be set up in less than 5 mins.
Here are some valid reasons that proves that Ecwid might be the correct fit for your business if you want to –
Have noteworthy approaches to direct people to your online store
Opt for a platform that is well-planned, scalable and works
Concentrate on business and not on programming or coding
Sell in numerous spots online at affordable prices
According to me, Ecwid is an excellent platform to showcase your services, products and sell them. Also, Ecwid’s team is high end, focused, and are true experts in case of user experience.
