Ecwid is different than most other ecommerce platforms that we have reviewed. However, Ecwid’s online selling capabilities are not much different. It’s quite contradictory, if you think about it.
What is Ecwid? And what are the differences between Ecwid and other ecommerce platforms like Shopify?
Before we get into Ecwid’s system let me ask you this question: Have you ever wondered if Ecwid is the right ecommerce platform to run your ecommerce store? Are you able to find a better and more affordable service than the one you are currently using?
If you’ve done, consider yourself lucky. Guess what? It is possible that you won’t be able to move to the new platform, or modify your website at all. This has been a problem for small ecommerce merchants over many years.
Until Ecwid, which proved revolutionary, was that at least.
Do you wonder if your ecommerce platform is the best for selling online? Sometimes, you may stumble across a better and more affordable service than the one you are currently using. Finding an ecommerce platform that can help you keep your costs down is half of the battle when starting a small business. It can be difficult to manage a small website.
What is Ecwid?
It is often difficult to switch from one website hosting platform into another, as many solutions create closed systems. This makes it difficult to transfer files and implement extensive site customizations.
Ecwid makes this easy. The company was founded in 2009 and its sole purpose is to make it easy and affordable for you to create an online shop system on your website.
You don’t need to create a new website. You can easily install Ecwid on any platform or CMS, and it will be done in just five minutes. It’s that easy.
Ecwid Pros & Cons
Ecwid Pros
- Ecwid’s free plan includes decent features.
- For merchants who do not have a website, there is a Starter Site package.
- Ecwid accommodates dropshipping businesses.
- Ecwid offers plugins that can be integrated with most of the major web hosting platforms.
- Ecwid is very responsive.
- Ecwid allows you to create a multilingual online shop.
- Ecwid is GDPR-compliant
- Ecwid has a variety of ecommerce features that are very affordable.
- Ecwid’s POS function can be used to create an additional offline store.
- The Ecwid App Store provides a variety of useful ecommerce apps.
Ecwid Cons
- Ecwid’s Free Plan does not offer SEO editing capabilities.
- It is impossible to modify your URLs for SEO purposes.
- Ecwid doesn’t support product page AMP versions.
- Ecwid is not able to build an entire ecommerce site.
- Only premium subscribers have access to phone support.
How many people use Ecwid?
It is quite remarkable that Ecwid managed to service millions of merchants from 2009. Ecwid has supported more than 2 billion merchants.
Even cooler, Ecwid doesn’t focus only on the US and Europe. Ecwid is a global platform with merchants that span more than 175 countries.
Even businesses located in developing countries can now use Ecwid to set up and manage their online shops. Many of these businesses are taking advantage the fact that they don’t need to destroy their existing websites in order to build new ecommerce shops.
Ecwid’s popularity is not limited to this. Ecwid is PCI DSS Level 1, which means that even experienced ecommerce merchants can sign up. This certification is the highest level of security in ecommerce. It’s safe to know that your data and those of your customers are protected.
I’m not being facetious. Ecwid does not only target merchants with websites. Ecwid is actually one of few ecommerce platforms that offers a free site.
Yes, this is often accompanied with the essential ecommerce functionality you may need as a beginner. Ecwid allows you to set up an online store with minimal capital.
Ecwid Reviews: The Main Features
Ecwid, as we have already mentioned, is a SaaS platform for creating your ecommerce website. The same description as for Squarespace, Shopify and BigCommerce.
Ecwid, however, is a market leader in catering to businesses that don’t wish to create a new website. Ecwid’s primary feature is the ability to quickly take an existing site and integrate it with the Ecwid system in a matter of minutes.
If you are selling online, you can mirror the system to other sites. You can manage all these sites from one place, rather than switching between several dashboards.
Ecwid offers a variety of ecommerce management tools. For example, you can add a variety of products along with their unique attributes such as weight, pricing, and photos. After determining their shipping rates, it’s possible to accept different cards and fulfill orders. You’ll have everything you need to run an ecommerce site.
You can do all of this via your web browser on the Ecwid online platform. However, this is not all. You can also sync Ecwid across multiple devices and sell on the go from your smartphone.
Ecwid developed its own store management app for iOS and Android to facilitate this. While their functionality is not as robust as the web backend’s, they can be used to edit product attributes, upload e-goods, add product images, and sell.
You can therefore go to a tradeshow while still being able to sell some inventory. All of these sales instances will be visible on your website’s backend in real-time.
It can also be integrated with social networks so that you can sell your products on Facebook. You can use Ecwid to add your products to your Facebook page. Each product can be sold and synced as you wish.
The same goes for marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay. Ecwid lets you export your product catalogue to these platforms and then sync sales data automatically to help you sell items across multiple channels.
Ecwid’s storefront is the best channel. Ecwid will transform your website into an ecommerce shopfront, offering features such as onsite payment gateways and one-page checkout. It also offers item filtering, product layout, item filtering and shipping integration.
We also love Ecwid’s shipping feature. You can always see what’s happening with your orders and where they are being shipped from, thanks to real-time shipping integrations.
Ecwid has recently added a Starter Site feature to their platform. This is a simplified, one-page shopfront for businesses who want to use Ecwid but have yet to create a website. It can be run on Ecwid’s primary site or your own domain.
Ecwid can be viewed as an ecommerce widget. This is why Ecwid was named Ecwid. The entire system embeds on a website just like a widget and displays your storefront.
Ecwid Review: Easy to Use
Ecwid’s control panel design is quite simple. It’s not difficult to get started with Ecwid. It shouldn’t take long to learn the backend functions.
My opinion is that anyone who has used a CMS system before should be capable of figuring things out right away. The Ecwid dashboard’s left panel lists all the main functions, with the right reserved for the corresponding options. As we have seen with WordPress and other CMS solutions.
You can get started with Ecwid without having to pay anything. It makes it much simpler to set up Ecwid. All you have to do is enter your email address and create a password.
Ecwid offers wizards to help you get your store online. It takes only three steps to integrate Ecwid if you have a WordPress website. Depending on the place you are selling, you can also click on Joomla or Facebook.
The backend onboarding process for Ecwid is seamless. They guide you through each step of site creation and integration with nice photos and text. By adding products and their attributes, you can quickly get started with your storefront.
The theme of your Ecwid website will have an impact on the design of your Ecwid storefront. There are no pre-made templates that you can use to customize your online store.
The visual editor comes with very basic editing options. Ecwid can only make minor adjustments to the starter site option.
You can get around this problem by using a third-party editing tool. If you are a programmer, you can create your Ecwid theme using CSS.
If you are willing to spend some money on your online store design you can shop from selected marketplaces for custom themes. Ecwid has partnered up with some reputable companies to offer a variety of pre-made themes.
However, Ecwid can adapt to your current theme. The software automatically detects and analyzes the fonts and colors you have used, then applies them to your product display.
The web backend is just one component of Ecwid’s holistic platform. It is nice to know that Ecwid also includes an iOS and Android native shopping app. Merchants have the option to download native management applications for iOS and Android free of charge.
This alone allows you to manage Ecwid stores and allow customers to shop from their mobile devices.
The language tool is a great feature for customers who shop directly at the storefront. The reason is simple: because running an online shop requires that you reach out to people all over the globe, it’s not uncommon to come across customers who want to read product pages or other content in their native language.
Ecwid can detect and automatically translate over 51 languages. You can therefore be sure that Ecwid will allow you to comfortably sell to non-English speaking customers from around the globe.
Ecwid Inventory Administration
Ecwid’s inventory system is simple and straightforward. It doesn’t appear to have any unnecessary bells or whistles like other ecommerce platforms.
Each step is simple and clear. You can edit the categories, descriptions, prices, attributes, images, and price of your products by simply going to Ecwid’s Catalog menu. You can also set SEO settings and tax and shipping options for each product in your Ecwid inventory.
Ecwid also offers inventory management features such as out-of-stock product tracking, mobile inventory management, barcode scanning stock control management, product duplicate, stock management management, stock control management and stock code scanning.
Ecwid Review: Pricing
Apart from apps, the default Ecwid platform offers four plans. One of these is free. Ecwid aggressively markets its free plan and promises that you won’t be charged for it.
Ecwid has always kept the entire package free of charge, as I have seen from previous experience. Ecwid is a standout in this area, and if you want to upgrade, the premium payment plans won’t be too expensive. These plans are affordable considering the number of features they provide.
The Ecwid’s free plan allows you to sell 10 products. While the Venture Plan lets you increase the number to 100 product. You also get an iPhone management app. The Business plan offers to 2500 products at a very affordable price and live chat assistance. Priority support is not available on the Unlimited plan. However, it can accommodate unlimited products.
Summary of Eciwd Pricing
- Free – for Google Shopping, Facebook advertising and Facebook pixel. for Google Shopping. Add a store to any site. Unlimited bandwidth. Covers 10 products.
- Venture plan – $15 a month billed monthly or $12.50 a year to chat support, Facebook advertising, Facebook pixels, inventory management, access the App Market extensions, selling simultaneously across multiple websites, discount coupons and unlimited bandwidth. Covers 100MB per digital files plus 100 products.
- Business plan – $35/month billed monthly, or 29.17/month billed annually. This includes phone and chat support, automated abandoned car recovery, 2 staff accounts and eBay integration. Also, unlimited bandwidth with 1GB per digital file and 2500 products.
- Unlimited plan – $99/month billed monthly or $82.50/month billed annually to provide priority support, phone support, chat support, Square POS integration and automated abandoned cart recovery. Also, you have unlimited bandwidth and unlimited files, including unlimited products, unlimited tax calculations, discount coupons and abandoned cart saver.
Ecwid is clearly one of the most affordable solutions on the market. It’s also cheaper than other platforms that we have reviewed. This plugin might be right for you if you are looking for value.
Buy with Ecwid on Social Media
Social media has not always been an easy way for business owners and managers to market their products.
Ecwid and other leaders in the eCommerce industry decided it was time to make social media more accessible to the masses. Ecwid ecommerce allows companies of all sizes to list and sell products across a variety of platforms including Facebook, SnapChat Pinterest and Instagram.
- Facebook Upload your Ecwid product catalog to your Facebook business page. Then, you can sell on Facebook. You can also show your products in the shop tab. To get started, you will need the Unlimited or Venture Business plan. After you have this, open the Ecwid control panel and click All sales channels. Next, choose Facebook. Once you have created your Ecwid profile, your products will be visible on your Facebook page.
- Instagram:Instagram has become one of the most popular social media channels in the world. It’s also an excellent way to sell products through Instagram Shoppable items. To sell on Instagram, you will need an Instagram Business account and a Venture plan or higher with ECWid. After you have stockpiled the products that you wish to sell in your online store, you will need to verify that you are located in an approved country. Then, use the Sell on Facebook Integration from Ecwid for bulk syncing. You can set up your Instagram account by going into the All Sales Channelssection in your control panel. Also, authenticate your Facebook account.
- Pinterest:Pinterest can be used to connect with customers and sell products on social media. Ecwid does not have the same integrations as Instagram with Pinterest. However, you can still use a tag for selling. Go to your Pinterest account and click on the Ads section > Conversionssection. Next, click on the Create Pinterest Tag option. Copy the unique tag ID and then add your tag on your store page with Ecwid!
- Snapchat: If you are looking to reach a younger audience or sell to people who like filters and photos, Snapchat is the best option. Ecwid offers its own Snapchat pixel, which you can use to increase your sales. In your Snapchat Ads Manager, click on Manage and then Snap pixel. Copy the ID and create your pixel. Go to Settings > General > Tracking in your Ecwid control panel and add your Snappixel. This will allow you to track all sales made from Snapchat.
Buy with Ecwid on Amazon and eBay
Ecwid is more than itallows you to increase your sales and track conversions from social media. Selling on marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay can increase your conversion rates.
To sell on Amazon, for example, you can go to Ecwid’s control panel and click on All sales channel. Click on Amazon to open the option. Ecwid allows you to connect directly to Amazon without the need for third-party services. Follow the wizard to learn how to link your accounts.
These are the things you’ll need:
- Connect your Amazon seller account. You will need one if you don’t already have one.
- Your first product can be listed: You have the option to match products with an existing Amazon listing, or you can create a new listing. When setting a price for your product, be sure to consider the average Amazon pricing.
- Wait for approval Once your products have been approved, they will be available on the marketplace.
Etsy makes it easy to sell on eBay. To grow any business, it is important to attract new customers at a lower price. Selling on multiple channels can help you do that. The Ecwid ecommerce platform allows you to add your store on as many sites and marketplaces as you wish, including Google Shopping!
If you are an Ecwid merchant, the easiest way to add products to eBay is to use the Trimpo and Codisto.LINQ applications on the Ecwid marketplace. This allows you to publish new products to eBay and update your inventory.
Select the app that suits you best, choose the products you wish to list, then you can start shipping your products to buyers around the globe. Your app can even upload product images, prices, and inventory levels.
Importing and exporting your Ecwid Product Information
Ecwid allows you to import and export product data as you manage your inventory. CSV allows you to export and import bulk product information.
The best part about Ecwid is the ability to use up to 25 CSV columns. You can import multiple products with up to 25 attributes. This includes images, URLs and SKUs.
Nevertheless, export functions are not limited to product data. CSV can be used to export customer information and orders in bulk. These are the capabilities that you will need to transfer data from other ecommerce and analytics platforms.
The Ecwid App Market
App extensions are a great way to scale up your ecommerce website or customize it in a sensible manner. Ecwid also comes with an App Market that offers a variety of useful applications for merchants looking to enhance their functionality.
You can also get add-ons to ecommerce tools such as customer support, reward schemes, analytics, customer service, shipping, product management and dropshipping.
While a few can be downloaded for free, the most popular Ecwid apps come with a premium price. The pricing structure for Ecwid App Market is very diverse. Some apps have a one-off charge, while others require a monthly subscription or commission-based pricing.
Your specific needs and your budget will determine the final choice.
Ecwid’s app market is constantly growing. It offers everything you need to be successful on social media, such as tools to build your brand and reputation, or solutions to boost your advertising.
Options such as Xero make it simple to track your accounting. LiveChat and Tidio Chat help you build a relationship with your customers. Clients will return for more if you provide excellent customer service.
Google Smart Shopping is another great app that allows you to list your products on Google Shopping. You can also check out Printful, which allows you to create your own POD designs and sell them online.
Shipping apps such as ShippingEasy and ShipStation are available to assist you in fulfilling your orders.
Ecwid SEO and Marketing
Ecwid can be used to improve your SEO standing. You can, for starters, define your product plus page SEO meta-descriptions. Ecwid also automatically populates the relevant fields, which is a great help!
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to edit advanced SEO content automatically. However, there are some positive aspects. You would need to use additional SEO and marketing tools to get the word out.
Google also indexes AJAX websites. So all Ecwid store are automatically indexed by Google. WordPress sites get even more benefits, as you can access additional SEO plugins and default search engine functionality from the dashboard.
Ecwid also offers sales promotions such as abandoned cart recovery tools and volume discounts. However, you will need to add relevant extensions in order to set up additional discounts.
Ecwid Security
Ecwid seems to take security very seriously. The company is a PCI DSS Level 1-certified service provider. The company also states that sensitive information is encrypted and transferred via secure HTTPS channels.
This means that Ecwid can protect your customers’ private information. Ecwid does not store, handle, or collect payment data from customers. All transactions are processed directly by your Payment Processor.
Rest of the site data is saved on Amazon Web Services secure servers. To reduce the chance of a catastrophic breach, Ecwid’s entire network is regularly scanned and backed-up.
