Latest Ecwid version: More tools to increase your sales
Posted 27 February, 2013 by Qetzal. Posted in Blog, Ecwid News, New ReleasesA new version of Ecwid has been released and all Ecwid users have been upgraded automatically. We didn’t rest on our laurels after becoming #1 Facebook shopping cart. Below are some of the new and highly anticipated features now available to you: Google shopping feeds, related items for the cart page, checkboxes for product options, “Buy Now” buttons on product lists, new product update API, and much more.
Premium Feature: Google Shopping Feeds
Now it is possible to export your products to Google and use it as an additional sales channel. Ecwid was created to enable sales on multiple channels. You can embed your storefront to many sites at the same time, add it to Facebook and still manage from one backend. We’re happy to provide our merchants with one more source of new customers and sales: Google Shopping (former Google Products and Froogle).
The setup is easy. Please log in to your Ecwid control panel, upgrade if needed (this feature is available for Business and Unlimited merchants), then open Promotions – Google Shopping page and follow the instructions there. After all steps are complete, your products will appear when someone searches for your products on google.com and google.com/shopping for hundreds million of Google users. Isn’t it great?
Related items for the cart page
Ecwid now can display related products on the “Your shopping bag” page. This feature can be enabled on the “System Settings – General – Cart” page, “Related Products” section.
Related products have always been a good way to increase the average size of a sale in an online store. Now this feature is more powerful! You can suggest to buy some additional items when a customer decides to checkout. It will lead to more views for your products and therefore more sales.
New type of product options: checkboxes
Ecwid product options are one of the most popular Ecwid features. They allow your customers to customize your products: for example, select size, color, add a custom text, select a date or upload a file.
We’ve added one more option type, so now it is possible to select multiple choices using one product option. It is a great tool for businesses that sell additional accessories with their products, for example pizza and multiple toppings.
“Buy Now” buttons on product lists
It is possible to enable “Buy Now” buttons that will be displayed on the product lists. You can enable this feature on the “System Settings – General – Cart” page, just check the “Show “Buy Now” buttons on products list pages” checkbox in the “Catalog Settings” section and save the changes.
Products of some merchants are similar and self-explanatory from the title and image. So users are now able to add to cart from the category pages, instead of having to first go to the detail page, then add to cart. Less clicks for your merchants mean more sales and better conversion rates.
And if you’re a web developer or familiar with CSS, then we have some more good news for you. These new buttons are 100% CSS3 based, and don’t use images, so they’re very flexible and can be changed to a completely different design easily.
New Product Update API
This is something special for developers who use our platform. Our Product API now includes methods that allow you to update products: change quantity, price, availability, description, product types and other fields.
This is a great tool to automatically sync with different 3rd-party systems — for example accounting or POS apps. Your store will always have the actual information about items without needing to update it manually.
Ask your friends for advice
This is a new social feature to get more visitors to your store. Sometimes customers are not sure what to purchase or if they want this particular item. Just enable this feature (“System Settings – Social Tools – Ask Friends”) and your customers will see “Ask for Advice” link on a product page. It will encourage users to share information about products they want to purchase to their Facebook friends, so your store will get some new visitors and potential buyers.
Small things that matter
- Support of Social Tracking feature in Google Analytics. Merchants can now track social interactions and see how customers engage with products. You don’t need to do anything to enable this feature. New information will start to appear in your Google Analytics account automatically.
- New payment gateway: Global Iris / Realex. The HSBC CPI gateway integrated with Ecwid is shutting down, HSBC and all current users of its gateway are switching to Global Iris.
- Canada Post integration has been updated to the latest version. This is why Ecwid is so easy, you don’t need to worry about technical details, integrations and APIs – we do all this work for you.
- Additional CSS class for out of stock items. This will allow merchants to create CSS custom themes that highlight or mark out of stock items somehow.
- When you try to upload a new image in the control panel, Ecwid sends a hint to a browser to only show files that are allowed, e.g. images. It helps narrow down the results for users by default, so you can get exactly what you’re looking for without having to sift through a hundred different files.
We hope you like these new features. Our team is already working on the next version : -)
Awesome improvements, Ecwid! Love your work and have recommended it to several customers.
NormsIM,
Thank you!
Does this update include any way to create a responsive layout? It's been worked on for over five months and very little news has surfaced.
I am already having to tell clients to look elsewhere for their e-commerce needs.
I would like to say with ECWID. Any information would be so very appreciated.
These blackmail-style of emails is so boring!
Pascal Winnen,
It is not blackmail to let a company know that the service they provide is no longer as effective as before.
It is simply the case that some of my clients need a responsive solution, nothing more, nothing less. All I want is some hard information to give them.
Currently this feature is under heavy development. It is quite a challenging task to keep the existing Ecwid look & feel and layout, but make sure it looks properly on any device from small smartphone to big display. We have made a huge progress already, so I think we will be ready to launch a beta testing soon.
Qetzal,
Great news. Thanks for responding.
Qetzal,
Glad to know that! Would like to help beta-test.
Suranas Jewelove,
Please, refer to this thread: http://www.ecwid.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19259 We have posted our thoughts on mobile + Ecwid there and a link to the example layout. All news about beta-testing will be posted there as well.
David Dahl,
I'm waiting for the responsive layout, too. My Joomla website is using responsive layout, but ecwid does not responsive. It looks ugly when shown on smart phone.
I agree, fantastic updates and you are doing a tin of things well.
But with the growing use of pads and smartphones, you need to make Ecwid responsive or somehow more mobile ready.
Current solution standard is outdated by years.
Regards and appreciate the work but hope you set those on schedule soon.
We totally agree that mobile commerce is very important and are already working on a responsive layout: http://www.ecwid.com/blog/latest-ecwid-version-more-tools-to-increase-your-sales.html/comment-page-1/#comment-842
An option for swatches would be amazing...
Bay Medical Australia,
Thank you for the suggestion! We will consider this idea.
Nice job ECWID! Looking forward to using the new google feature.
Hey, the new related products on cart page are very nice!
Just one question: Can I just enable the related products in the cart and DISABLE them on the product details? That would make much more sense for my setup, as I don't want to confuse the customer or present the same choice twice.
I just can't seem to disable the related products for product details in the settings -> maybe you can add that in the future?
Besides that: Keep up the good work, you rock my world!!
Sure, it is totally possible.
1. Enable the related products feature and assign related items to your products.
2. Then hide them on your product pages using this custom CSS code:
div.ecwid-productBrowser-ProductPage div.ecwid-productBrowser-relatedProducts {
display:none;
}
Qetzal,
Hey, thanks very much, worked perfectly!! Great support, love Ecwid
I am disappointed not to find an update to Product Options. We really need the ability to force customers to select an option prior to check-out. For example, think of T-shirt sales. Many times a customer will place a style in their shopping cart without selecting a size, and then complete the transaction. This leads to rounds of email or phone tag, a delay in shipping, and frustration of seller and buyer.
Is this a feature we may look forward to receiving in the next Ecwid version?
DogCapes,
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, this is a good and necessary feature. We will implement it in the future, however I cannot provide any exact ETA at this moment.
By the way there is one workaround for this using the "product combinations" feature. Please create a new thread on our forums - our customer care team will provide more details.
Nice work, but still not multi-language for the description of products : (
The greatness of ECWID is stained by themselves lack.
@DogCapes: Very good point, I was thinking yesterday ...
Thanks! Yes, full multi-language for the store, i.e. product titles, descriptions, payment and shipping options, is a great feature for some stores. It is something that we will implement eventually.
Hi,
Great work Ecwid! I am looking forward seeing the upcoming responsive design
How can we redesign or replace the new product list "Buy Now" button? I need to make a custom design and also change it from "Buy Now" to "Add to Bag". It would make much more sense as that what it really does when you click on it. Thanks again!
Stefan
Stefan,
1. New buttons are 100% CSS3 based, and don’t use images, so they can be changed to a completely different design easily using custom CSS themes: http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/15853257/CSS%20Faq#HowdoIchangeEcwidCSS
If you have any questions on how to do this, please create a new thread on our forums - we will help.
2. The "Buy Now" text can be changed also: http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/22978888/Translation+FAQ+and+How-to#HowcanIchangeortranslateanytextinmystorefront You should modify the BuyNow.buy_now label.
wating for yandex.market!!!))
Maksim Vatorin,
Stay tuned ; -)
We keep getting these errors when uploading to google merchant account. Any ideas?
Missing shipping information (19 errors, only affecting Product Search, Search API for Shopping, Shopping)
Missing tax information (19 errors, only affecting Product Search, Search API for Shopping, Shopping)
Hi,
Please, make sure that you have set Shipping and Taxes on Google Merchant Center side on the http://www.google.com/merchants/taxshippingsettings page.
Where can I find information on altering the appearance of the new Buy Now button for grid listings?
Resonant1,
This button is CSS based, so they can be changed using custom CSS themes: http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/15853257/CSS%20Faq#HowdoIchangeEcwidCSS
Please create a new thread on our forums, if you need any help with this task.
I'm getting an error on the upload of the data feed on google: These characters are not allowed: /, :
WoodYouLike,
When you create a new Google data feed, your "Data feed filename" should not contain the feed URL generated by Ecwid. It can have any name you want to, for example "Products from my store". You will be able to enter rhe feed URL during the next step.
Please refer to this article for exact step-by-step instructions: http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/63856263/Google%20shopping
Thanks for all the updates.
I can see ecwid is trying to get ready for all of its customer demands, but there are a few things I believe to be "mandatory" in a world-class ecommerce solution...and unfortunately ecwid still doesn't provide them:
1.HTML email notifications
2. Multilanguage email notifications
3. Multilanguage receipts
4. Multilanguage product pages
5. Fully customizable product pages (for example, I don't want that standard image slide on top of the page, but in its bottom)
6. Customizable receipts (for example, to hide some fields/sections)
7. A decent product widget html code (only used because I need multilanguage product pages) with a nice gallery, share options, "you may also want" area
8. SEO tools
9. "1 like on facebook" promotion
...
Cheers
Great improvements-- loving new features and options from this and last update.
Looks like you're active commenting here, so I must ask for the feature we are still sorely missing. Any response appreciated!
What is status of recurring billing features?
Open, positive, constructive responses would be so helpful! Is there a reason for the delay of this? Is there a way your user base can support you to assist this implementation? Help!
Best Wishes,
the EA team
Edible Alchemy,
Unfortunately I cannot provide any ETA for this feature at this moment.
Can you please describe how you want to use recurring billing in your store? Do you sell subscriptions or memberships?
Disappointed not to see any progress on adding custom fields at the order level. So many people have asked for this.
Our biggest hassle is VAT refunds for EU customers who are registered for VAT. Our current process looks so unprofessional and causes so much hassle: we charge them VAT, they tell us by email they are VAT registered, we refund the VAT, we then have to issue a custom invoice explaining the refund. We would like to have them enter their VAT number at checkout time (ideally with validation) and then not have VAT added.
Thank you for the feedback. This feature is on our TO-DO list.
lovely to see an update that cares about the little things too
being able to sell in different currencies would be amazing - i'm in the UK and have converted my £prices to $prices, but i'd love to see a GBP currency available!
Thank you for the suggestion. I agree that it is a good feature. Please, vote for it here: http://ideas.ecwid.com/forums/22031-customer-suggestions-ideas-for-ecwid/suggestions/429230-add-currency-conversion to get a notification when it is released.
Would be great to see an option to upload multiple coupons rather than creating the 1 by 1.
Thank you for the suggestion. Please vote for this idea: http://ideas.ecwid.com/forums/22031-customer-suggestions-ideas-for-ecwid/suggestions/1756321-multiple-coupons-on-single-order
Just got new Newsletter... Does this mean Responsive Design has been implemented? Also why is the Newsletter pointing to this older blog post instead of a new one? If Responsive Design has been implemented I would suggest it gets it's own announcement on the blog. It is the biggest thing going in web design for the past year.
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
Responsive Design is in beta stage right now. Please refer to this thread: http://www.ecwid.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19259 We have posted our thoughts on mobile + Ecwid there and a link to the example of this layout. Details on how to participate in beta-testing will be posted in a few days in that thread.
Still wishing I could modify customer orders. They make mistakes and I have no way of fixing them. (Thanks for being responsive to your customers!)
This feature is on top of our TODO list.
slowly but on track. Ecwid now start to rock and with newer updates that they might be giving their customers ecwid might become most fav. ecommerce solution... but they gotta need to make those ammendments fast.
Great work! Especially with the mobile website option. Expecting improvements to the feature though.
Please refer to this thread: http://www.ecwid.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19259
Awesome improvements! Please also improve the store's appearance for mobile platforms, that'd be an awesome next update!
do send my best regards to the rest of the ECWID team
Please refer to this thread: http://www.ecwid.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19259
Thank You great work ecwid team.
Thank you!
We need to able to customize the invoices. Please add this feature in a new update
Hi any new information on Creating New Products with the API. We are looking to create multi-purpose google spreadsheet and this is one of the options we are looking at
regards
zane
We're working on this feature. Unfortunately I cannot provide any exact ETA at this moment.
I really need recurring billing. Any idea when this idea will be implemented? http://ideas.ecwid.com/forums/22031-customer-suggestions-ideas-for-ecwid/suggestions/329560-renewable-subscription-recurring-billing-or-fees
Nice features! I like it. But, can we edit somehow the text "Buy Now" and "Ask your friends for advice", and also the text what facebook shows: "What do you think about this?" Maybe you can put this lines on the Translate Tool or something. Because it's doesn't matter how cool this features are, if we can't use it in our costumers language. Thanks.
Thank you for your kind words! We're happy to hear you like new features : -)
1. You can change any text in your Ecwid store. So you can translate a label or just change it to something custom. How to do this: http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/22978888/Translation+FAQ+and+How-to#HowcanIchangeortranslateanytextinmystorefront If you have any questions, just create a new thread on our forums and we will help.
2. If you want to help us to translate new features to more languages, just submit your translations there: http://www.ecwid.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9 and we will add them to the next Ecwid verstion.