That’s right ladies and gentleman, Ecwid is at it again. Now you can score customers on Pinterest with retargeting ads and improved performance insights. That’s just one more sales channel for your e-commerce quiver.

By adding a tiny analytic tool (aka Pinterest Tag) to your store, you can advertise on Pinterest and promote your products to previously engaged store visitors. Curious if your ads are working? Your Tag will track your data to let you know just how much money each ad is bringing in. And because it’s Ecwid, there’s no coding or secret knowledge required to integrate the Pinterest Tag with your online store.

In this post:

• How the Pinterest Tag Works
• How to Add a Pinterest Tag to Ecwid
• How to Advertise with a Pinterest Tag
• Who Should Try Pinterest Marketing
• How to Create Great Promoted Pins

How the Pinterest Tag Works

A Pinterest Tag is a piece of code that gets embedded in your website to spot visitors, and then uses that data to build audiences for advertising based on actions they’ve taken in your online store.

By identifying interested shoppers who’ve visited your store but haven’t completed a purchase, the Pinterest Tag enables you to efficiently target already-engaged audiences through Pinterest. Known as "remarketing," this tactic has already proven to be more effective than traditional Pinterest advertising.

But it doesn’t stop there. Your Pinterest Tag also tracks what users do after they click on your Pinterest ad (aka "Promoted Pin"). Rather than count ad clicks (which doesn’t equal purchases), your Tag lets you see just how much money your Promoted Pin has generated.

The Tag sees a number of customers actions giving you the ability to shape audiences for remarketing:

• Page Visit: a visitor lands on the page
• View Category: a visitor browses products from a certain category
• Add To Cart: a visitor adds products to their cart
• Start Checkout: a user clicks the checkout button
• Checkout: a customer completes their purchase
• Search: a visitor used the search box to find something in your store.

Even if you’re not quite ready to make the hop over to selling on Pinterest, by installing the Pinterest Tag now, you’ll begin gathering audiences of almost-there customers to remarket whenever you’re ready.

How to Add a Pinterest Tag to Ecwid

To install the Pinterest tag, you typically have to modify your site header code and add pieces of code on every page where you want to track events. With Ecwid E-commerce, no extra coding is required to make your Tag work. We’ve collapsed the process to a single copy-and-paste in your Ecwid control panel so you get started without special skills.

Before you start, set up a free Pinterest business account and verify your website.

When that’s done, you’re ready to set up tracking in Ecwid (it’s free):

1. Go to your Pinterest business account → Ads → Conversions, and click Create Pinterest Tag.
   
   
2. Set the Tag name and copy the Unique Tag ID.
   
   
3. Go to your Ecwid Control Panel → Settings → General → Tracking & Analytics.
4. Find the Pinterest Tag section, and paste the code into the field.
   
   
5. Click Save.

If you’ve added the Ecwid shopping cart to your own website (as opposed to the Ecwid Instant Site), you can add your Pinterest Tag to your other non-store pages as well, like blogs and other content-based landing pages. Learn more in the Ecwid Help Center → 

Not sure whether you’ve installed your Pinterest Tag correctly? Download the Pinterest Tag Helper in the Chrome Web Store. This browser extension shows your Tag status on a webpage.

Click the red icon in the top right corner of your Google Chrome Browser to see Tag activity

Note: you’ll need to get consent from your site visitors to track them in order to comply with GDPR and Pinterest Advertising Guidelines. Read how to set up a cookie consent banner for your Ecwid store → 

How to Advertise with a Pinterest Tag

1. Target your store visitors

It’s pretty standard that about 80% of your customers won’t buy on their first visit to your store. But as soon as they leave, there’s no guarantee they’ll remember to come back again. That’s where remarketing comes in. With your Pinterest Tag, you can sell on Pinterest by reminding past site visitors about your products at the moment they’re pinning ideas for future purchases.

1. Go to your Pinterest Ad manager → Ads → Audiences and create a new audience.

   
   

2. Choose "Visitors who went to your site."
   

3. Select your Pinterest Tag from the list and set up your audience. You can even get specific about when they visited, for example targeting only recent visitors. It’s also possible to exclude certain store URLs (like an out of stock product) or Tag events (like completed checkouts.)
   
   
4. Click Create. Note that it may take some time before your audience initializes. The minimum audience size for targeting is 100 people.

2. Target people similar to your customers

The Tag also enables you to sell on Pinterest to its users who are similar to your existing customers. That’s called "actalike" audiences.

Here are four steps to grow your reach with "actalike" Pinterest audiences:

1. Create a new audience in your Pinterest Ad manager → Ads → Audiences.
2. Select an "actalike" audience from the list.

   
   

3. Select a source audience that you’d like Pinterest to use as an example (like visitors who triggered the "checkout" event, i.e., made a purchase). Note: you’ll need to have a source audience created in advance to gather enough data for the "actalike" audience.
   
   
4. Choose the audience size and click Create.

3. Track return on ad spend

In addition to allowing you to serve targeted ads through Pinterest, Pinterest Tag also helps to measure the effectiveness of your ads. To get started, go to your Pinterest Ad Manager → Ads → Reporting. There, you’ll find a table showing ad performance and how much money you get from selling on Pinterest.

Source: Pinterest

Some of the most important metrics you’ll receive are:

• Impressions — how many people saw your promoted pin.
• Clicks — the number of people who clicked on your promoted pin.
• CTR (Click Through Rate) — the ratio of clicks to impressions. The higher the number, the better.
• CPA (Cost Per Action) — how much money you pay per each desired action on your site (like a sale, for example).
• ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)  — the total revenue for a specific campaign divided by the total spend on that campaign.

Pinterest lets you customize the view to display only those metrics that matter for your business. Click the pen icon in the bottom right corner to edit your report.

Who Should Try Pinterest Marketing

In addition to Pinterest advertising, Ecwid offers a ton of other great marketing tools — Facebook pixel, Google Shopping ads, and Instagram shoppable posts to name a few. We know your marketing dollars aren’t infinite, so how do you know if Pinterest is the right platform to advertise your products?

The thing to remember about Pinterest marketing is that its content serves a particular audience. Pinterest calls this audience "Deciders":

They are women age 25-54 and they make the majority of purchase decisions in US households. They’re responsible for 80% of household buying, and they control more than 50% of the wealth in the US.

Whether it’s vacation planning, decorating their homes, or family dinner ideas, this demographic goes to Pinterest to save product ideas for later. If your ads and products can engage this group effectively, you’ll be well served by Pinterest advertising.

The following are the most popular product categories on Pinterest:

• Home decor
• Hair and beauty
• Style
• Food and drink
• Educational e-goods
• DIY products.

If you sell something from the list above, you should definitely give Pinterest marketing a try.

Some Ecwid merchants are already on the Pinterest train and seeing some great results:

"Pinterest accounts for 90 percent of my social media traffic." — Selena Robinson, founder of "Look! We’re Learning!" educational e-goods.

"Look! We’re Learning!" on Pinterest

"Pinterest is my second largest channel for sales traffic. I joined a lot of Pinterest Groups and post there regularly. I post mostly from my shop, and sometimes I share an article, or a blog post, or some ideas and tutorials." — Elvira Threeyama, founder of the CHEZVIES blog and online store for handmade goods.

Chezvies Pins

How to Create Great Promotional Pins

A general rule of thumb is to promote pins that are already performing well organically without promotion. However, if you’re new to Pinterest, that strategy might not be feasible early on, so here are some tips:

• Check out Pinterest’s guide "The Art of Pin" to understand what content its audience appreciates.
• Mix static and video Pins for more engagement.
• Don’t forget to study Pinterest’s Advertising Guidelines before launching your ads to avoid having your ads rejected.
• Brand your Pins.
• Don’t be salesy. Use a neutral CTA like "discover more" instead of "buy now."
• Carefully track how your Pins are performing to tailor them for your audience.

The Pin life is longer than a regular social media post. Users save Pins on their boards long after the campaign has ended, generating free views and additional conversions on into the future. So, that means you’ll have to evaluate your Pinterest statistics in the long-term to truly understand the value of your Promoted Pins.

Scientists claim you have about 10-20 seconds to catch users’ attention before they leave your site for parts unknown. So you really wanna make that first 10 seconds count (no pun intended).

The text in your site’s header area is a crucial source of information. What you say is obviously significant, but it’s also important to consider how you say it.

Typography is the voice of your website. Not only does choosing the right typography help to communicate your message, but it also has the power to affect tone and even make your brand more recognizable. That’s why there are over 300,000 fonts in the world to choose from, ranging from classic to… well, crazy.

Canadian artist Jenny Shipper’s font is an ode to Federico Fellini’s films

With so many options, finding your own right style can be a challenge, especially if you don’t know how fonts work together. In this post, we’ll go over some of our favorite font pairings to help you design a header message that converts.

All the examples below were created with design tools available in the Ecwid Instant Site — a free and efficient one-page e-commerce site builder to get your store up and selling fast. Learn more about Instant Site’s design options, or sign up for free to see it in action.

How to change fonts in the Ecwid Instant Site editor:

1. Go to the Website tab in your Ecwid control panel and click "Edit;"
2. Select "Headline & Cover;"
3. Type in your store’s headline and description. Choose your cover layout and change its position and alignment if needed. From here, you can also change your background and call to action button if desired;
4. Scroll down and select "Typography;"
5. Choose font families, colors, and sizes for your headline and description;
6. Don’t forget to press the "Save" button when you’re done.

Spirax + Open Sans Condensed

Spirax’s original curves give headlines a refined but whimsical look that’s well-matched with open and neutral forms of Open Sans Condensed. This combination may work for you if you sell something uniquely designed like handmade jewelry.

Merriweather + Oswald

Merriweather is pleasant to read on screens with its slightly condensed letterforms, sturdy serifs, and open forms. It’s perfectly in tune with Oswald, a font inspired by the classic gothic and grotesque styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This pairing may suit a store that sells high-end bespoke products like watches or leather accessories.

Abril Fatface + Cabin

The thin serifs and well-rounded curves of Abril Fatface give headlines an elegant but playful appearance, which is well-paired with Cabin’s touch of modernism. Try these fonts if you sell stationery products or books.

Montserrat + Merriweather

Montserrat is based on urban typography from the first half of the 20th century, complemented by the slightly condensed letterforms of Merriweather. This pairing would be well served in a bag or sneaker store.

Overlock + Nunito

Overlock’s rounded glyph shapes make great titles and short texts in magazine-style layouts. This font looks its very best at bigger sizes, complementing Nunito’s well-balanced rounded forms. If you sell clothes, these fonts are a great choice.

Playfair Display + Source Sans Pro

The classic style of Playfair Display is even more prominent when paired with Source Sans Pro, which was created to work well in user interfaces. This timeless combo would work well with stores specializing in women’s beauty products or dress shops.

Alegreya + Lato

Alegreya’s dynamic and varied rhythm provides freshness to the page, setting off Lato’s semi-rounded details and strong structure. Take a closer look at these fonts if you sell lingerie or other elegant accessories.

Rokkitt + Lato

Rokkitt was designed for use as a display font in headings and headlines. Combine it with semi-rounded san serif Lato to create a prominent look. Pay attention to this combination if your store focuses on premium sportswear or stylish tech.

Quicksand + Proxima Nova

Geometric shapes are a core foundation of Quicksand, so pair it with Proxima Nova’s modern sensibility to give your layout a clean, fresh touch. If you sell toys or baby strollers, these fonts may work well for you.

Oxygen + Maven Pro

Oxygen works well in all graphical user interfaces, desktops, and devices, especially in combination with Maven Pro’s easy readability. Check out this pairing if your website sells eyewear or fitness accessories.

Dancing Script + Lato

Lively and casual Dancing Script gives your page a friendly and informal touch, emphasizing Lato’s classical proportions and sleek san serif aesthetic. Gift and postcard shops may benefit from this set.

Signika + Dosis

The gentle character of Signika works great for headlines, while Dosis makes supplemental texts fairly easy to read. This pairing works for a wide range of stores, from electronics to flowers.

Reenie Beanie + Muli

Reenie Beanie is based on basic ball-point pen handwriting, providing a playful look, which is complemented by the structured minimalism of the Muli font. Try this mix if you sell something like sketchbooks or you’d like a more laid-back tone for your brand.

Questrial + Muli

San serif Muli makes a perfect body text font, and it’s understated aesthetic means it pairs well with a wide variety of headline fonts: like Questrial with its modern style and full-circle curve. This set could be a go-to variant for streetwear.

Berkshire Swash + Proxima Nova

Berkshire Swash has a bold yet gentle flair, which makes for a vivid headline and provides an amazing balance with Proxima Nova’s simple, modern proportions and geometric appearance. Handmade cosmetics or desserts would benefit from this mix.

Basics of Font Pairings

Didn’t find what you’re looking for in our list? If you’re feeling creative, try playing with fonts in the free Instant Site editor and find your own beautiful font combination.

Here are some basic guidelines to follow:

1. Create a contrast between your fonts (bold & cursive, TALL & short)
2. Combine serif and san-serif fonts (like Libre Baskerville + Signika).
3. Don’t use two similar fonts (for example, two cursives) for both your headline and body text. Creating variety will draw the eye and help your customer engage with each section individually.
4. Make the font match your brand. Playful handwritten letters probably aren’t the best fit for a premium jewelry brand.
5. Limit yourself to 2-3 fonts to avoid making your content appear cluttered.

Also read: 50 Exemplary Online Stores Built With Ecwid

Beginning September 14, 2019, some banks will be declining online payments that are not protected by additional authentication.

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a new legal requirement from the European Union. It comes into force in September as part of the Revised Directive on Payment Services. PSD2 is aimed at fighting fraud and making online transactions more secure.

As an online store owner who accepts credit cards or bank transfers online, you’ll need to prepare for this change to provide a frictionless checkout flow for your customers. To make things a little easier, we’ve summarized everything you need to know in this quick article.

What Strong Customer Authentication Means

Each time you pay for something online, you confirm your identity in a process known as "authentication." Just like having a key to your front door protects your home from trespassers, authentication protects your money from fraudlers online.

There are three ways (or authentication factors) to prove your identity:

• Knowledge: a secret that only you know (a PIN, a password, an old girlfriend’s birthday);
• Ownership: a physical object in your possession (ID, credit card, mobile phone);
• Inherence: a physical feature unique to you (your fingerprint, signature, Face ID, or voice.)

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requires anyone processing online payments to require an extra step to verify a customer’s identity when they pay with credit cards or bank transfers online. So instead of a single form of authentication, shoppers will be asked to provide two authentication factors from the list above. The exact method (for example, entering a one-time code) will be chosen by the cardholder’s bank.

How to Prepare for SCA with Ecwid

Responsibility to comply with SCA is mostly on your payment gateway. Your chosen payment gateway will be required to implement an extra authentication step for credit card payments in order to do business in the EU.

However, if your payment gateway chooses not to comply with SCA requirements, some credit card payments in your online store can be declined, resulting in lower conversion rates and lost sales. So while the responsibility is on the payment gateway, you may still feel the consequences.

But SCA doesn’t affect every merchant under the sun. What you need to be prepared depends on where you sell and how you get paid.

I’m not from the EU 

If you’re not from — or doing business in — the EU, SCA won’t affect you.

However, if your bank is not in Europe but your customer’s is, SCA may still apply. The final decision is up to the cardholder’s bank. So some European issuing banks will require SCA when the payment recipient is outside of Europe, while others may not.

If you’re from the US or another non-EU country, but have customers from Europe, it’s a good idea to offer an SCA-compliant payment method anyway to avoid credit card payments being declined. In this case, read the instructions for EU merchants below to learn how to prepare for SCA.

I’m from the EU

SCA applies to you if both your customers and your banks are located in Europe, but your action beyond that depends on how you get paid for your orders.

I accept credit cards. You’ve got the lucky ticket. SCA applies specifically to credit cards and bank transfers. So it’s important that you make sure your payment gateway is SCA-compliant:

• If you accept credit cards online with Stripe or Square, we’ve automatically taken care of SCA compliance updates for you — just make sure you use Ecwid’s one-page checkout, the latest and most optimized checkout page for your Ecwid store.
• If you use other online payment options to accept credit cards or bank transfers (for example, Authorize.Net, 2Checkout), contact your payment gateway support team to сonfirm their compliance with SCA. If your payment gateway redirects customers to their website to complete transactions (such as Authorize.Net), adjustments will need to be made on the gateway-side according to the new SCA standard. If your payment gateway doesn’t have plans to comply with new SCA requirements, consider adding other payment options to your store. Selling with Ecwid E-commerce gives you access to over 50 payment options for accepting payments online and in-person.

I don’t accept credit cards. If you only accept payments in cash or by other offline methods, you’re off the hook! SCA only applies to online payment methods in this scenario.

I’m from the UK

If you live in the UK, SCA applies to you. Even if the UK is out of EU, SCA will still apply to the UK citizens.

But there’s good news: the UK has extended the compliance deadline, so you have over a year to meet the new requirements.

Over to You

Although SCA doesn’t legally require merchants to comply, it’s strategic to do so for two reasons:

• To be sure you’re not losing customers over transaction failures after September 14.
• To offer additional security for your customers during checkout with SCA-compliant payment gateways.

Take a couple minutes to revise your connected payment options — and let us know if we can help!

Subscribe to the Ecwid blog to get more updates on SCA and other vital industry news and e-commerce tips.

With Ecwid, you can sell anywhere — from your personal website to marketplaces and social media. And now that "anywhere" includes Snapchat, the photo and video sharing app famous for sparkly augmented realities and that one face filter that makes your head look like a vase.

Recently, brands began riding the Snapchat train with new advertising tools and branded Snapchat channels to share their own news and content. So Ecwid decided to help our merchants get in on the action with our very own Snap Pixel integration.

With the Snap Pixel integrated into your Ecwid store, you can advertise your products on Snapchat, gather data about who’s buying from your ads, and reach more Snapchat users like them.

The Snapchat Pixel works like a bridge that connects your store to Snapchat. It allows the two platforms to exchange data on user behavior to make your ads more effective. But unlike building a bridge, installing your own Pixel is actually pretty easy. Read on to find out who should advertise on Snapchat and how to do that with the Snap Pixel for Ecwid stores.

In this post:

• What is the Snap Pixel?
• How to Set Up the Snapchat Pixel for Your Ecwid store
• How to Use the Snap Pixel
• Why Sell on Snapchat?

What Is the Snap Pixel?

The Snap Pixel is a piece of code that records user behavior for website visitors who came to your site through a Snapchat ad click. By adding this tiny tool to your website, you can see what actions people take in your store through your Snap Ads Manager.

To help you optimize your ads, the Snapchat Pixel records these customer actions:

• Page View — a user views any store page.
• View Content — a user views a product or catalog page.
• Add Cart — a user adds a product to their cart.
• Start Checkout — a user added one or more products to their cart, and proceeded to the checkout, but didn’t place an order. You’ll also see an abandoned cart in your Ecwid control panel when this happens.
• Add Billing — a user chose a payment method at checkout.
• Purchase — a user placed an order in your store.
• Search — a user searched for something in your store.

With all this data, you can:

• Measure and optimize your ad performance. Your Pixel lets you know what percentage of users visited your store after engaging with your Snapchat ads. By uncovering which of your ads are performing and how much money they’re making, you’ll be able to better plan and optimize your marketing budget.
• Run remarketing ads. People may visit your store and like your products, but they won’t always complete their purchase the first time around. With the Snap Pixel, you can create ads to remind these shoppers about the items they liked but didn’t buy.

  
  Users will see your ad while scrolling their feed (Source: Snapchat)

• Target people similar to your shoppers. Create ads for people who are similar to your customers to show your ads to the Snapchat users who are most likely to be interested in your products.

How to Set up the Snap Pixel for Your Ecwid Store

The Snap Pixel is available on all Ecwid plans including our Forever Free plan. All you have to do to claim your pixel is copy and paste the code into your Ecwid Control Panel.

Step 1. Get the Snapchat Pixel

1. Go to your Snapchat Ads Manager and log into your existing account or create a new one.
2. Click on the menu in the top-left corner → Manage → Snap pixel.
3. Click Create my Snap Pixel.
   
   
4. Click Set up Pixel in the upper-right corner.
5. Copy your Pixel ID.

Step 2. Add the Snapchat Pixel to Ecwid

1. Go to your Ecwid Control Panel → Settings → General → Tracking & Analytics.
2. Find the Snap Pixel section and paste the Pixel ID into the field.
3. Click Save.

You’re all set. If you want to make sure your Snap Pixel is working correctly, use the Snap Pixel Helper Chrome extension. Install it on your Chrome browser and open a storefront, use the search box, or add products to your bag. The extension will show what events are passed on in the pixel. Сheck out Snap Pixel Help Center for more information.

How to Use the Snap Pixel

Once you’ve installed the Snap Pixel, it’s time to get the most out of it. Here are several examples of how it can help you.

Analyze your audience

With the Snap Pixel’s data, you can better analyze your customers’ behavior: how people engage with your website, which pages they visit most often, if they have a habit of abandoning carts, etc etc.

How to see your Pixel data:

1. Go to Snapchat Ads Manager.
2. In the top-corner menu, select "Snap Pixel," and you’ll see the statistics for your Pixel data. Note: these stats will include all events on your website, not just the events driven by your Snapchat campaigns.
   

   
   Snapchat For Business / YouTube
   

Build custom audiences for ad targeting

Pixel Custom Audiences are snapchatters who’ve already engaged with your website. This is a valuable advertising group because people who’ve already engaged with your website are more likely to respond to an ad and make a purchase. Advertising to this group is called retargeting.

Once a minimum of 1,000 people have completed an action (for example, viewed a product page), an audience will be automatically generated for that event. Each segment will be titled: "Snap Pixel — [EVENT_TYPE] — Auto-created."

To find Pixel Custom Audiences, go to Snapchat Ads Manager and select "Audiences" in the top-corner menu.

How to create a retargeting campaign:

1. Go to Snapchat Ads Manager, and in the top-corner menu, select "Create Ads".
2. Select your objective, type a campaign name, and set campaign limits.
3. Make sure your Snap Pixel is attached.
   
   
4. Choose Custom Audience (auto-generated audiences will be created once an event reaches 1,000 occurrences).
   
   
5. Set devices and delivery characteristics.
6. Review and publish your campaign.

Find more people like your customers

When you’re ready to increase your sales volume, you’ll want to advertise to a bigger audience. Creating a "Lookalike" audience allows you to reach shoppers who are likely to make a purchase by finding Snapchat users who are similar to your existing customers.

Here’s how to create a Lookalike audience:

1. Go to Snapchat Ads Manager, and select "Audiences" from the top-corner menu.
2. Click "New Audience" and select "Lookalike Audience."
3. Choose "Pixel Custom Audience" as your seed audience.
   
   
4. Choose a country.
5. Choose your Lookalike type: Similarity (smaller audience with the closest resemblance to your seed audience), Balance (mid-sized audience that balances resemblance and reach), or Reach (larger audience that has the broadest resemblance to your seed audience).
6. Enter your audience name and description.
7. Click "Create."

Why Sell on Snapchat

The youth-oriented app powers 3 billion "snaps" on a daily basis. So, even if you haven’t used Snapchat personally, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen its content — thanks in part to popular photo filters like the gender-swap, all types of flower crowns, and the ubiquitous animal ears.

Animal ears are one of the most popular Snapchat filters

Despite assumptions that the platform would wain in popularity after its recent redesign, Snapchat numbers have actually grown, reaching over 200 million daily active users in the second quarter of 2019.

Statista shows the growth in Snapchat’s audience

Today, Snapchat is among the top 20 most-used social networking platforms, with the US, France, the UK, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and India boasting the most Snapchatters.

The popularity of Snapchat can be attributed to its key features:

• The platform attracts users with augmented reality: masks and filters keep the app fun, and the resulting images are perfect for sharing with friends.
• Because Snaps are only visible for a short period of time before being deleted by the app, Snapchat reduces the stress of sharing images online and encourages users to express themselves and communicate freely, without the need for perfection that’s intrinsic in other social media posts.

In addition to its original charms, Snapchat recently announced new camera features, a gaming platform, and a new lineup of original shows.

Who uses Snapchat?

Snapchat has been successful at keeping young people’s attention, reaching 75% of 13 to 34-year-olds and 90% of 13 to 24-year-olds in the U.S. — more than either Facebook or Instagram — with 61% of Snapchat users being female.

Distribution of Snapchat users worldwide by age and gender (Statista)

71% of Snapchat users visit the platform multiple times per day, with the average user opening their app 20 times per day, for a total of 30 minutes of engagement.

Users say they turn to Snapchat to talk to friends, share photos and videos about their day, and, of course, play with filters and lenses. People tend to use Snapchat on the go when commuting, traveling, socializing, and shopping.

Who should sell on Snapchat

Snapchat’s advertising audience had jumped an astounding 19% by July 2019, with ads now reaching 369 million users on the platform. At the same time, there’s also less competition on Snapchat as more marketers are turning to Instagram Stories. If your products are aimed at teenagers and young adults, Snapchat ads could be a huge avenue for growth.

And if you advertise on Instagram Stories, you can repurpose that same content for Snapchat ads.

Snapchat content should be entertaining, with the latest trends rewarding gamification. Think your brand is too "serious" for Snapchat? Check out how CNN used Snapchat to effectively reach millennial audiences that had eluded them on traditional media.

CNN creates Snapchat stories with user generated content

Get Ready to Sell on Snapchat

Ready to sell on Snapchat? Ecwid makes selling on Snapchat easy with our Snap Pixel integration. And that’s not all. As an omni-channel e-commerce platform, we’ve got everything you need to sell around the internet, with marketing integrations for Facebook, Pinterest, and Google ads.

• Facebook Pixel
• Pinterest Tag
• Google Ads Tag

Need some more help getting started? Subscribe to our blog and visit the Ecwid Help Center, and start building the e-commerce store of your dreams. Happy selling!

The best part of running any online store is getting paid. But once a shopper makes a purchase and you’ve got your money in-hand, the responsibility’s on you to make sure that order gets fulfilled.

Seeing those order notifications roll in can be a great feeling. But more orders also means more order management. Whether you have one order or 100, your customers will still expect their orders to be fulfilled quickly and professionally. That’s why we do everything we can to make order management with Ecwid fast and efficient.

A while back, we asked some of our Ecwid merchants what they’d change about their Ecwid stores, and you had some great ideas about how we could improve our order management. So… we made it happen. Read on to learn about the improvements we made to our Control panel to make order management even easier.

Open Orders in a New Tab

Want to be able to open and view several orders at once? Now you can open each order in a new browser tab and easily switch from one order to another without returning to your Orders list.

Export Orders With Transaction IDs

Doing your taxes is rarely an exciting experience, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make it a little easier. When an order is placed, a payment transaction ID is automatically added to your Export Orders window. Now you can export the payment transaction ID along with your orders to easily connect an order with a transaction ID for easier accounting and tax reporting.

Print Invoices from Order Editor

Want an easy way to print an invoice after you finish adjusting an order? Now you can print an invoice from the Order Editor page — just click "Print Invoice" in the upper-left corner of the Edit Order window.

Easily Navigate Order Filters

Quickly see which filter is selected at the top of the page. The applied filter is also highlighted with black color in the sidebar.

And we made another little tweak to make working with your orders more comfortable: previously, when you applied a filter, the page automatically scrolled to the top of the filter column with each parameter selected. Now you can finish applying filters without scrolling back.

See Total Sales on Your Orders List

Total Sales displays in the bottom right corner of the Orders list, so you can see the total sales of all orders or orders based on certain filters. It may be helpful to analyze sales statistics as well: find bestsellers, see how many orders a customer made, or see how much you sold in a particular month.

Filter Orders by Products

Now you can search for orders by product name or SKU. This can help you better understand your customers’ behavior, like which items they buy most often.

We’re always striving to make e-commerce easier for our merchants. If you think you have an idea to improve Ecwid, don’t hesitate to leave your ideas in the comments. The next update might just be yours!

According to a recent survey, social media is the fave marketing channel for Ecwid merchants. Some use their social media pages for customer care, some build private groups for loyal customers — some just wanna share a juicy meme from time-to-time (ya know, if that’s what their audience is into).

But some merchants have gone the extra mile. Rather than just being on social media, they’re embracing the latest tools and selling on social media, turning their followers into paying customers right on their favorite platforms.

The zealous call it "social commerce": you can just call it your new favorite way to sell. In this post, we’ll illustrate social media’s sales potential and offer an effective strategy to get the most out of your channels over the coming months.

In this post:

• The Numbers Don’t Lie: People Love Social Media
• Social Shopping: Why It’s So Great
• Social Commerce: How to Sell on Social Media

The Numbers Don’t Lie: People Love Social Media

First, a confession. To better understand social media’s popularity, I looked into how many hours per day I was spending on my favorite channels (you’ll see these stats below). Using iPhone’s screen time calculator, I was able to see how much time I spent scrolling the internet and what percentage of that was dedicated to social media. Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised.

Eleven hours a week on social media! At least I was having a good time?

Now, in all honesty, 11 hours isn’t all that much when compared to the average for an adult age 25-34, which rests at 2 hours and 37 minutes per day and 17.5 hours per week.

Daily time spent on social media, Digital Information World

Based on the graph above, it’s clear that social media isn’t just for kids anymore. Internet journeymen of all ages are now liking, commenting, and sharing on their favorite channels.

With over 3 billion users worldwide, social media reaches about 40% of the world’s population. Yep, you read that right. In 2019, literally billions of people are glued to social media.

And the owners of these social networking sites don’t plan on changing that any time soon, implementing new features every couple of months (like the cryptic Facebook algorithm) to keep users coming back for more.

Instagram alone has grown from a basic photo-sharing platform in it’s early days to a full-blown digital media juggernaut, complete with business tools (ads, analytics, and networking tools) and the support of various content formats (looped video, live stream, Stories, photos and photo galleries, IGTV, etc.).

So, what are users actually doing with all this time they’re spending on social media?

While the main function of social media is still connecting with people and entertainment, about 1 in 3 users are looking for new products to buy. In the next section, we’ll define social commerce, and discuss what makes shoppers move from social media users to social media shoppers.

Social Shopping: Why It’s So Great

If you’ve ever shopped online (which, who are we kidding, of course you have), you know the benefits of e-commerce well. A few clicks here, a tap or a swipe there, and next thing you know, your package is on your doorstep. It’s idyllic, to say the least.

But why has social shopping in particular become so popular? Why not leave the browsing and buying to sites like Amazon and eBay or directly from a brand’s website?

With how much time people spend on social media, it’s no surprise that they’d rather not be redirected to another website. Afterall, who’s spending 17.5 hours on Amazon each week? And with 67% of social media users accessing their accounts from mobile devices, being able to easily complete a purchase on the go is critical. Social e-commerce enables customers to shop right where they are without clicking off to another site or app, allowing them to move seamlessly between discovering and purchasing, right from their mobile devices.

What is social commerce? Social commerce is a form of e-commerce that involves the use of social media platforms to promote and sell products and services.

For businesses, social commerce has lots of benefits too. Rather than building a website and driving new traffic to it, you can list your products where your customers are already spending their time — whether that’s Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or even Snapchat.

Social media audiences are substantial, to say the least — Facebook’s total user-base is roughly the size of four European Unions. So, selling on these platforms open doors to billions of potential customers. Look how many monthly active users are on some of the top social platforms:

• Facebook — 2.23 billion
• Instagram — 1 billion
• Pinterest — 250 million
• YouTube — 2 billion
• Snapchat — 225 million
• Twitter — 335 million.

Advertising on social media is like getting a billboard in Times Square at a fraction of the cost.

And social media works: in 2019 young people discover more brands through social media than TV, newspapers, and blogs combined.

Sources of brand discovery for Generation Z, Statista

While social media allows you to reach massive audiences, it’s also not just a random crowd on a town square. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and YouTube have built in e-commerce tools to help brands target the right people for social shopping. For example, Facebook tracks your customer data and allows you to serve ads to users who share similarities with your existing customers — like similar interests or geographic locations.

And once you find the right people, they can easily buy your products thanks to built in social commerce features like:

• Facebook Shop and Product Catalog
• Instagram shoppable posts
• Buyable pins and more.

Despite the significant role of social media in our lives and an abundance of social commerce tools, only 40% of businesses are using social media to generate sales.

While that’s a pretty astounding statistic, it’s great news for you! By being early to the social commerce party, you’ll have an advantage over competitors who haven’t yet realized the power of selling on social. In the next chapter, you’ll learn how to enter social e-commerce on some of the most popular platforms.

Social Commerce: How to Sell on Social Media

Once upon a time, many social commerce features were locked away from small businesses. But today, limitations are the exception. Essential social shopping tools are available to businesses of all sizes, right from day one.

Ecwid E-commerce helps businesses of any size list and sell their products across multiple platforms at once from a single product catalog. Create your Ecwid account once to sell your products on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and even Snapchat (plus Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, WordPress, Wix… you get the idea). Keep reading to find out how you can tap into social shopping on some of the top platforms.

Facebook
Thanks to its audience size and powerful business tools, Facebook wins the award for biggest social commerce platform:

• 78% of U.S. consumers say they’ve discovered products on Facebook.
• Facebook has 60 million active business pages.
• 93% of social media advertisers use Facebook Ads.

How you can sell on Facebook:

• Upload your product catalog to your FB business page
• Show your products in a separate Shop tab
• Tag your products in pictures you post on Facebook
• Advertise your products to highly targeted audiences (e.g. store visitors or people similar to your customers)

All that functionality is offered through three main Facebook business products: Facebook Shop (to let customers buy your products from the Shop section on FB), Facebook Product Catalog (to build effortless ad campaigns that display your products with titles, prices, and pictures), and the Facebook Pixel (to let you build custom audiences for advertising.)

Learn more in our blog post: Blow Up Your Sales With Ecwid’s New Social Selling Tools on Facebook

Instagram

The most popular visual photo-sharing platform is a perfect spot for showcasing products. But it’s not just a gallery of your favorite product pics. Instagram Shoppable posts allow followers to purchase tagged products within the app in just a couple taps.

Also read: Trending Products to Sell on Instagram

Here are a few facts about Instagram social shopping:

• Instagram Shoppable posts are available in 45+ countries.
• For Ecwid store CakeSafe (33,000 Instagram followers), shoppable links are clicked an average of 40 times per post.
• Instagram is testing Shoppable posts in Creator accounts, which could offer an opportunity to sell products through more than 500,000 active Instagram influencers.

To use Instagram’s social commerce features, you’ll need to switch to a Business account. Once that’s done, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Tag your products in photos
• Tag products in your Stories
• Get your shoppable posts to the Explore section to expand your reach
• Receive a special tab for your tagged products (if you’ve tagged more than nine)
• Boost posts (with the exception of shoppable posts)
• Tag products on influencers’ posts (beta)
• Let your customers make purchases right from their Instagram app.

Learn how to get started with Instagram social commerce: Sell on Instagram: How Ecwid Merchants Can Reach 1 Billion Shoppers

Pinterest

If you sell home decor, beauty products, food, drinks, or e-goods, Pinterest could hold huge social shopping potential for your business. While Pinterest traditionally appeals to women, 50% of new signups in 2018 were actually men, signaling a shift in the platform.

What we know about social shopping on Pinterest:

• 93% of Pinterest users decide what to buy by browsing the platform.
• Pinteresters pay more per order than other social media networks.
• The core Pinterest audience is women age 25-54 who make 80% of purchase decisions within U.S. households.

How you can sell on Pinterest:

• Serve Pinterest ads to your store visitors
• Build and advertise to audiences who are similar to your customers
• Sync your product catalog to display the actual prices and descriptions of your products (Rich Pins)
• Set up Buyable Pins to let customers purchase from Pinterest.

Learn more about this platform with our in-depth look at Pinterest advertising: Run More Effective Ads With Pinterest Tag for Your Ecwid Store

Snapchat

While there’s no official e-commerce functionality that allows users to complete purchases in the app (yet), Snapchat is widely embraced by brands of all sizes. Snapchat is especially popular amongst the younger crowd, so if that’s your target audience, its advertising tools are definitely worth a closer look.

• Snapchat’s advertising audience had jumped an astounding 19% in July 2019.
• Snapchat ads now reach 369 million users on the platform.
• Only 36% of marketers currently use Snapchat, so there’s less competition for top spots compared to rivals Instagram and Facebook.

On Snapchat, you can:

• Advertise your products
• Collect data about who’s buying from your ads
• Reach more Snapchat users like your existing customers.

For a detailed review of social commerce on Snapchat, jump over to our guide: Sell on Snapchat with the Snapchat Pixel for Ecwid

Social Commerce: A Strong 2019-20 Trend

The future of retail is in selling where your customers are, and businesses that engage across channels (web, mobile, social media, in-store, etc.) retain more than twice as many customers as those without effective cross-channel strategies.

And social shopping is at the top of that cross-channel list. With business and social commerce tools, buying products in-app from any device is fast and convenient.

There’s no doubt, social media has integrated with our daily lives. And now, with Ecwid E-commerce, your store can be just as integrated with the most popular social platforms. As you’re thinking through your marketing and sales strategies for the upcoming year, consider testing one-to-two social channels. It might be just the thing you need to take your business to a whole new level in 2020.

Not selling online just yet? Join our e-commerce crew by creating a free Ecwid account, and sell anywhere, from web to social media to marketplaces. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Ecwid blog to learn more about social commerce and other e-commerce and marketing trends.

We can’t believe we’re saying it, but this month, Ecwid celebrates its 10th birthday! It all started with a tiny e-commerce widget that grew into a seriously impressive omnichannel e-commerce platform, supporting 10+ ways to sell online and helping 1.5 million merchants begin their own small business journeys. And you, Ecwid merchant, helped to make it happen.

To celebrate the big day together, we decided to share some of your stories — successes, challenges, and where your amazing ideas began — starting, of course, with those merchants who’ve been with us from the very beginning. If you’d like to join the celebration by sharing your journey, shoot us a message at blog@ecwid.com!

This week, we introduce you to Marie Beckley, owner of homemade soy candle shop Beckley’s Best Blends. Find out how Marie and her husband Joe have been using Ecwid for the last 10 years to run their family business remotely while living life on the road.

Marie and Joe Beckley (@freespiritjunkies)

Marie Beckley, Beckley’s Best Blends:

"Our business was born entirely on accident. It was 1999. My husband, Joe and I have six kids between the two of us. Extra money wasn’t easy to come by – especially for a family on a budget (and when I say budget, I’m using that term broadly.)

Though I never knew there was a word for it, I’ve always practiced the Danish way of life, hygge, which includes lots of candlelight. Since candles weren’t in our weekly budget, Joe suggested that perhaps they could be if I learned to make my own. And so I did.

At first, it was only for ourselves, but as I gained confidence and got better at the process, I began to make gifts for friends and family. I was working a factory job at the time, so there were plenty of potential customers, all around me. And like that word spread, I began taking orders, and Beckley’s Best Blends (though it would be a couple of years before we took our show on the road.)

One of the candles from (Beckley’s Best Blends)

Our business has grown with time, but it’s still just the two of us. Joe and I are truly a team. He is the full-time candle maker/producer now, and I’m in charge of all administrative duties, as well as customer service. Joe makes the candles, ships the candles, and does all the heavy lifting/loading. I do everything office related; scheduling, ordering, website, etc.

Every business has its landmarks, and so does ours. For us, the three major milestones were:

• Going full-time. Joe was already a self-employed contractor. Since his work was mostly seasonal it was an easy switch for him. And I never looked back once I left my corporate job. Leaving the security of a full-time position with benefits was scary, but I have never regretted that decision. It was getting up the nerve to make the jump from employee to self-employed, that caused my anxiety. Joe, who has never had to punch a time-clock, kept reminding me that everything would be fine, and he was right!
• Starting a website. Our first website went live in 2004 – that opened new doors and allowed our customers the ability to reorder, which was a tremendous step for our growth.
• Hiring bookkeepers. This could be the single best thing we ever did — for my sanity. :)

Another important point was going on Ecwid. When we went through our third redesign of the website, one of the shopping carts recommended was Ecwid. When I looked at it, it seemed to be something a non-tech person, such as myself, could manage easily. I was right! Ecwid makes the shopping easy, and with the WordPress plugin, it has been flawless.

Beckley’s Best Blends website

Ecwid has allowed us to manage our store from the road, and because we travel a lot, that is huge for us! Using Ecwid is also an intuitive experience; I don’t have to overthink what I’m doing. We can easily manage everything from the mobile app, including contacting our customers, if needed. There is also the option of live chat — which I LOVE — very efficient.

Customer communication is at the core of our business. Because candles are loved by many, our customer range is broad, but they all love to have fun! We travel around the midwest to art & craft shows, vintage markets, and street fairs. Our motto is 'Lighten up!' and our tagline is 'Get Lit!' We want our customers to have a unique experience when they walk into our booth. We hope to serve as a reminder to not take life so seriously. We know we have succeeded when we hear the laughter erupt! Our mason jar style is so versatile it fits with any decor: farmhouse, vintage, primitive, contemporary, modern, shabby chic.

Marie and Joe’s market booth

Because candles are a sensory experience, and I’m a super extrovert, we prefer to be face-to-face with our customers so we can get to know them. We have a very loyal customer base. Once they’ve had our candles, they are customers for life, so making sure they’re available on the website, is vital, and Ecwid makes that possible.

Our monthly discount for loyal customers is fundamental for reorders. With Ecwid, it’s easy to create the discount coupons and make them specific to our needs. Also, Joe loves the mobile app because he can keep up with orders while we’re traveling and he’s able to work directly from the app in the candle shop — where there is no computer.

Though we love our way of life, running a business may be demanding. One of the biggest challenges we’ve had has been letting go of what’s not working. I’m a creative at heart and am always coming up with new ideas. Thank God Joe is the complete opposite. We balance each other out. Ying-Yang. So, in essence, our biggest challenges have always been to listen to each other and find a solution together. Letting go of the need to be right and putting the customer’s needs first. Being of service always wins.

We’re often asked how we manage to work and live together. That has never been an issue for us; we are rarely apart. We practice what we preach: we look for opportunities to laugh more and lighten up. We’ve learned to listen to each other and have let go of the 'hustle' mentality. Joe is an avid fisherman, and I’m a photographer. We both love the outdoors, and that gets put on the schedule — ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE — when planning our year. PERIOD. Making sure we have time for our hobbies and each other — away from the candle shop — is our top priority. Putting the big rocks in the bucket first is the key to [our] success."

Subscribe to the Ecwid blog to read more stories like this one and get free e-commerce tips for growing your store.

Good news, everyone… now you can connect your Ecwid store with Facebook Messenger live chat! Why should you care? Because it’s currently sitting at the #2 spot for installs on the iOS and Android app charts — right behind the reigning champ, Facebook itself.

1.3 billion people already use Facebook Messenger to communicate with friends and brands. Now you can reach them from your storefront by connecting your own Facebook Messenger live chat right in your Ecwid control panel.

Meet your new Messenger-powered live chat

In this post:

• Why You Should Use Facebook Messenger Live Chat
• How To Connect Facebook Messenger to Ecwid
• How to Use Facebook Messenger Live Chat

Why You Should Use Facebook Messenger Live Chat

Facebook Messenger live chat makes a difference by providing exemplary customer service. It helps you stay in touch with your customers, communicate efficiently, and remind shoppers about offers and discounts.

Messaging creates a personal connection

In our crazy e-comm world, people still like to buy from small businesses, 2-day delivery or not. Why? Because smaller stores offer something unique — quick, personal communication. Meeting and talking to customers where they are creates a personal connection that brings your brand to life.

A store with Facebook Messenger live chat offers opportunities for real conversations that bigger marketplaces and brick-and-mortar stores just can’t or won’t. You get to be their personal shopper in a sense, recommending other items based on their needs, helping them choose the right size or giving them advice on how to use your product.

Dialog with a customer is a base for building long-lasting relationships

People are already using Messenger

The number of Facebook Messenger users is huge — 1.3 billion people use the app each month. Anyone with Facebook page (which is basically everyone) is already on Messenger, so millions of people are communicating through Messenger every day.

The majority of people surveyed say being able to chat with a business helps them feel more confident about a brand — and, ultimately, spending their hard-earned cash on it. And 20 billion messages are already shared between customers and businesses every month!

People love live chats

People love live chats for a number of reasons:

• 44% of people surveyed said that having the ability to talk to a seller in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important services and online store can offer
• 56% of surveyed people would rather message than call customer service
• 51% customers prefer live chat because it allows them to multitask.

Connecting Facebook Messenger to your store allows you to use the app as a live chat which can improve your customer service.

Facebook Messenger live chat is simple to use

There are tons of fancy live chat platforms out there, but if you’re looking for an easy way to talk to your customers without needing a secondary degree in technology, this is the tool for you.

Conversations are saved in Facebook Messenger’s inbox

Imagine if a customer asked you a question in a live chat but you were offline. With Facebook Messenger live chat, the message will pop up once you’re back online so you won’t miss it. Having Facebook Messenger live chat on your platform keeps you in contact with clients no matter when or where they reach out to you — via live chat on your website or in Facebook’s Messenger app itself.

How To Connect Facebook Messenger to Ecwid

Ecwid paid plan users can start to reap the benefits of live chat right away:

1. Go to your Control Panel and open All Sales Channels → Sell with Facebook Messenger.
2. Click "Connect Facebook page" button.
3. Choose a page that you use to communicate with customers and click "Save."
4. Specify your store’s domain and click "Save". This step ensures your store’s domain is whitelisted on your Facebook page. For security reasons, the Messenger plugin works only with those domains that you have whitelisted. To change the store’s domain or add other domains go to your Facebook page → Settings → Messenger Platform → Whitelisted Domains.

That’s it! Now you can chat with customers right from your product pages and keep your sales moving!

You can change the color of the "Message Us" button in your Control Panel

Your customers can also click on the Messenger icon on your storefront:

People will recognize a familiar Messenger icon at once

Both you and your customers will see your chat history in Messenger and in their live chat on your website.

You can answer your clients from desktop or mobile

How to Use Facebook Messenger Live Chat

Facebook Messenger live chat can help you take advantage of instant replies, share your location, and guide your customers to the right products that will ultimately make them happy and encourage positive feedback. To get the most bang for your buck with Facebook Messenger’s live chat, check out the practices below.

Provide real-time customer care

We’ve all been there. You’re browsing an online store and have a question. You don’t understand the sizing. You need more information on warranty, service, installation, care and maintenance, etc. You can’t call because the seller’s in India or there’s no phone number for customer service because it’s a mom-and-pop shop. But, hey! All you have to do is click on Facebook Messenger live chat and voila! A real-time chat and instant customer service…win-win.

Tell clients about discounts and offers in a chat

There are also sensitive purchasing situations where your customer would like more discretionary customer service. Think pharmaceutical cosmetics, lingerie, security products, presents, and the like. Live chat lets them feel more comfortable and allows you — the seller — to relate to them on a personal level.

Remember that customers can see how fast you respond to messages from your Facebook Business Page, so you shouldn’t put off checking your Messenger if you can avoid it. It’s better to answer as soon as possible to keep that "Very responsive to messages" badge and keep customers engaging with your live chat.

It’s encouraging for customers to know that they’re likely to receive answers soon

Set up instant replies, greetings, and away messages

To look more professional and stay efficient, take advantage of the following settings:

• Create a custom Facebook Messenger greeting
• Use "Instant Reply" for situations like letting folks know you’re away

A Messenger greeting is a greeting that people will see the first time they open a conversation with you on Messenger:

You can edit a Messenger greeting as you like

A Facebook Messenger greeting brings your brand and personality to life online. Open your Facebook business page settings, click on the "Messaging" tab, and jump to the "Response Assistant" section. You can write a message up to 160 characters and use the name of your recipient, a Facebook page link, or an address.

Another helpful setting is Instant Reply, an auto-response to the first message someone sends to you:

Instant Reply helps show that you care about your customers

To activate Instant Reply, go to "Inbox" at the top of your Facebook page, then jump to "Automated Responses." You can customize your message to say hello, give more information about your store, or let customers know when to expect a reply.

In the same "Automated Responses" section, you can also turn on an Away Message. People will receive this if they write to you when you’re away and can’t answer immediately:

Away Message notifies customers that you can’t answer right now

To use this feature, you’ll need to set your Facebook page’s messaging status to away. Go to your "Inbox," and in the left column, set your messaging status to "Away." Then jump to the "Automated Responses" section and edit your Away Message. It’s best to let customers know exactly how long you’ll be away and when they can expect your response. You can also add personalization: a name of a recipient, a Facebook page link, or an address.

Create saved replies

Customers often ask similar questions about price, size, or the use of a product. To save yourself time answering these types of messages, you can use "Saved Replies."

A merchant created a Saved Reply that helps customers choose their size

To start using this feature, go to Facebook Messenger and open any chat. Click on the icon with three dots in the bottom of the chat window and choose "Create Saved Reply." Enter a reply title and the message itself. You can add photos or even personalize your messages if you like!

Share locations

Do you offer in-store pickup, sell at street markets, pop-ups, kiosks, etc? Share your location with a customer in seconds to save time texting directions to your shop. Location-sharing makes it easier for customers to find you fast.

Learn more about your customers

Chatting with someone on Facebook Messenger means you can have a look at their Facebook page. It usually contains a lot of useful information on who your customers are — their age, gender, location, interests, life events, and communication style. This makes for a great way to uncover anecdotal insights and communicate to your customers in a more organic way.

Install Facebook Pages Manager app

You can install the Facebook Pages Manager app (iOS, Android) to manage Facebook messages, comments on your posts and Instagram comments in one inbox. The app allows you to see all of your notifications in one place, and you’ll be able to manage your pages and reply to clients without using a computer. This way, you’ll stay in touch with your customers no matter where they leave their questions: in Messenger, on Instagram’s DM, or in comments on your pages.

Facebook Messenger: Stay in Touch and Sell More

If you want to provide premium customer service to your store visitors, add Facebook Messenger live chat to your marketing arsenal and watch your e-comm game go wild. Then when you’re done, come back and tell us about your experience in the comments!

Instagram is doing more than ever for businesses thanks to shoppable posts that allow you to tag your products in photos. Industry experts believe Instagram is destined to become the future of social e-commerce — all you need is the right products to make it your own!

Feeling a bit behind the Instagram trends? Check out 10 of the hottest product categories to make your store irresistible to today’s online shoppers. Remember that to enable Shopping on Instagram, your store needs to be approved for this feature first. To save you time, we’ve chosen only those products that comply with Facebook’s store and product policies.

Wireless Earphones and Earbuds

Wired headphones have gone the way of the gramophone. Since the arrival of AirPods, the menagerie of wireless earphones and earbuds options has skyrocketed. Chances are good you’ve got at least one pair of the things lying around somewhere yourself. While wireless earbud and earphone brands are definitely on an upward trend, the market isn’t quite to the point of oversaturation… yet. So jump on the trend while it’s hot, and get those little money-makers on your Instagram.

@sennheiser shares a picture of their product in use with a branded hashtag #MOMENTUMTrueWireless

Skincare Products

The fountain of youth. Beauty and skincare has always been one of the most dominant markets on Instagram. And beauty products like facial rollers and Vitamin C serums are leading the charge. Products infused with buzzy 100% natural skincare ingredients like bakuchiol (‘back-uh-heel’) top the list by offering the same benefits as retinol products without the harsh side effects. Vegan and cruelty-free products are also heavy-hitters over the mass-produced big box brands we’ve grown to hate. Because when you’re talking about your face, pampering is the name of the game.

If you sell trending skin care products, it’s time to shout it from the rooftop of your Instagram store…

Combine products with accessories to create a beautiful flat lay, like @skincare

Vegan Keto Products

Speaking of vegan…mash it up with Keto and you’ve got yourself a real power couple. The number of vegans is growing, and keto diet doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. So vegan keto foods will definitely earn you some brownie points on Instagram — not to mention a few greenbacks.

And don’t forget, Instagram is the land of #foodporn and foodies; make those product shots sparkle and the Instagram world will thank you.

Share vegan-keto recipes with your followers, just like @ethicallyenhanced

Oat Milk

A lot of folks out there are looking for a more conscious and sustainable way of living. This shift is obviously affecting the way people shop, and one trend to take note of in particular is the rise of alternative milk products. (Talk about a conversation starter.) Oat milk is one of the most popular and affordable plant-based milks on the market right now and a shoe-in for the Instagram trend-wagon.

Lifestyle images fit well in Instagram feeds selling oat milk (Image: @made_by_land)

Satin Dresses

Satin dresses are back with a vengeance. Beauty, fashion, and lifestyle are the cornerstones of Instagram’s success, so apparel products are a no-brainer for Instagram. And just a little research will reveal that satin dresses are at the top of the shopping list for Instagram’s budding fashionistas. If apparel’s your thing, do some digging of your own to find out what else is trending — you might just have a winning ticket in your product catalog already.

@asos posts photos of customers modeling their latest purchases

Chunky Sneakers

Love it or hate it, chunky is in. Big-soled shoes are dominating Instagram stores. Louis Vuitton Arclight. Gucci Flashtrek. Balenciaga Track. These styles are lighting up e-commerce, and Instagram is the perfect place for a showcase.

Eye-catching product photography from @koio

Sustainable Fashion

Fashion is always top of mind on Instagram. That’s for sure. But social context is also becoming increasingly important. Most of today’s social movement centers around the idea of environmental impact, and eco-conscious fashion is the collision of those two values. Recycled materials, repurposed textiles, faux fur, vegan leathers, industrial hemp… if you’re making use of eco-conscious production practices, Instagram users are primed to reward you.

@pursuitswimwear sells swimsuits made from regenerated ocean waste

Kombucha

No real news here…Kombucha is the golden goose of the beverage world. Gut health has become increasingly buzzy over the last several years, and Kombucha appears to be the intestine’s new best friend. Given that the best-selling Instagram products are generally related to health and fitness, it’s no wonder that Kombucha has been welcomed with open arms. Moreover, it responds to an increasing demand for natural products with additional benefits. If you produce any naturally fermented food or drinks, take good note of their rising popularity, and act accordingly.

Trending Instagram products call for vivid photography (Image: @mywonderbrew)

Wigs

Strange as it seems, wigs are enjoying the Instagram spotlight. Celebrities like Cardi B, Kylie Jenner, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry are popularizing the traditionally niche product as a means of experimenting with new and elaborate style choices. Fantastical or natural, wigs have become a stylish accessory, with an Instagram search of #wig prompting more than six million results.

@kyliejenner and many other celebs are rocking the wig look

Reusable Bags

Like we said, eco-conscious is in. And there’s no retail shift more prominent than the reusable bag. Reusable bags are an easy way to live out the eco-friendly lifestyle, and shoppers are looking to Instagram for fun, affordable reusable bags that reflect their personalities and ideals. Totes, produce and grocery bags, bulk bags, food bags, bags for snacks. Whatever. Opt for the bags that offer added benefits like being machine washable when the salsa explodes, and you’ll be in business.

Reusable pouches are great for kids’ food (Image: @squizpouch_en)

Follow the Trends Friends!

The best product to sell online is the one that fits the latest trends. So make Google Trends your friend, and be ready to slide products in and out of your store when sales begin to slow. Here are some Instagram stats to keep in mind:

• 71% of Instagrams one billion active users are under the age of 35
• Instagram’s biggest markets include beauty, health and fitness, travel, fashion, lifestyle, business, and animals
• Consumers prefer authentic images (#nofilter is among the top 100 Instagram hashtags), so avoid using photos that have been heavily staged

Got a great product? Check. Got an Instagram store? Check. Got a grip on what’s trending? Check. Now all that’s left is to shake up your Instagram store, and start raking in some sales.

Already tested and identified your most lucrative Instagram products? Drop a line in our comments section to let us know!

As you’ve (maybe) already heard, this month Ecwid celebrates its 10th birthday! We’ve come a long way — from humble beginnings as a tiny e-commerce widget to a seriously impressive omnichannel e-commerce platform, supporting 10+ ways to sell online and helping over 1.5 million merchants begin their small business journeys.

To celebrate the big day together, we decided to share some of your stories — successes, challenges, and where your amazing ideas began — starting, of course, with those merchants who’ve been with us from the very beginning. If you’d like to join the celebration by sharing your journey, shoot us a message at blog@ecwid.com!

This week, we bring you stationery queen Kelly Hughes, owner of Kelly Hughes Designs. Find out how Kelly’s obsession with paper, art, and color inspired a boutique brand that started as a small collection of notecard designs and grew into a thriving retail and wholesale business.

Kelly Hughes at National Stationery Show (Image: @kellyhughesdesigns)

Kelly Hughes, Kelly Hughes Designs:

"I started my business in 2003. I knew I wanted to have a creative business of my own — I always had a love for paper and knew it was something that I would enjoy. I started with a small collection of notecard designs that I sold at local craft fairs and markets. In 2005, I attended my first National Stationery Show in NYC and began a successful venture in the wholesale business. The launch was so much more successful than I anticipated — and the first major milestone in my business. We picked up a lot of customers at that show and still work with many of them today!

The second landmark for me was the launch of our Tabletop Collection for kids in 2007. It was one of the first of its kind in the stationery and gift market and remains the bread and butter of our business.

Personalized kids tabletop from Kelly Hughes Designs

The business continued to grow, and the third major milestone happened in 2014. It was the shift to utilizing fulfillment companies, which allowed me to refocus my efforts on design, marketing, and direct-to-consumer sales.

However, every business has its ups and downs. I think for me, the biggest challenge was getting through the tough economy from 2009 to 2011, combined with the shift to everything going digital. Many of our small brick-and-mortar wholesale customers struggled during this time and closed their stores. But I learned to scale back and stick through a tough time, which made us stronger in the end.

Kelly Hughes Designs at National Stationery Show 2019 (Image: @kellyhughesdesigns)

As my business grew and changed, so did my team. It’s had many versions over the past 15 years. Back in the beginning days of producing all of our products in-house, we had a full production and shipping team on staff. As my business has evolved over the years, I’ve outsourced much of our production, which has allowed me more flexibility in my work hours and location.

Customers say our line just makes them feel 'happy.'

No matter what changes we faced, our customers were always pleased with our products. My customers are mostly women who love our colorful and whimsical designs. Moms and grandmothers, in particular, adore our tabletop collection, blankets, and stationery for their little ones. And our modern stationery collection offers brightly colored monograms for those who keep up with the tradition of writing letters. Customers say our line just makes them feel 'happy.'

Monogrammed lucite trays are one of Kelly’s most popular items

Ecwid helps keep our customers happy too. We chose Ecwid for its capability to easily personalize products and use our storefront on multiple URLs, which allowed me to have a retail and a wholesale website. And the best part is that Ecwid makes it easy to manage both. The order management system helps keep me organized and my customers up-to-date on the status of their orders. And the product details allow me to offer customization options to my customers, which is a necessity for my personalized products.

With Ecwid, I was able to easily set up a secondary website to sell products directly to consumers — which contributed to a 20% growth in overall sales over two years. That’s pretty huge for a small business like mine. And that happened with minimal marketing and promotion, so there’s still a huge opportunity for growth to be had with this portion of my business.

A baby gift from Kelly Hughes Designs

At this point, I promote my store through social media (Instagram/Facebook), scheduled customer emails, and paid Facebook advertising — all through Ecwid’s platform. And I’ve seen the biggest increase in sales from email collection and regular communication. I email my customer list on a weekly basis to communicate new products and promotions. It’s just a simple reminder that we’re still here when they’re ready to shop!

My formula for success is to stay current and communicate.

Over the years, I’ve found my formula for success is to stay current and communicate. We stay in touch with customers on a regular basis and keep our social media updated, and I update our designs and our website yearly to offer our customers something fresh and new. You have to constantly be putting yourself out there, so your customers don’t forget that you’re there."

Subscribe to the Ecwid blog to read more inspiring stories like this one and get free e-commerce tips for growing your store. If you’d like to join the celebration by sharing your journey, shoot us a message at blog@ecwid.com!

It’s true that practice makes perfect (or at least a pretty close approximation to it). But if you aren’t getting good feedback, how will you ever know what to practice? A while back, we asked some of our Ecwid merchants what they’d change about their Ecwid stores, and you had some great ideas. Then we did some practicing of our own, and applied those ideas to our recent product updates.

If you’ve been following our blog updates, you’ve probably already seen how we improved order management in the Ecwid Control Panel. Now we’ve taken our revisionist approach to your store’s most important asset — your products. Read on to find out how our latest updates make uploading, editing, and managing your products even easier.

Apply Filter Presets to Products

Wanna navigate your products even faster? Now you can apply filter presets to your products, like "Out of stock," "Disabled," or "Displayed on storefront." You can also create and save a custom filter, like all products of a certain category: just click "Save filter" after you apply it, and you’re ready to go.

Auto-Apply Your Latest Filter

Ever spent hours scouring for something on a website, only to need that exact same thing again later? Now, if you apply a filter once and then leave the page, that filter will be saved until the next time you open the Products tab. We’ll even remember how you sorted your products (by name, SKU, or date), so when you open that page the next time, they’ll be displayed in the same way.

Quickly Duplicate Products

Sometimes it’s easier to add a new product by duplicating an existing one, for example, when the two items are similar, like two different pairs of sneakers. If you find yourself regularly selling similar products, this feature will be especially helpful for you. Just choose "Duplicate" from the item’s drop-down menu on the Products page — you don’t even have to open the product.

Link Related Products with a Click

The "Related products" block shows customers other items they might be interested in based on the product they’re currently viewing. For example, if you’re selling a hat that would look good with a particular coat you’re also selling, you can link the two products so that the hat is promoted in the Related products section for the coat and vice versa. Now you can easily link products with the check of a box.

Save Changes Faster

Last but not least: a faster "Save" bar. Save your changes faster, so you can get back to editing quickly without the anxiety of losing your progress.

At Ecwid, we’re always testing and improving. If you think you have an idea to make Ecwid better, let us know in the comments. The next update could be yours!

Did you know, the first item ever to be listed on eBay was a broken laser pointer — and believe it or not, it sold. Well, eBay has come a long way since then, reaching 182 million active buyers worldwide in 2019. New and used, ordinary and unusual, collectible and… whatever the opposite of collectible is – if you want it, someone somewhere is probably selling it on eBay.

If you’ve been thinking about expanding your audience or testing new ways to sell online, it might be time to take a closer look at selling on eBay. But before you run off and list your first item, let’s dive into some of the specifics of the platform. In this blog, you’ll learn what makes a good listing, how to attract customers, and how to sell on eBay with Ecwid E-commerce.

In this article:

• What Sells Best on eBay
• Tips for Selling on eBay
• How to Sell on eBay with Ecwid
• Sell on Amazon vs Sell on eBay

What Sells Best on eBay

There are roughly 25 million sellers on eBay, selling over 1.1 billion live listings. Now, you might be asking yourself, "If there are already so many listings and sellers, should I bother competing with them? How do I even know what to sell on eBay?" To answer those questions, let’s take a closer look at this marketplace and the items that sell best on it.

eBay growth, 2010-2019 (Statista)

The most crowded eBay markets are in the US, the UK, Germany, and Australia. These sites have the largest sell-through rate — which indicates how many listings generated at least one sale.

Sell-through rates from the US, the UK, Germany, and Australia (Title Builder)

Before you create an account, check out the top selling items on eBay. An infographic from Title Builder based on research into eBay US, eBay UK, eBay Germany, and eBay Australia, offers the following:

Categories with a high sell-through rate:

• Diabetic test strips
• Fitness activity trackers
• Apple laptops
• Video game consoles.

Categories with the most sold items:

• Necklaces and pendants
• Clothing — women’s dresses
• PC and console video games
• DVD and Blu-Ray discs.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t go on eBay if you don’t sell fitness trackers or dresses. But, doing your research is important. Goofbid’s eBay Pulse and eBay Most Popular tools can help you find eBay’s most popular search terms and items and decide if you’ve got products that might sell well on the platform.

You can also check out more niche category lists of what sells on eBay. For example, WebRetailer analyzed categories that mainly included mass-produced products that are sold new and at a fixed price. Among other things, they found that the most popular category under Baby Products is Developmental Baby Toys, while the best selling product in Men’s T-shirts is the Ralph Lauren crew neck polo t-shirt.

More:

• How To Find Trending Products To Sell Online
• 10 Simple Hobbies That Can Make You Money Online

While eBay may be a crowded marketplace, it excels at helping sellers of niche and rare products connect with their fans. But that doesn’t mean eBay is right for you. Do your research and experiment with a variety of different ways of selling to find out where your customers are.

Dominique Frossard, an eBay seller of vintage Jeep Cherokee parts, underscores one of the biggest advantages of the marketplace:

The buyer’s attention is limited to the product they are looking for. Branding and design are not in the focus. A teenager can sell his radio at the same level as the professional business. — Dominique Frossard, the owner of JeepCherokeeChief store.

Dominique Frossard from JeepCherokeeChief

Learn more about selling on eBay in his story: Driving Traffic: How a Vintage Jeep Parts Seller Got +300% Sales Going to eBay

Tips for Selling on eBay

Each marketplace has its own unique idiosyncrasies that influence the way people buy and sell there. Understanding these nuances will help you decide how to start selling on eBay — and how to excel at it.

Buy first, sell later

How should you start selling on eBay? eBay uses a unique bidding/direct-buy system to facilitate positive transactions for both buyer and seller. So, if you’ve never used eBay before, a good place to start is to try buying something yourself. This will give you a chance to see how eBay works (bidding, Buy-It-Now options, reviews, etc.), and make you better equipped to set a reasonable starting price in light of eBay’s unique system.

Buying before you sell will also give you an opportunity to build up your feedback rating. Few shoppers trust a seller without an established feedback rating, so maintaining a high rating will be one of your goals when selling on eBay. eBay rewards sellers with high ratings in the following ways:

• Higher placement in search results
• A "Top Rated Plus" seal in the listing description and search results
• Discounted final value fees.

Choose your format

The key differentiator for selling on eBay is the ability to choose one of two listing formats:

• Auction-style. You choose a starting price, and your customers place bids from there. When the auction ends, the highest bidder buys the product at the final bid price.
• Buy-It-Now. This format is used for fixed-price listings. Your customers know the exact price of your product and can purchase it immediately. No bidding required.

You’re free to select a single format or list using both. Adding a Buy-It-Now option to an auction-style listing allows your customers to either purchase your product immediately for a fixed price or place a bid in hopes of a better deal.

An example of an auction-style listing

You can also allow "offers" on your items, which permits customers to make a private offer for your product in an attempt to close the auction early. In response, you’ll be able to either accept if you’re content with the offered price, decline and let the auction run its course, or make a counter-offer for a better price.

One thing eBay isn’t short on is options, so be willing to experiment to find the selling strategy that works best for you.

Make a good eBay listing

The best products to sell on eBay are the ones with clear, attractive listings. Here are the must-haves:

• Upload high-quality pictures with good lighting, so that buyers can see exactly what they’re getting. The background should be clean and neutral, with nothing in-frame that could distract from the product.
• Write detailed product descriptions, including the make, model number, size, color, unique qualities, brand names, styles, and product identifiers. Provide as many accurate recommended item specifics as possible.
• If you sell used items, make sure to list any flaws or potential shortcomings upfront. Buyers don’t like to be surprised, and a not-as-described product could result in a return, a bad feedback score, or even penalties to your account.

Detailed descriptions help shoppers find your products, and give you more accurate pricing guidance as you create your listings.

An example of a detailed item description

Price competitively

On eBay, price affects more than how much your item sells for — it affects your item’s visibility in searches and, oftentimes, whether it sells at all. So first, you’ll need to determine your product’s value. The eBay marketplace is massive, so there’s a high probability that someone has sold something similar to — or exactly like — your product in the past. Discover what buyers have paid in the past, and that should give you a good idea of where to set your own price. To do this, search for products like yours in the eBay search bar using Advanced Search and selecting "Sold Listings."

To increase search visibility, you can price auction items low. At the same time, it’s a good idea to set a reserve price (the lowest price you’re willing to accept) to protect from selling your product for less than you think it’s worth.

If you sell items with barcodes, you can use a barcode scanner on the eBay app to get a quick idea of a product’s value. Scan the barcodes on your items, and the app will list identical products for sale. Then apply the "sold items" filter to see how much similar items sold for. If your items don’t have barcodes, you can take a picture of the product, and the app will find similar items based on that image.

You can also select "sell one like this" right in the app, and eBay will add the product information it has in its catalog for similar products.

More: Price Wars: What to Do If Your Competitors Reduce the Price

Understand selling fees

eBay charges two main types of selling fees:

• An insertion fee when you create your listing. You get up to 50 free listings every month, and after that, the fee for listing in most categories is $0.35.
• A final value fee when your product sells. It’s a percentage of an item’s total sale price, which is usually about 10% for most sellers.

Fees may vary depending on categories. For example, fees on motor vehicles, real estate, and select business and industrial items will differ from fees on books or musical instruments. Read eBay’s guide on selling fees to learn more.

Learn eBay abbreviations

Use common abbreviations to add extra information into your item titles without exceeding the character limit. But not too many, or your titles and descriptions may end up looking like a bland alphabet soup.

Here are some common abbreviations:

• BN: Brand new
• BNWT: Brand new with tags
• BNIB: Brand new in box
• BIN: Buy it now
• VGC: Very good condition
• NWOT: New without tags
• NWOB: New without box
• HTF: Hard to find
• NR: No reserve
• VTG: Vintage

Check buyer’s profiles before sending an item

To protect yourself from fraudsters, always study the buyer’s profile before sending your product. It’s also a good idea to request a signature to confirm delivery of your package for transactions over $750. If you sell expensive items, you may also shoot a video of yourself packaging and shipping the item. If a person claims they received an empty box, you’ll be able to win the chargeback dispute.

Offer a good return policy

Even if it’s the best product on eBay, buyers expect to be able to return a purchase if they don’t like it. So in order to have a good reputation, you need to have a clear return policy. If buyers know what to expect on the frontend, they’ll be less likely to file complaints later on.

Don’t hesitate to make your return policy generous. You’ll attract more customers if they know they can send back an item if there’s a problem with it. However, more confident customers isn’t the only reason to offer an appealing return policy: it’s also one of the factors in eBay’s Best Match algorithm for ranking search results. Simply speaking, the algorithm favors sellers with generous return policies. So, if you want your products to appear more in eBay’s search results, offer a generous return policy.

Prevent returns

Preventing returns is essential to maintaining a store on eBay. Returns are connected to your seller rating, your feedback score, AND your performance status, all of which are watched closely by eBay. If you have unresolved buyer returns, your scores may be lowered, which limits your ability to sell and could even result in harsher restrictions from eBay.

That’s why it’s critically important to write detailed and precise descriptions and take the best possible pictures of your products. Packaging and shipping are also vital in preventing returns. Always double-check that you’re shipping the exact product a buyer ordered. Carefully inspect the item to ensure it’s as-described, then make sure you package it in the most secure way possible. Use wrapping paper, bubble wrap, pool noodles, or packing peanuts if a product is fragile.

Become a Top Rated Seller

eBay divides sellers into various levels depending on their customer service, sales history, transaction defect rate, confirmed tracking and delivery performance, number of delayed shipments, and number of cases that are closed without seller resolution.

Top Rated Sellers are visible in search results

Based on how a seller is rated, they may be assigned to the following levels:

• Top Rated — the best sellers on eBay, these sellers provide exceptional customer service, as well as meeting minimum sales requirements for this level. These sellers are also eligible for Top Rated Plus listing benefits if they meet the listing qualifications.
• Above Standard — sellers who meet eBay’s minimum standard for sellers, and provide good customer service.
• Below Standard — sellers who don’t meet one or more of eBay’s minimum requirements for customer service quality. A seller is considered Below Standard when their defect rate is above 2% or they have more than 0.3% of cases closed without seller resolution.

eBay takes performance standards seriously. Falling below standard will, at a minimum, result in your listings ranking lower in search results. In the worst cases, eBay may place sales restrictions on your account, making it difficult at best — and in some cases completely impossible — to do business on the platform.

How can I become a Top Rated Seller?
A merchant who meets the following requirements is categorized as a Top Rated Seller:

• eBay account has been active for at least 90 days
• Has completed at least 100 transactions and $1,000 in sales with US buyers over the past 12 months
• Complies with eBay’s selling practices policy
• Meets all requirements for transaction defect rate, cases closed without seller resolution, and late shipment rate.

In a nutshell, you’ll need to provide excellent customer service, minimize late shipments, and be ready to cancel purchases when necessary (for example, when you don’t have the advertised item in stock). Use shipment tracking when possible to keep buyers updated, respond to all buyer requests promptly, and always ask shoppers to leave feedback if they’re satisfied with their purchase. For more detailed requirements on becoming a Top Rated Seller, check out eBay’s guidelines.

How to Sell on eBay with Ecwid

Attracting new customers at the lowest cost is the key to efficiently growing any business. Omnichannel selling makes that possible by allowing you to open additional sales channels from a single centralized inventory management system. With Ecwid E-commerce, you can add your store to as many sites, blogs, marketplaces, and social media pages as you want, and manage them all from your Ecwid Control Panel. Sell on channels like Facebook, Google Shopping, Instagram, Amazon, and more — all you’ve gotta do is log in.

Traditionally, selling your products on multiple online channels meant re-creating your product listings on each of those channels individually. It was time consuming. It was tedious. And what was worse, it put you at risk of overselling stock because you were managing multiple un-synced inventories.

In a word… it sucked.

Ready to start Selling on eBay? No prob. One of the largest marketplaces in the world is available in just a few clicks if you’re an Ecwid merchant. There are two easy ways to add your products to eBay — the Codisto.LINQ and Trimpo apps available in the Ecwid App Market. Automatically publish new products, update inventory, and sync sales, with eBay acting as an additional storefront seamlessly integrated with your Ecwid store.

Once you’ve selected your app, simply choose products from your Ecwid catalog that you’d like to list, and voilà: your products are instantly available for millions of buyers across eBay. Your app will upload product pictures, descriptions, prices, and inventory levels right into the platform.

Compare Codisto.LINQ and Trimpo apps

Before you can start selling on eBay from your Ecwid product catalog, you’ll need to select an app. So, what’s the difference between Codisto.LINQ and Trimpo, and which one is the right choice for you? Let’s compare them.

Related: How to Sell on Google Shopping: A Beginner’s Guide

Take a moment to determine the app capabilities or features that are most important for your business, then select accordingly.

Sell on Amazon VS Sell on eBay

When you think of marketplaces, two giants come to mind — Amazon and eBay. If you’re considering experimenting with selling on a marketplace, you may wonder which of these two behemoths is the best place to start. The answer is, "it depends." Keep in mind, shoppers often choose eBay for second-hand items, so if you sell something like vintage clothing, eBay is probably a clear winner for you. And eBay’s auction model offers opportunities for competitive pricing beyond what’s generally possible on Amazon.

Benefits of selling on eBay:

• Less competition. eBay has a lot of sellers for sure, but the majority are very low volume. When you encounter competition for your products on eBay, it’s far more likely to be from a seller with a one-off item versus an established competitor, so it will be much easier to carve out a niche for yourself.
• Cheaper advertising costs. On both platforms, you’ll need to pay to have your listings appear at the top of search results. However, Amazon sellers rely more heavily on advertising to close sales due to high competition volume, while many eBay sellers can still move products efficiently without the use of promoted listings.
• More possibilities for branding.On Amazon, the customer belongs to the platform, not the individual store. As a result, Amazon hides all customer data from the seller and severely limits seller branding on products and pages. On eBay, sellers are given free access to their buyers’ email address, and are invited to brand their stores and listings to promote their businesses.
• Lower fees. Where eBay charges a final value fee of 10%, Amazon charges at least 15%. eBay also doesn’t charge closing fees, while Amazon will impose a closing fee depending on the product.

While there are tremendous benefits to selling on eBay over Amazon, it doesn’t mean it’s a clear-cut winner for your store. Generally, eBay offers more freedom to sellers at a lower cost. But with Amazon’s increased cost also comes with some increased marketing value. Different products sell better on different platforms, and we recommend you do your own research before making a decision. Whatever you choose, if you sell your products on Ecwid, we’ve got you covered.

More: How to Sell on Amazon from Your Ecwid Store

Over to You

Now that you understand selling on eBay a bit better, are you ready to give it a try? Maybe you’d rather sell on Amazon, Facebook, or stick to your own branded e-commerce website? Let us know in the comments!

The new iOS 13 was released at the end of September, and we updated our Ecwid E-commerce app shortly after (yep, we’ve got Dark Mode). But the most exciting development is the introduction of our revamped push-notifications — an informative and oh-so-convenient way to get updates and info about your store.

New Push-Notifications for Orders

Old push notifications only provided updates about new orders. With new push notifications, we show you all the important information:

Get more details at a glance: what customers purchased, how much it cost, and if they completed their payment.

Order notifications will show the:

• Order number
• Order total purchase sum
• Order status (paid or awaiting payment and the time of in-store pick-up if applicable)
• Number of items in the order, their titles, and a product photo (if order is limited to one product)

Notifications help you plan your work: does it need immediate attention, or can it wait? If an order is awaiting payment and you only ship items after they’re paid for, then there’s no need to rush. If a customer selected in-store pickup and they might be there soon, it’s probably time to start packing a product.

Check out order details without opening the app — simply press and hold the notification for expanded order information.

You’ll see the list of items ordered, information about the customer, and the shipping address — basically everything you need to know, right at a glance without ever opening the app.

Set a unique notification sound — a signal from space, the sound of an opening cash register… the choice is yours. With a unique notification sound, you’ll be able to easily distinguish an order notification from your other messages.

To change your notification sound, open the app then go to Store → Settings → Notifications, and choose the sound that’s right for you.

iOS 13 Support and Dark Mode

If you use your cellphone a lot at night, Dark Mode can help you avoid straining your eyes or bothering the people around you with a light that’s too bright. And as a nice bonus, Dark Mode also saves battery power on iPhones with OLED displays (X, XS, and 11 Pro).

Once Apple added Dark Mode to its iOS interface, popular apps were rushing to get on board. As for us, we’ve been onboard form the beginning. We understand that being a small business owner means sometimes working late. To make your late-night routine more comfortable, we added Dark Mode to the Ecwid E-commerce app. Here’s how it looks:

You can turn on Dark Mode for iOS 13 in your Settings or in the Control Center by holding down on the Brightness indicator. You can also select what times Dark Mode will be active, so you can use it when you want it and not when you don’t.

Have You Tried the Ecwid E-commerce App?

The Ecwid E-commerce app gives you the tools you need to manage your business from anywhere. Besides fulfilling orders and getting real-time notifications, you can add new products, modify inventory, accept payments, and share your products on platforms like Facebook and Instagram — all right in your app. Sell on the go from your smartphone or tablet.

If you have an Android, we’ve got you covered too: download your Ecwid E-commerce app on Google Play.

With the release of our latest iOS 13 update, there’s never been a better time to try the  Ecwid E-commerce app. Check it out now!

As you’ve (maybe) already heard, this month Ecwid celebrates its 10th birthday! We’ve come a long way — from humble beginnings as a tiny e-commerce widget to a seriously impressive omnichannel e-commerce platform, supporting 10+ ways to sell online and helping over 1.5 million merchants begin their small business journeys.

To celebrate the big day together, we decided to share some of your stories — successes, challenges, and where your amazing ideas began. If you’d like to join the celebration by sharing your journey, shoot us a message at blog@ecwid.com!

This week, we present Hilary Jones, lady of The Lady and the Carpenter. Hilary shares the story of how she and her husband launch a successful woodworking business on Ecwid, and what she’s learned along the way.

Previously in the series:

• How a Mobile Candle Store Has Stayed Lit for a Decade
• From Note Card Designs to a Thriving Retail and Wholesale Business

Hilary Jones, Lady & the Carpenter:

"Find the perfect product, sell millions, and live happily ever after. Sounded simple enough. But unsurprisingly, it doesn’t really work out that way. Any successful business has a story of beginnings — a beginning that in reality takes lots of hard work, research, diligence, sacrifice, and a little bit of luck to find the right niche.

Our bread and butter at Lady and the Carpenter is the clothespin. We sell high quality clothespins out of US sourced materials, and over the years, we’ve sold nearly 300,000 of them. Most people give me an odd look when I tell them we sell clothespins. They say something along the lines of, 'No one hangs their clothes anymore! So how do you end up selling so many?' But where some might see an obscure item, we saw potential.

It all started in 2014 when we moved to a new house with a clothesline. I tried out the clothesline on a few larger items; it took about 12 clothespins to hang one comforter, and if my toddler touched it, it would snap off and fall in the grass. It was frustrating, to put it mildly. I started looking for quality clothespins online—thinking they would be easy enough to find—but in all my searching, I only found one company… and it had a waiting list! That got me thinking.

My husband loved woodworking but pursuing a career in full-time woodworking while supporting a family had always seemed like a pipe dream. Seeing a need with some potential, I talked him into trying to make clothespins. We found a resource with basic information on making clothespin and tried it out. And wouldn’t you know it, they were wonderful!

Not knowing if it would even be successful, we established our business Lady and the Carpenter and branded our clothespins 'Kevin’s Quality Clothespins.' Kevin continued working full-time while making clothespins in his off-hours. Those first two years, we sold so many clothespins, there wasn’t enough time in the day to even consider making anything else. At some points, it was completely overwhelming.

After those first two years, we made a huge decision. We took a leap of faith and Kevin became a full-time woodworker. That was two and a half years ago. Today, our store has over 70 products, including 3D wood art, cutting boards, French rolling pins, toys, cribbage boards, and more… But the humble clothespin is still our bread and butter. We’ve sold over 300,000 clothespins since we opened our shop, and it’s still going strong.

We’ve survived the early days of starting a business, but there’s still plenty of journeys left ahead of us. One of our next big goals is to find a few other products that sell as well online as our clothespins. But whatever happens, we’re excited to see how far we’ve come. I still remember how thrilled we were to get that first sample clothespin order.

What We’ve Learned Since Starting Our Business

Your product should fill a real need or want for your audience

To the customers who need our product, each clothespin is a treasure. Your product doesn’t need to meet everyone’s needs, as long as it’s just the right product for someone.

Find people who share your passion

At the beginning of our journey, we asked several bloggers who promote simple living to review our clothespins. We sent them free products, and several of them came through with reviews. Not only did that help us get our name out during our early days, but it also created some great backlinks to our then unknown store.

Talk to your customers

You may have a great idea, but don’t hold it too tightly. Talk to your customers. Find out what they want. What do they like about your product? What do they not? What else do they like related to your product? Kevin’s Quality Clothespins went through several design changes in response to our customer’s input.

We also have a couple of other products that were customer requests, like our large playing card holders.

We designed the first one for a woman whose son had epilepsy; he had a hard time playing cards and needed more space for putting cards in the slots. Since then, it’s been added to our permanent product catalog.

Set long-term goals

It’s easy to be short-sighted when life gets hectic. Don’t be. Make long-term goals, post them where you can see them, and review them often. What do you want the business to look like in 5 years? 10 years? Adjust your goals as needed. Those goals help keep your vision alive, even when you’re struggling in the short-term.

Find technology to support your business

Whether it be Amazon, Instagram, or an online store, always make sure you’re staying connected with technology trends. Online marketplaces like Amazon will often update how they do things. Keep up with those changes and learn how they affect your sales. We switched to Ecwid because our old e-commerce provider wasn’t optimized for Google’s search engine. That’s vitally important in today’s online market. Ecwid solved our SEO problems and offers reliable customer service when we need it.

You won’t always be doing what you love most about the business

Accounting, building websites, learning about SEO… these aren’t things we love, but it comes with the territory. Those boring or uninteresting tasks give you the chance to do the tasks you really enjoy.

It isn’t always easy… but if you’re doing something you love, it’s worth it!

Owning a business isn’t always easy. If it was, everyone would do it. Equipment breaks, suppliers cause unforeseen delays, customers get cranky (cause no matter how amazing you are, you will never make everyone happy), and all the while, you’re still dealing with normal life. But ask yourself, 'Is what I’m doing now better than what I was doing before?' And if the answer is 'yes,' press on!

Whether you business is in its baby steps or well established, stick with it. If owning your own business was easy, everyone would do it. Put in the heavy time investment in order to risk success and when the time comes to make those leaps of faith. Be brave and pursue your passion.

Come join the adventure. Click to see how Lady and the Carpenter has grown.

Amazon is a big fish, but Ecwid E-commerce has just the right tackle. Now you can sell across the US on the world’s largest marketplace with our brand-new Amazon integration. Seamlessly upload your Ecwid product catalog directly to Amazon — no apps or double-duty required. With this latest upgrade, we continue our quest to become the easiest way to get your products in front of millions of shoppers on Amazon and beyond.

This newly designed Amazon tool simplifies the connection between Amazon.com and your branded store, making it easier to list your products and sync orders and inventory from your Ecwid Control Panel. On this page, you’ll find everything you need to know to start selling on Amazon with Ecwid.

In this post:

• Why You Should Sell on Amazon in Addition to Your Ecwid Store
• How to Set Up Your Amazon Store from Ecwid
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Helpful Resources for Selling on Amazon
• Other Marketplaces Connected to Your Ecwid Store

Why You Should Sell on Amazon in Addition to Your Ecwid Store

At first sight, large marketplaces like Amazon can seem like the enemy of small e-commerce websites. Trusted reputation, mind-boggling variety, aggressive prices and service, and fast and free shipping. For small businesses trying to make it on the outside, that sounds like an impossible match-up.

But aikido wisdom says that the best battle is the one that didn’t happen. Ecwid makes Amazon your ally by enabling you to integrate your existing online store with Amazon’s platform to help you get the most out of both. Build your brand on a separate e-commerce website while simultaneously making the most of the opportunities afforded by Amazon’s gigantic scale.

• Amazon is unbelievably big. In 2018, its revenue reached $232 billion — that’s an average of $443,000 per minute! Amazon owns 228 million square feet of warehouses, offices, and other facilities — the size of nearly 100 Amsterdams — used to provide their top-tier customer service to almost 200 million customers (on Amazon.com alone).
• People love shopping on Amazon. Amazon excels as a brand discovery tool, with 55% of all product searches beginning on the platform. It offers everything from clothes and smart home gadgets to fresh produce and paper towels.
• Amazon supports small- and medium-sized businesses. More than one million U.S.-based SMBs are already selling on Amazon, with half of all items sold originating from small-to-medium-sized companies.

As a provider of e-commerce technology to small businesses around the world, we wanted to create a tool that could easily empower any small business to become an Amazon seller right from their very first product listing. And now you can do it all, right from your Ecwid Control Panel.

Within Ecwid, you’ll be able to:

• Create a Professional Seller account on Amazon step-by-step with our easy setup wizard
• Connect your online store to your Amazon account
• Upload your products to Amazon
• Keep your inventory in-sync across Amazon and Ecwid
• See orders coming from Amazon in your Ecwid sales dashboard
• Create new listings on Amazon and link them to your online store products.

How to Set Up Selling on Amazon from Ecwid

If you’ve ever tried to create an Amazon Seller account, you know it can be pretty intimidating. We decided to simplify the process. We designed a new setup wizard that’s built to help everyone get it right on their first try, whether they live and breath Amazon or live on the Amazon.

To get started, open the Ecwid Control panel →  All Sales Channels → Amazon.

If your store country is set to US and your currency is US dollars (you can check this under the Settings tab of your Ecwid Control Panel), you can connect to Amazon from Ecwid without any third-party services.

Ecwid won’t leave you alone with the paperwork. Our wizard will help you find answers to your questions and direct you to the easiest way to complete your setup. Simply follow the wizard steps and watch for helpful tips as you progress.

Start by connecting your Amazon Seller Account. If you don’t already have a Seller Account, Ecwid will carefully guide you through the Amazon Seller Account creation and setup:

• Register your brand (if necessary)
• Prepare return policy
• Configure taxes
• Specify shipping rates and options.

Comprehensive setup details in the Ecwid Control Panel

In the future, you’ll be able to access and edit your Seller Account on All Sales Channels → Amazon:

Once you’ve created your Seller account, you’ll be able to list your first product:

• Match your products to an existing Amazon listing or create a new listing
• Choose your pricing strategy (you’ll see the average Amazon prices for items similar to yours).

Setting up Amazon prices in Ecwid

After your products are added, Amazon’s team will review your submissions for compliance. Once Amazon approves, they’ll release your products on their marketplace and you’re free to relax and watch the orders roll in.

And if you do get an order, don’t forget to send it to the customer quickly (within two business days). Amazon keeps an eye on your shipping and can lower your rating — or even ban your account — if you’re continuously late.

FAQ

Can I sell on Amazon with Ecwid if I’m not located in the US?

If you’re located outside the US, you can sell on Amazon from your Ecwid store with the Codisto LINQ app. It supports selling on Amazon in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Australia, Japan, and Indonesia. The Codisto LINQ app is available on Ecwid’s Business and Unlimited plans.

Learn more in our Help Center: Selling on Amazon

How much does it cost to sell on Amazon from Ecwid?

The Amazon integration is included on Business and Unlimited plans, along with other professional features like extended inventory (up to 2,500 products), in-person selling, automated abandoned cart recovery (delivering up to 20% more in sales), and phone support.

Once connected, Amazon charges a flat $40/month for the Seller Account, plus a small fee for each item sold (around 8-15%).

If you’re located outside the US, connecting your Ecwid store to Amazon will also require the use of third-party services, which may require additional cost.

I’ve connected my store to Amazon. What’s next?

It’s important to remember that not every product will sell on Amazon. And the products that sell best can have some pretty steep competition. If you’ve never sold on Amazon and you’re not sure if your products are quite the right fit, it might be a good idea to test your niche first.

Here’s what we suggest:

1. Upload just one product that you think will sell.
2. Set a competitive price that’s a bit lower than average for Amazon. This might not be profitable initially, but it will allow you to evaluate demand for your product or niche within the marketplace.

How do I list one-of-a-kind or handmade products on Amazon?

Handmade products can be listed on Amazon Handmade — a specialized Amazon marketplace like Etsy designed for artisans. Unfortunately, because Amazon doesn’t allow third party integrations with this particular marketplace, it won’t be supported through your Ecwid integration.

If you sell handmade or one-of-a-kind products and would like to sell on Amazon, you can:

• List your products on the regular Amazon US marketplace in a related category
• List your products on Amazon Handmade manually, without the use of an Ecwid integration.

How do I get help?

If you’ve got questions or feedback that hasn’t been addressed in this article, head down to the comment section below! We’ve done a lot to make this integration your favorite Amazon solution, and we’d love to know how we can make it even better!

Helpful Resources for Selling on Amazon

Ecwid’s no stranger to selling on Amazon, and we’ve written some meaty articles over the years to help small businesses be successful. If you’re looking for a little extra help, check out these resources to get some essential wisdom for Amazon beginners:

• How to Sell on Amazon from Your Ecwid Store — a guest blog post from our friends at FeedBackWhiz explaining the differences between marketing on your own website and Amazon.
• Amazon Strategies and Reviews — on this podcast, we discuss building trust with new customers on Amazon.
• Selling on Amazon From Your Online Store — Guest Peter Jeffery of Codisto unveils high-level strategies to help make you successful selling on Amazon.

Other Marketplaces Connected to Your Ecwid Store

While Amazon is never short on opportunities, we’ve integrated with even more marketplaces, like Google Shopping and eBay, to help you get the most out of your online store. Check out the full list in your Control Panel → All Sales Channels.

Your first holiday sale is a lot like a first date: exciting — possibly overwhelming — and it can definitely keep you up at night. "What if my deals aren’t good enough? What if my ads don’t work? What if my products don’t ship on time?"

Holiday sales are intimidating. That’s why we’ve got a few lessons to help you stay cool this holiday sales season — no snow required.

Below are the top 8 most common mistakes merchants make when managing their first holiday sale. Steer clear of these, and you’ll be stuffing your customer’s stockings with shiny new toys in no-time — no chimney break-ins required.

1. Not Enough Inventory

If you’re serious about getting the most from your Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal, make sure you stock up on plenty of products. Otherwise, you may disappoint more than your customers when those "out of stock" messages pop up sooner than anticipated.

It’s hard to estimate at the exact right stock quantities for your first Black Friday sale, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a pretty educated guess. Here’s a method you can use to help calculate your average safety stock level.

(Maximum daily product purchases X maximum time to make product) — (average daily product purchases X average time to make product) = safety stock

For example, maybe you sew handmade tote bags. You sell three bags a day on average and it usually takes you four days to sew one bag (including the time invested to buy fabric). If your supplier runs out of fabric, it takes an additional two business days to get more, making your maximum time to complete one product six days. Last month, you had a special offer for students which increased your order count by one bag per day, making your maximum daily product purchase four.

(4 X 6) – (3 X 4) = 24 – 12 = 12 

This means you need to have twelve bags stocked and available at any one time. This is your safety stock, and it protects you from running out of products if something goes wrong (a supplier isn’t available, you get more orders than anticipated, etc.)

Elizabeth, owner of the Ecwid store Cloud 9 Design, says:

Take stock of your inventory early (ideally around the end of October/early November), and make sure you have enough material and packaging supplies to see you through the holiday season. Don’t forget all the little things you use, such as sticky labels or rolls of packing tape for example — these simple things can easily be forgotten until you run out!

Details matter!

2. Ignoring Shipping Deadlines

Shoppers want their purchases to arrive on time — and that’s doubly-true if they’re shopping for gifts for the holidays. Courier services tend to be overloaded during the holiday season and delivery times often lag the closer it gets to certain holidays.

To avoid customers receiving their new Christmas sweaters on Valentines Day, shipping providers set deadlines for guaranteed on-time delivery. Once the delivery deadline has passed, couriers can no longer guarantee that an order will arrive on time. Make yourself and your customers aware of any deadlines your shipping service may have to set the right expectations and help customers better plan their purchases.

Shipping deadlines in the US for popular providers (source)

3. Spending Advertising Budget Too Fast

Did you know that costs-per-click in Google AdWords and Facebook jump up 2-3x during the holiday season? At that rate, you could easily burn through your advertising budget in the first few days of your campaigns, limiting ad visibility and campaign effectiveness.

Advertising system forecasts predict user-activity based on historical data like average number of searches and clicks over the previous months. These can be misleading stats going into the holiday sales season where consumer behavior is more erratic than previous months.

Instead of looking at data from the last few months, look at data from the previous holiday season. A service like Google Trends can show you how much searches for products like yours grew during the holidays, and the number of clicks and costs will have increased accordingly.

If bidding for search terms makes you uncomfortable or you don’t have time to monitor your campaigns, try Ecwid’s automated advertising solutions for Google Ads.

You can also promote your deals through owned channels like email marketing and contests on social media or use a portion of your budget to participate in an offline holiday market.

If you do place ads on search engines and social networks, target your audience correctly and write creative copy to encourage more clicks.

4. Copying Other Merchants

After a while, holiday promotions can start to feel a little redundant. How many times can you realistically see "50% off! SHOP NOW!!!" before you just stop caring?

You’ll need to get creative if you want to win the attention (and dollars) of holiday shoppers. Here’s an example from AFOUR, where their team posted a cryptic image and asked customers to count how many pairs of shoes they saw:

The correct number turned out to be the discount they received during the sale. This outside-the-box approach turned what would have been just another holiday sale into a game allowing shoppers to engage with the brand and its marketing on a deeper level.

Learn more about gamification on the Ecwid E-commerce Show.

And don’t forget to tailor your messaging for your audience. For example, if you sell shoes and you’re targeting past customers, you can acknowledge their previous experience with your brand by asking them to send a photo in their original pair in exchange for a discount. Whatever you decide, remember to keep the conditions easy and the discount attractive.

5. Discounting the Wrong Product

You may be tempted to use the holiday season to get rid of old products that aren’t selling. But if those products don’t make good gifts, they’re unlikely to work as the backbone of your sale either.

If you really need to clear out unpopular stock, choose a softer strategy, like:

• Offering discounts for popular products, then use the "You May Also Like" section on these product pages to promote the items you’re trying to sell off
• Or combining best-sellers with less popular products in gift sets.

6. Cutting Prices Too Much

Each year, holiday discounts get more aggressive. These price wars can be next-to-impossible to win for small businesses.

Some brands can give their products away for nothing on Black Friday

But if someone throws their products away, that doesn’t mean you should do the same. Profitable discounting is impossible without doing some math.

Check out the table below. Find the gross margin of your product in the left column, then find the column that shows your price decrease. Where the two numbers intersect is a number that shows how many more units you have to sell as a result of a price decrease to maintain the same gross profit.

7. Manipulating Your Prices

Whether it’s a simple mistake or an intentional misdirection, discounted prices aren’t always what they appear. Even big brands have been busted for playing price games with their customers.

Generous discounts at Walmart (source)

Some of the most common price cheats include:

• Raising prices a couple of days before a sale, then cutting them back to the original price with the sale tag.
• Exaggerating a sale: for example, if a sign says "up to 70% off," but the average discount throughout the store is only about 20%.
• Misleading discount terms: for example, a store offers a flat $20 off, but when the customer tries to checkout, they learn that it’s only available with a purchase of $100 or more.

Misleading customers obviously isn’t something we’d recommend trying. You might win a few extra dollars in the short-term, but the risks definitely aren’t worth the reward. The internet never forgets, and if you get caught cheating, it can be difficult to untarnish your brand’s reputation.

8. Not Getting Your Online Store Ready

A good sale can lead to a pretty sizable increase in website traffic — which is a good thing — but it can also bring with it a variety of new challenges you probably don’t encounter in your normal day-to-day, like decreased website load times or even a payment service failure.

So, at a minimum, you’ll want to:

• Optimize product images to speed up website load times.
• Connect additional payment methods in case of service failures.
• Employ an assistant who will answer clients’ questions via chat or over the phone.
• Make sure that your web hosting, domain name, email service, and all other services are paid for in advance to avoid losing access during sale time.

In Short…

The holiday sale is a big project that requires a lot of planning. But even if you plan everything perfectly, that doesn’t mean it will work out that way. Don’t panic. Just roll with the punches, optimize where you can, and remember those lessons for next year.

Elizabeth, Cloud9Design

Elizabeth at Cloud 9 Design advises:

You can even rope your kids into doing some basic prep for you, such as sticking postage labels on all your envelopes, assembling a batch of dispatch boxes, or cutting strips of ribbon to size. Prepare a few standard customer inquiry responses as templates now. It will save so much time being able to reply to emails by simply editing a template rather than starting each response from scratch. It’s surprising how time-consuming these little tasks can be when you have more urgent things that need your attention in the midst of Christmas chaos.

We wish you the best of Black Friday sales. And if you think there’s a pitfall we missed, let us know in the comments!

A staggering 53% of all holiday shopping is expected to happen online in 2019. What’s more, spending is expected to increase by 5% this year over 2018. But promising as these estimates are, increasing shopper intent won’t magically drive shoppers to your online doorstep. To take full advantage of the holiday shopping frenzy (particularly everyone’s favorite almost-holiday Black Friday), you’ll need to have a great holiday marketing plan.

To help you prepare for the rush, we reached out to some of our most successful Ecwid E-commerce merchants to talk about their top seasonal selling tips. Read on for their best Black Friday/Cyber Monday strategies to increase your sales in 2019!

Use Discount Coupons to Test Demand

Drew & Karen Clark, DAK’s Spices:

We love, love, love Ecwid’s coupon codes. We throw out coupons codes in our newsletters, Instagram, and to our social media influencers. Every advertisement, newsletter, post, and influencer has a custom code so we can track and learn what avenues are the most profitable with our holiday gift sets.

Oviedo Salinas, Fleurs Lumiere:

During the holiday season, we love to use the discount codes in Ecwid 2-3 weeks before a specific holiday. We usually use the code before a holiday to boost sales on low peak or non-holiday months. We love to offer our clients a certain percentage off (usually 15%-20% off) any of our products. That usually works really well and is of great benefit to us since we get to see what the holiday peak season has in store for us. We can prepare with extra inventory or staff if needed. It has been a really great tool for us! Plus, we love the extra boost in sales on a non-holiday month!

Customers enter their coupon code at checkout with Fleurs Lumiere

How to create discount coupons in your store:

1. Go to your Control Panel → Marketing → Discount Coupons.
2. Click Add New Coupon and enter a Name for your coupon.
3. Keep the Code generated by Ecwid or type your own code, for example BLACKFRIDAY2019. Try to make your code short and memorable.
4. Select the Discount Type. enter the discount Value, and choose between a percentage (for example, 30% off) or a monetary value (say, $5 off.)
5. Choose what day the coupon will become active and what day the coupon will expire.
6. If the code should apply to specific orders, products, or customers, click No Limits and define the coupon limits.
7. Click Save.

Check out Ecwid Help Center for more details.

Offer a Gift Instead of Discounting

Cedric O. Cobb, Best Wardrobe Solutions:

Many people like to give direct discounts, but I’ve found that a gift with purchase has delivered better results than sales for us here at "Best Wardrobe Solutions." For instance, I offered a free pair of Crazy Socks with purchase, and it was a big hit. To create a Free Gift option, we use the Ecwid store to add an item with a price of $0.00 in a specific product category (i.e. socks) that can be dropped in the cart by customers and can only be added once. We couple that with a widget to create a popup window once the customer has been on our site for at least 10 seconds that says "Drop A Free Pair of Sock in Your Shopping Cart."

Promotional popup on Best Wardrobe Solutions

Gift pair of socks on Best Wardrobe Solutions

How to add a free item that can only be added to a cart one time:

1. Go to Catalog → Products and add a product you want to send as a gift.
2. Set the price to $0.00.
3. Install the Purchase Quantity Limits app.
4. Go to Catalog → Purchase Quantity Limits. You can also open the app in Apps → My apps.
5. Search for the gift product and limit Max Order Quantity to 1.

You can also remove the quantity field in product and cart pages with the help of the code. To do that, check out Ecwid Help Center.

How to do add a popup in your Ecwid store:

1. Install the Easy Popup app.
2. In your Ecwid Control Panel, go to Apps → My apps, find Easy Popup app, and click Open App.
3. Customize your popup: choose a background and template (Promotion), and enter your message and button text. Add a link to your gift product in the Link Main Button to Page field.
4. Add a countdown timer if needed.
5. Customize your tab: tab placement, text size, tab style, etc.
6. Set display options: screen size, display frequency, who will see your popup, when and where to display it, etc.
7. Click Save.

Offer Free Shipping

Drew & Karen Clark, DAK’s Spices:

Customers love gift packs, a deal, and free shipping! We offer several gift sets, but our best holiday special is a 4-pack — pick and choose your favorite spice blends for under $25, plus free shipping! This deal checks all the boxes for our customers. We love how easy it is to set up a gift set special and to let customers pick and choose the blends they want with Ecwid’s checkbox option.

Customers can create their own gift packs on DAK’s Spices

How to add product options in your store:

1. Go to Ecwid Control Panel → Catalog → Products.
2. Open the product page you want to edit.
3. Go to the Options tab.
4. Click +Add New Option.
5. Add the Name of the option, for example, Size.
6. Select the input type — Checkboxes.
7. Click +Add New Value and add all values of the option. Add as many new values as you need, and specify whether or not they affect the base product price.
8. Choose the Default option (if you select Do Not Preselect Default Value, the Default column is hidden).
9. Save your changes.

Check out Ecwid Help Center for more details.

How to add free shipping to your store:

1. Go to your Ecwid Control Panel → Shipping & Pickup.
2. Click Add Shipping Method.
3. Select how you ship your products and click Set Up.
4. Set up Free Shipping or set up Custom Rates. In the latter case, choose how your rates will be calculated.
5. Click Set Delivery Speed and enter the time it takes for orders to arrive when shipped with this method (optional).
6. Click Set Shipping Region to specify the destinations you’ll ship to with this method.
7. Click Save & Finish.

To set up free shipping for a particular item in your store, or to create a discount coupon for free shipping, check out the Ecwid Help Center.

You can also install the Free Shipping Icon app. It’s free and allows you to notify customers right on the product page whenever free shipping is available.

More: 6 Free Shipping Strategies and Their Alternatives

BOGO Promotions

Akilah Scott-Amos, Kissed By A Bee:

It’s a given that during the holidays, you must be ready and fully stocked with products and/or services. However, the best way to boost sales during the holidays, especially Black Friday, is the Buy One Get One Free: Sales Promotion app. It allows you to entice your customers with a free item or a percentage off with other purchases, automatically, or with coupons. It also syncs with Ecwid’s built-in discount coupon feature. This BOGO app takes the guesswork out of offers, especially if you have other people assisting you during the holiday rush!

How to run Buy One Get One Free promotions in your store:

1. Install the BOGO app.
2. Go to Apps → My apps, find the BOGO app, and click Open App.
3. Choose what products your customers will need to purchase to claim their deal.
4. Select the product that will be free if purchased with the first item.
5. Set a 100% discount on the second item.
6. Optional: enable Advanced Options to add a short description about the offer.
7. Click Save.

You can create your BOGO promotion in just a few clicks

Check out the Ecwid Help Center for more info.

You can also run other types of BOGO deals, like "buy three for the price of two" or "buy one and get the second half off." Check out our article on BOGO deals to choose the promotion that’s right for your store.

Recover Abandoned Shoppers

Mark Norman, JustSaiyan Gear:

During the holiday sales season, we use the BOGO app to create unique codes or automated discounts. We also send abandoned cart recovery emails with catchy email subject lines. I would say these Ecwid basics are pure gold.

JustSaiyan also offers a discount in their cart recovery emails

How to send cart recovery emails from your store:

1. Go to your Ecwid Control Panel → My Sales → Abandoned Carts.
2. Change the toggle to Enabled to enable automatic recovery emails.
3. To change the email template, click the blue link or open the Abandoned Cart Recovery template in Settings → Mail.
4. Enter the email subject and default message.
5. Click Save.

More: Abandoned Cart Recovery for Ecwid Stores: Bring Customers Back With Automated Emails

All the tips provided above have proven to be profitable tactics to capitalize on the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping rush. But that doesn’t mean you have to try them all right now.

If it’s your first time promoting your products for the holiday shopping season, try combining just a couple tactics or choose one main offer and go all in. Stick to the tactics that best fit your store: for example, if you sell globally, free shipping might not be the best idea, but a free gift with purchase could be fairly inexpensive. Likewise, if your customers are mostly local, free shipping could be an easy win.

Already tried some of these tactics? What worked best for you? Feel free to share your own sales tips with fellow merchants in the comments!

Global shipping from Australia feels a little like sending a person to Mars — it’s not entirely impossible, but it’s still pretty darn difficult. However, thanks to new technology, there’s a pretty good chance of doing both successfully.

Here at Ecwid, we may not know much about interplanetary travel, but when it comes to shipping, we’ve got some good news. Our integration with Australia Post, the southern continent’s most popular shipping provider, is now rebuilt to make shipping just about anything to just about anywhere easier (off-planet destinations notwithstanding), from a single sheet of paper to a refrigerator box of avocados.

What our revamped Australia Post integration means for you:

• More accurate shipping rates
• 14 supported shipping methods
• Additional shipping options, like signature delivery and extra cover.

Read on to learn how to start using these cool updates in your Ecwid store!

More Accurate Shipping Rates in the New Integration

Finding the right approach to covering shipping expenses can be tricky, especially if you ship worldwide. Unless you decided to include shipping costs in the product price (also known as "free shipping"), you’ll want to charge your customers these expenses at the checkout to stay profitable. Your options are flat fee for every order, custom rates, or, as a more accurate alternative, automated carrier-calculated shipping rates.

An automated rate displays the price for shipping that your shipping provider will charge you when you come to ship the order. It is calculated according to the product dimensions and the distance of shipping. Automated rates allow you to charge your customers an accurate cost of shipping so that they know exactly what they pay for, and you can be sure the charged amount covers your expenses.

Rates are calculated automatically at the checkout

Australia post supports automated shipping rates. We used the latest Australia post API to enable most accurate shipping calculations in your Ecwid store so that you won’t have to worry about gaps between how much you spend on shipping and how much you collect from customers.

Learn how to set up automated shipping rates in our Help Center: Real-time rates from carriers

2X More Automatically Calculated Shipping Methods

This latest Australia Post update doubles the number of shipping methods available for automated rate calculation in Ecwid:

• Standard Parcel Delivery (Parcel Post)
• Next-Day Parcel Delivery (Express Post)
• Same-Day Parcel Delivery (Courier Post)
• Regular Letter
• Priority Letter
• International Economy Parcel (by air or by sea)
• Express Post Letter
• International Standard Parcel
• International Express Parcel
• International Courier Parcel
• International Economy Letter
• International Express Letter
• International Courier Letter
• International Registered Post Letter

Just enable the methods you’ll use to ship your products, and accurate charges will be automatically reflected for your customers at checkout.

Read more about Australia Post shipping methods and their rates on the company’s website.

New Shipping Options Added

Let your customers take advantage of additional shipping services from Australia Post, like:

• Signature on Delivery. Want to confirm exactly when your item gets delivered? Signature on Delivery captures a signature from the recipient once the item has been delivered.
• Extra Cover. For a little extra peace of mind when shipping your products, you can add Extra Cover. This new service provides loss or damage cover up to the specified value of your item (up to $5,000) while it’s being carried by Australia Post.

If you choose to take advantage of these services, you can pass the charges onto your customers to cover your expenses. Simply tick the necessary option on the Australia Post setup page in your Control Panel → Shipping & Pickup to enable it in your store.

How to Connect the Revamped Australia Post Integration

What you’ll need to do to connect your new Australia Post integration will depend on whether or not you’re already using Australia Post in your Ecwid store:

• If you haven’t connected Australia Post before, go to Shipping & Pickup in your Control Panel, select Australia Post from the list of shipping carriers, and follow the steps for set-up.
• If you’ve already connected the old Australia Post integration, simply delete Australia Post from the Shipping & Pickup tab of your Control Panel and add it again. Once re-added, the latest Australia Post integration will be connected by default, including all of the new features mentioned above.

More Shipping Options

E-commerce shipping doesn’t end at connecting one of your local carriers. Customers love choice, especially if you serve different shipping zones.

Going the extra mile with your shipping terms pays off, so enable in-store pickup for local customers, or choose a profitable free shipping strategy for the upcoming holiday season. Whatever your shipping terms, Ecwid’s got you covered.

Every day, a community of thousands of WordPress users from all over the world use their websites to solve problems, raise awareness, build communities, and more. They speak different languages, operate in different industries, and support different causes, but they all have one thing in common — they use the Ecwid plugin to power their e-commerce.

30,000 WordPress users and counting (of Ecwid’s 1.5 million total customers) rely on the Ecwid E-commerce plugin every day to let them sell across their websites. Side-hustlers. Activists. Small business owners of all kinds have turned their passions into full-time careers thanks to the simplicity of Ecwid’s WordPress integration. And that’s something we’re proud of.

Here’s what one WordPress small business, Adams Fairacre Farms, had to say about Ecwid:

Getting our store set up with Ecwid was a fantastic, smooth experience. It was a simple process to plug into our existing WordPress site and we were basically all set.

For years, Ecwid has been transforming the world of WordPress e-commerce. Today, we’d like to shed some light on why we’re so passionate about developing exceptional e-commerce for WordPress, and how we built a WordPress shopping cart that makes selling on one of the world’s best site-builders a dream for small businesses.

Supporting WordPress Small Businesses Since 2009

If you’ve ever considered starting a website, there’s a pretty good chance you’re familiar with the website juggernaut known as WordPress. WordPress is a content management system that’s grown to become the most popular way for businesses, organizations, and non-profits of all sizes to create and manage their websites. In fact, WordPress powers 34.8% of the entire internet! 50,000 plugins and over 3,500 themes allow users to create and modify any type of website, from a blog to an e-commerce site.

WordPress.com became one of Ecwid’s earliest partners when we created the Ecwid Shopping Cart WordPress plugin back in 2009. Since that time, the Ecwid Shopping Cart plugin has been downloaded more than 1 million times.

Fast forward a decade and Ecwid can be seamlessly added to almost any website. But even though we’ve expanded our plugin capabilities, we never stopped developing and optimizing our dedicated WordPress plugin. And just this year, we integrated our plugin with Gutenberg, WordPress’ latest-generation block content editor that hides the code to make it even easier for non-techies to build beautiful and functional web-pages.

As featured on WP Tavern:

It [Ecwid] provides a quick way for a new seller to get everything working without having to do anything besides add the plugin.

Receiving a pat on the back from the WordPress community always means a lot to us. And in December 2018, we received a shoutout from the man himself. Matt Mullenweg, a founding developer of WordPress, took the stage for his annual "State of the Word" talk at WordCamp US. Matt Mullenweg highlighted the Ecwid E-commerce Shopping Cart in his speech and shared a short screencast showing the plugin in action:

Ecwid E-commerce Shopping Cart demo at Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word

"E-commerce has been early adopters of blocks. This is Ecwid Store. By the way, I love that preview. It embeds the entire store right there." — Matt said.

So why does the Ecwid plugin work so well for small businesses? Because, when we designed it, we were a small business too. Being a small business owner means being nimble, budget-minded, and goal-oriented. And our plugin was designed with those ideas in mind.

We may be operating in a couple extra timezones these days, but we’ve never forgotten our start-up roots. And that start-up experience has been driving our mission ever since.

When we started our journey, our plugin was designed by small business, for small business. And our dedicated team is committed to continuing that mission, to make selling across the internet easier for entrepreneurs around the world.

The Ecwid team at CloudFest in Rust, Germany

Getting our priorities straight :)

Just like any team of kindred spirits, we love to socialize

Ecwid E-commerce and WordPress Today

Our continued focus on small business owners combined with 10 years of experience with WordPress has helped us to create a product that meets the core online needs of non-technical entrepreneurs:

• Simple setup and maintenance. Most small business owners will do everything themselves in the early days — that means setting up and maintaining their stores on their own — and not everyone has the time to figure out how to customize every detail of their store. With Ecwid, merchants can set up their own stores on WordPress without any outside help or web development experience.
• Customer support by email, chat, and phone. While some more difficult WordPress e-commerce plugins don’t offer any customer support at all, we’re committed to supporting our merchants and answering questions long after their stores are up and running. We may be designed for easy set-up and customization out-of-the-box, but if you’ve got a question, we’ll be ready with an answer.
• Bank-level security. Ecwid is PCI DSS Level 1 certified, which ensures both merchants and their customers can feel safe about their data.

When you carry the sole responsibility for your business success, you need to be cautious about the services you choose. We’re proud to have earned the trust of 1.5 million small business owners around the world who use Ecwid to sell products on their WordPress websites, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, eBay, and more.

Staying Connected to the WordPress Community

One of the best things about WordPress is the sense of community that’s developed among its users, developers, studios, and fans. And we love staying in touch with that community at WordPress conferences throughout the year. So far this year, we’ve spoken at WordCamp Saint Petersburg, and we just returned from WordCamp US in November where we had a great time hanging out with some of the biggest players in the WordPress world.

If you’d like to connect with us offline, check out one of the upcoming WordPress events near you.

Launching a new small business is tough. And, unfortunately, there’s no magic spell we can offer to make you successful without putting in the work. But what we CAN offer is the support and guidance of an experienced team who understands your needs.

At Ecwid, we’ve already helped more than 1.5 million small business owners begin their e-commerce journeys, and we’d love to be a part of your story as well. So, if you’re new to site-building or e-commerce and want to create your own online store, consider joining the Ecwid ranks. We can’t always promise it’ll be easy, but we’ll have your back every step of the way.

E-commerce is a truly fast-paced industry. So it’s essential that you stay up-to-date and revise your approach as trends continue to change. Let’s look at six e-commerce trends that could be important to your business in 2020, from artificial intelligence to customer service.

1. Artificial Intelligence Moves Into the Mainstream

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the world we live in — and e-commerce sites aren’t exempt from that revolution. As it’s developed, AI has been used to help e-commerce businesses sell, promote, and manage their stores better: like new stock and inventory management tools that can predict when your items will go out of stock.

AI can do wonders for your productivity, alleviating the impact of a wide range of historically time-consuming tasks. For example, Ecwid’s own automated Google advertising tool uses artificial intelligence to optimize your ad budget, freeing you from the cumbersome task of monitoring ad programs and keyword bids. Before automation, running ads required a full-time marketer to prevent over- or under-spending. With automated Google advertising, setting up an ad campaign is easy:

1. Choose your target audience
2. Select the products to advertise
3. Define your daily budget.

After launch, the AI platform learns what ad placements are generating more sales (or whatever positive outcome you’ve defined as success) and bids accordingly. And your hands are free to get back to the business of, well, growing your business.

Not only can tools like these have a powerful impact on your business, but they’re also simpler to work with than you might think. Automated ads software is designed to work seamlessly alongside your current system, so you can get right to work with little-to-no experience. There are a number of great tools available for Ecwid merchants, so it’s not a bad idea to speak with an AI technology provider to get an understanding of which platforms will be most effective for your business.

2. Voice Search Grows in Popularity

Voice search has seen significant growth in recent years with no sign of stopping any time soon. In fact, Comscore predicts that by 2020, 50% of all web searches will be conducted by voice. But what you might not realize is that it’s our old friend AI that’s making this search phenomenon possible.

Voice search struggled for a long time due primarily to the fact that devices failed to recognize speech correctly (pretty mission-critical for an effective voice search). But as voice search applications began to utilize more data, the technology became more useful.

Today, voice search users are even using their devices for online shopping (you can tell where this is going). Check out this research from Google:

As voice search technology continues to advance, it will become more and more necessary to optimize your website for voice search queries, which can be different from typed queries.

Here are the top things to consider when optimizing for voice search:

• Get listed online (if you’re a local business)
• Create content optimized for long-tail keywords
• Use natural language on your website over technical words
• Use structured data markup on Schema.org

For more information on optimizing your website for voice search, check out this article by Single Grain.

Conventional wisdom says that you should work with content specialists with experience writing and creating content for voice search queries. But, as voice search becomes more advanced, it actually puts the onus on companies to create the best possible content.

3. CRO Becomes More Important to SEO

User behavior — which is typically a good indicator of the strength of a website based on link and content interaction — is something that’s been historically absent from Google’s search algorithms. However, an article recently published by Google revealed that the search giant is now using user behavior more directly to place sites in rankings.

Apparently, Google has been testing where sites should be ranked by placing some higher in the rankings and then monitoring how users behave once on the site.

"It makes complete sense," says Justin Aldridge, Technical Director at SEO firm Artemis Marketing. "Say the actual result for a search serves up a website in position four, it may actually be the most relevant result for the query, but the website isn’t necessarily the strongest, meaning that it doesn’t rank higher".

This means that not only how your website is structured, but how it performs will play a large part in where it ultimately ranks within the search results. This puts a new emphasis on investing in conversion rate optimization (CRO) and great content to improve the user experience on your website.

4. Demand for Alternative Customer Service Channels

Customer service has become an important part of successful e-commerce ventures. Customers are more likely to buy from a store that offers responsive customer service and prompt answers to queries than those that don’t. And this trend is poised to continue in 2020 across a wide variety of platforms. If you still consider email and telephone your only means of customer service, it’s time you took a closer look at social media and live chat.

FB Messenger in an Ecwid store

These two channels have become increasingly expected as part of the baseline customer service experience. Strongly consider investing in one or both of these customer service opportunities to remain in-step with the expectations of your customer base.

If you’re not sure which channels to invest in first, ask your current customers to get an understanding of what they feel would be most beneficial.

5. More Abandoned Carts

Abandoned carts are one of the biggest challenges — and opportunities — facing e-commerce businesses. More carts are being abandoned today than ever before, with estimates suggesting the number to be between 50 and 80 percent. With numbers like that, you have the opportunity to literally double the size of your business, just by converting the shoppers who are already visiting your store with clear purchase intent.

E-commerce businesses need to think clearly about what they are going to do. While there are a variety of issues that contribute to cart abandonment, the most common reason is unexpected charges. And depending on the cause, there are also a variety of tactics you can use to either prevent or recover abandoned carts, like offering free or clearly communicated shipping costs, allowing guest checkouts, or sending abandoned cart recovery emails.

Enabling automated abandoned cart recovery emails in Ecwid

6. Increased Buying on Mobile Sites

Despite increased traffic from mobile searches, most e-commerce sites will still notice the majority of their conversions coming from desktops and larger screens. However, as shoppers become increasingly comfortable on smaller screens, you can bet that mobile-conversion number will increase fairly dramatically.

All that to say, it’s super important that your business not neglect to optimize for mobile. As you develop your store, make sure you create a shopping experience that translates just as well to mobile as it does to desktop.

Final Thoughts…

E-commerce businesses have a lot to look forward to in 2020, and keeping on top of the latest trends can help you make the most of it.

Subscribe to the Ecwid blog to get e-commerce trends, news, and tips for running an online business to your inbox and stay up-to-date!