15+ Ecwid Updates for Time- and Cost-Effective Store Management

23 min read

Did you know that you can set up pre-orders in your Ecwid store, get directions for local deliveries right from the Ecwid Mobile App, use new payment methods, and so much more? It’s time to get you up to date!

Check out Ecwid updates that make managing an online store more pleasant than ever. No matter what you need—from saving time to enhancing your store—we’ve got you covered.

Get Fast and Secure Payments with Lightspeed Payments

Lightspeed Payments is a cost-effective and secure payment method that helps manage your payments right on your Ecwid control panel. Your customers will love it just as much as you. It provides them with a fast and simple checkout experience.

Here are some benefits of Lightspeed Payments:

It allows you to accept payments via the most popular methods, like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and all major credit and debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Discover, Diners Club International, and more).
It is budget-friendly and transparent. Lightspeed Payments has competitive rates (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) and no hidden fees.
It’s safe and secure, with built-in PCI compliance, fraud protection, and chargeback management.
It’s convenient and intuitive. You can sign up for Lightspeed Payments right from your Ecwid control panel. Manage payouts, see payment details, and process refunds. You can also manage Lightspeed Payments on the go from your Ecwid Mobile app.

Payments processed through Lightspeed Payments are displayed on the Finance page in the Ecwid control panel

Lightspeed Payments is currently available in the US only.

Set up Lightspeed Payments in your online store using this guide from the Help Center.

Grow Your Revenue with Pre-Orders

Is your product temporarily out-of-stock? Are you planning to launch a new item? You don’t need to hide products from your customers. Let them pre-order items instead!

With a new setting in the Stock Control section on the product edit page, you can easily allow pre-orders for currently out-of-stock products and variations. The products remain available for purchase even after reaching zero stock.

Customers see that a product is available for pre-order

Pre-orders are super useful when:

You want to see what products you need to stock up on.
If you make your product yourself and want to know how much material you’ll need.
If you need to pay the manufacturer or supplier before they send products to your warehouse.
Running a crowdfunding campaign.
Creating buzz for a new merch drop.

With pre-orders, your customers won’t miss a best-selling product and you will grow sales for items that are about to hit the shelves. Win-win!

To make things even more convenient, pre-orders and pre-ordered products are also highlighted in your Ecwid Mobile App. You don’t have to switch to your desktop to check if you have pre-orders.

Learn how to start accepting pre-orders in our Help Center.

Benefit from a Lightning-Fast Ecwid Store for WordPress

Drumroll, please, for a new version of the Ecwid WordPress plugin that drastically speeds up your storefront loading! The load speed is several times higher compared to the old plugin version.

This update improves the shopping experience on your ecommerce WordPress site. Your customers will see the Ecwid storefront immediately after they open the store page with no delay. This convenient and seamless shopping experience means potentially more finished orders.

Having a fast-loading store is also incredibly important for improving your SEO. The loading speed affects how high your site is in the search engine results. So, the faster your store is, the better the chance of it ranking higher in search results.

Make sure to update your Ecwid plugin for WordPress to get a new, faster version of your online store. Be sure to check how much quicker your load speed becomes with Pagespeed Insights!

Make Your Checkout as Flexible as You Need

To adjust the standard checkout to your business, you can add custom fields to any part of your checkout page in less than a minute—without coding!

Custom fields allow you to collect additional information from customers, such as gift messages, tax IDs, packaging preferences, delivery preferences, and whatever other information you might need.

With the latest update, you have more options for customizing your checkout fields. You can:

Set up conditions for showing custom fields at checkout. For example, only show a custom field to customers who choose a specific shipping or payment method, or shop from a certain country.
Specify a fixed-price surcharge for any custom checkout field. For example, create the “Gift wrapping” option at checkout and charge an extra $3 for it. When a customer selects an option with a surcharge, the flat fee is added to the order total.
Edit custom checkout fields. Change any part of your custom checkout field (except for its type), like the field’s name.

Find out how to add and manage custom fields at checkout in the Help Center.

An example of a custom checkout field with a $3 surcharge for gift wrapping

Save Time Managing the Store on the Go

With Ecwid Mobile apps for iPhone and Android, you can manage your online store wherever you go. With our recent updates, the app simplifies store management like never before.

Here are the new things you can do with your Ecwid Mobile App:

Quickly add product ribbons and subtitles, like “50% Off” or “Free Shipping”, right in the app without switching to a desktop.
Enable the dark mode for your Ecwid Mobile app on Android (iOS users, your app has supported it for some time already, so don’t worry about being left out).
Manage product catalog translations on the go. With the iOS app, you can add translations for product and category titles, descriptions, attributes, SEO metadata, ribbons, and subtitles.
Get routes for local deliveries right from order details in the app. No need to copy and paste addresses into a map app. Just click the “Get Directions” button in the “Shipping” section on the order details page and you’ll be on your way. Keep in mind, you’ll need your favorite map app installed to use this tool.

Getting directions for local deliveries from order details in the Ecwid Mobile App

Design Every Detail of Your Storefront

With the latest design settings, you can change the layout of your product pages as you see fit. Go to the Design page of your Ecwid admin to try some of these product page settings:

Change the position of the “Estimated delivery time” section on product pages to better suit your store design. This will help customers find the information they need faster than ever before.
Choose how to display breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs show shoppers which product category or subcategory they are viewing, which helps them navigate the catalog with a click. Show breadcrumbs in product details or a header, or hide them entirely from the store.
Enable or disable the “Previous” and “Next” product navigation arrows. Navigation arrows allow customers to switch between products without returning to the catalog. You can now decide whether you need them or not.
Enable or disable the zoom-on-hover effect on desktop. This effect lets shoppers zoom in on product images when they hover over them with their mouse, letting them see the more intricate details of a product.

Zoom-on-hover effect allows seeing small details of product pictures

Set Up Out-of-Stock Settings per Product

After the recent update, you can set up out-of-stock settings for both specific products and entire catalogs if needed. You can:

Show an out-of-stock product in the catalog, but prohibit purchases.
Hide an out-of-stock product from the storefront.
Show an out-of-stock product and allow pre-orders.

Setting up out-of-stock options for specific products helps keep customers interested in certain items and simplifies managing seasonal products.

You can set up out-of-stock settings for a specific product when editing it. Just choose the preferred option in the Stock Control section.

You can let customers see the out-of-stock item on the storefront but prohibit purchases

Learn more about setting default behavior for out-of-stock products in the Help Center.

Pro Tip: Use the Mass Update tool to enable the same out-of-stock behavior for several products simultaneously.

Retain Foreign Shoppers with a More Localized Store

If you sell abroad or your business is based in a country with several official languages, it helps to make your store multilingual. This way, customers can shop in their preferred language, improving their shopping experience and promoting more sales.

All you have to do is add translations of your catalog, like product names, descriptions, options, and category names. Ecwid by Lightspeed will automatically translate the rest, like texts on buttons, invoices, and notifications.

With the latest updates, you can manually translate more details in your Ecwid store, such as:

Product attributes (colors, brand name, materials)
Payment method title and instructions
Product category SEO metadata
Every detail of your custom checkout fields, like field titles, placeholders, and field options

Also, remember the Store Label Editor tool? It allows you to customize text labels throughout your store (for example, change “Add to Bag” to “Add to Cart” or “Favorites” to “Wishlist”). With the latest update, you can also add translations to your custom texts via Store Label Editor.

Adding translations to store labels in Store Label Editor

Check out the Help Center for the detailed how-to on localizing every part of your online store.

Spend Less Time Managing Taxes

To save you a headache when managing taxes in your online store, we enabled automatic tax calculations for more countries. That includes South Africa, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Spanish regions, like the Canary Islands, Melilla, and Ceuta.

Automatic taxes determine a precise tax rate at checkout depending on where you and your customer are located.

You no longer need to manually calculate taxes or adjust tax settings according to tax changes in your country. All tax rates are up to date and automatically updated when a country announces upcoming changes in its sales tax rules.

Also, you can set non-standard tax rates (zero, increased, or reduced) for different products to comply with the local tax laws.

See the full list of countries eligible for automatic tax calculations and learn how to set them up in the Help Center.

Drive More Repeat Orders in a Click

Now your loyal customers will love shopping in your online store even more. With the new “Repeat order” button, you can allow your customers to quickly repeat any past one-time purсhases with just a single click. That makes the shopping experience even more seamless for customers when they need to re-order their favorite product from you.

Enable the “Repeat order” button to save shoppers time. They will never have to search for their desired products again.

Customers can repeat orders in a click on their account or in an order confirmation email

Here’s how to enable repeat orders in a couple of clicks.

Save Money with Discounted USPS Shipping Labels

With Ecwid by Lightspeed, you can get shipping labels right from your control panel. Through the control panel, you buy them and print them. All that’s left to do is to put the labels on your parcels and drop them off at the nearest post office.

Not only can you buy discounted shipping labels from your Ecwid admin, but you can also save on shipping! With our latest update, buying a USPS shipping label through your Ecwid admin is 10% cheaper than before.

Here’s a guide to buying discounted USPS shipping labels from your Ecwid admin.

You can also buy shipping labels in the Ecwid admin if you are from Belgium or the Netherlands. If you are from another country, you can buy shipping labels using apps through the Ecwid App Market.

Bring Back Shoppers with Retargeting Facebook Ads

In just two minutes, you can set up automated retargeting ads on Facebook for your Ecwid store. This will help you reach customers that visited your store but didn’t buy anything yet. Your retargeting ads will remind them of a product they viewed and encourage them to finish their purchase.

You can launch your Facebook Ad campaign right from your Ecwid control panel with the help of Kliken. It is a marketing tool that simplifies the process of purchasing, creating, and targeting your advertising campaigns. It also optimizes the campaigns and provides you with ad performance statistics.

Learn how to set up retargeting Facebook ads in the Help Center.

Spend Less Time Managing Product Ribbons

Product ribbons help you highlight featured products on your storefront, whether it’s a bestseller, sale item, new product, or any other item that deserves a spotlight.

Examples of product ribbons

Now you can update sale products faster with our improved product ribbon tool. When adding ribbons to items, you can easily reuse any existing ribbon. Just click on the “Ribbon text” field. You’ll see a drop-down list with any product ribbons you have already created for your store.

Save Time Bulk Editing More Product Details

You might already be familiar with Bulk Product Editor, a spreadsheet-like tool that lets you update product information for dozens of products at the same time. This tool saves you time and effort when you need to edit many products at once, as you don’t have to open product pages one by one to make changes to item information.

Now you can edit even more product details in bulk! That includes product ribbons, weight, and dimensions of product variations. Save time with our new and improved bulk editor.

Bulk editing ribbons for sale products

Improve Your Online Store SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your online store rank higher on the search results pages. The latest update helps ensure your store is optimized for search engines, making it easier for online shoppers to find it.

Instead of using the default meta tags created automatically from category names and descriptions, you can set custom metadata for category pages. Now you can be in control of making your category pages look more attractive to potential customers on the search results pages.

As we mentioned in the multilingual store update section above, you can also translate product category SEO metadata.

See what else you can do to improve your Ecwid store SEO in the Help Center.

Power Your Store with New Apps

The Ecwid App Market has dozens of apps to adjust your online store to your business needs. Browse these new apps to improve the shopping experience in your store and simplify your business processes.

Check out new apps for simplifying store management:

Monitor your competitor prices and adapt your own pricing strategy with Pricefy.
Open and close your online store automatically based on the defined schedule with We’re Open.
Detect and block bots, scammers, and fraudulent visitors with Blocky: IP & Country Blocker.
Add and update your own Google Analytics tags to track your online store’s performance with Google Tag Manager.
Automate your order and product data export with Export Stash Product & Order Exporter.

Setting up a store schedule with the We’re Open app

Or, try some new apps for designing your storefront:

Neatly present your catalog in a drop-down menu with multiple layout options with Mega Menu.
Add fun icons to your cookie consent banners with Cookie Consent Banner.
Highlight your sale products on your storefront using animated product labels with Automated Product Labels & Badges.

An example of a menu layout you can make with the Mega Menu app

You can also add some new regional and digital payment options:

Accept crypto payments in Bitcoin, ETH, USDT, and 50+ more tokens via Aurpay or CoinPipe.
Sellers from Chile, accept multiple credit and debit cards in your online store with Payment Webpay Plus.
Sellers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Poland, get paid in your store with Montonio Payment Solution.
Sellers from Armenia, get paid in your store instantly by e-wallets with Telcell Wallet.

Accepting cryptocurrency with Aurpay

Don’t forget new apps for improving shipping and delivery:

Let your customers know where their parcels are by automatically sending them tracking information via email or SMS with TrackFree: Package Tracking & More.
When you deliver locally daily, save time organizing and managing your orders for delivery with Daily Delivery Manager.
Let customers pinpoint their desired delivery destination with what3words Address Field.
Sellers from South Africa, provide your customers with real-time Droppa delivery rates at checkout with Droppa Shipping.
Sellers from Finland, connect your online store to Shipit Multi-Carrier Shipping to compare carriers and connect to the most convenient one to ship your products around the world.

Tracking shipped orders with the TrackFree app

Attract more customers and grow orders with new marketing apps:

Use gamification to encourage your store visitors to subscribe to your email list with Popconvert.
When running a sale or announcing a new product, attract your customers’ attention with a popup by Smartarget Popup.
Increase the average order value (AOV) in your store with the AOV Progress Bar.
Leverage automated email marketing with Perfit Email Marketing & Automation. Available for sellers from Argentina, Brazil, Chili, Guatemala, Spain, Portugal, Mexica, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Encourage customers to order more with the AOV app

Make sure your customer support is spotless with these apps:

Connect with customers from a single dashboard, no matter where they reach out to you (email, live chat, messengers, or social media), with Desku.
Save time collecting and managing reviews by using Automated Customer Reviews.
Let customers checkout with a phone number instead of an email with Checkout with phone OTP.

You can ask customers to verify their number when they place an order during checkout with Checkout with phone OTP app

Or, you might want to check out these apps if you’d like to connect your store to other platforms:

Connect your product catalog to multiple channels and sync inventory and prices with bindCommerce.
Sellers from India, connect your store with various payment and shipping methods, notification, and accounting platforms with Sellonboard: Connecting Sellers.
If you’re looking for dropshipping suppliers, check out the AmaZone DropShipper + Walmart or Xcatalog — US&CA Dropshipping apps.

Stay Tuned

Make sure you don’t miss new tools that simplify your day-to-day routine. You can find more information about tools and updates here:

For the full timeline of updates, big and small, visit the Help Center.
Peek into the What’s New tab in your Control Panel to enable tools that require manual activation.
Subscribe to the Ecwid Blog newsletter to be the first to know about the most exciting tools.
Bookmark the Ecwid Updates section of the blog.

Have an idea of how to make an ecommerce store work better for you and thousands of other merchants? Need help fine-tuning your Ecwid store to your business’s needs? Don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Care team with your questions—we’re happy to help!

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Ecwid Updates

Dec 22, 2022

About the author

Anastasia Prokofieva is a content writer at Ecwid. She writes about online marketing and promotion to make entrepreneurs’ daily routine easier and more rewarding. She also has a soft spot for cats, chocolate, and making kombucha at home.