10+ Ecwid Updates You Don’t Want to Miss

19 min read

If you’ve been busy enjoying your summer and missed out on the latest updates from Ecwid, we’ve got you covered! We’ve compiled an exciting list of the most prominent tools released in the past few months.

Get ready for a whole new level of productivity with innovative features like New-Gen Instant Site, custom staff permissions, product page videos, and more. It’s time to explore some game-changing tools!

Enjoy Stress-Free Staff Management

Meet the revamped staff management tool for your online store! With Ecwid, you can easily grant employees custom permissions to your store depending on their role.

Simply put, when adding a staff account, you can choose which tabs in the Ecwid admin will be available to your employee. Best of all, you can combine the permissions as you like!

For example, you can grant your marketing specialist specific access to the Marketing and Reports tabs in the Ecwid admin. Or, let your store manager handle Sales and Catalog. You’ll be able to restrict access to Ecwid tools that they do not require.

Select which permissions you want to give your team members

This way, your employees can perform their tasks more efficiently, while you will have peace of mind knowing that any sensitive data is restricted to authorized personnel only.

Here are all available staff permissions you can grant in your Ecwid store:

Sales: Let your staff manage orders, abandoned carts, and customer lists.
Catalog: Let your staff manage products and prices, track inventory, update stock levels, and manage product categories and gift cards.
Marketing: Allow staff to manage advertising campaigns, discounts, newsletters, and automated emails.
Reports and analytics: Enable staff to manage store analytics tools and view reports and sales stats.
Website: Allow staff to manage your ecommerce website (aka Instant Site) and change the website address. Plus, add your online store to other sites.
Sales channels: Let staff members manage sales on social media and marketplaces.
Store settings, shipping, and payment methods: Enable staff to change the store’s legal, tax, and other settings. You can also allow them to manage admin and customer notifications, payment, shipping, and more details related to your store settings.

As the store owner, only you can view, add, and remove staff members, grant permissions, see billing information, and change the store’s subscription.

Learn more about managing staff permissions in our blog article:

Level Up Your Ecommerce Website

If you’ve been selling with Ecwid for some time, you might already be familiar with Instant Site — a free website builder with a built-in online store that is available to all Ecwid sellers.

Now, the most exciting part: a brand-new version of Instant Site is live!

An example of a New-Gen Instant Site

What does that mean for you as a seller? It means you’ll have a more flexible, modern, and beautiful ecommerce website for your business, where you can:

Easily create a unique website using customizable content blocks
Choose from beautifully pre-designed templates suitable for any business niche
Experiment with new layouts and sections on your website, like special offers, promo sliders, or various cover layouts
Add a menu to your site to make it easier for customers to browse your online store
Customize the mobile view of your Instant Site
Translate all Instant Site content into multiple languages.

Create a whole website in minutes using a template for any business niche

Not sure which version of Instant Site you’re using? Here’s how you can tell one from the other. If you’re using an old version and would like to migrate to a new one, feel free to contact the Customer Care team.

Get Fast and Secure Payments with Lightspeed Payments

Great news: Ecwid’s native payment solution, Lightspeed Payments, is available in more countries! If you sell in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the UK, or the US, it’s time to up your payment game.

Lightspeed Payments is a cost-effective and secure payment method. Your customers will love it just as much as you do, as it provides them with a fast and simple checkout experience, allowing payments through Google Pay, Apple Pay, and all major credit and debit cards.

Another great perk of Lightspeed Payments is that you can apply for it, manage payouts, see payment details, and process refunds—all from your Ecwid admin. You can also manage Lightspeed Payments on the go from your Ecwid Mobile app.

Learn more about the benefits of Lightspeed Payments and how to set it up in our blog article:

Turn More Shoppers into Customers with Product Page Videos

Did you know that product pages with videos convert 80% better than those without? That’s not surprising—videos can bring a lot more context to your products and are easier to understand. They help potential customers determine if the product truly meets their needs.

To make the most of product videos in your Ecwid store, you can add videos to the product gallery along with images!

Ecwid store Pho U uses their TikTok video in the product gallery

To display a video in the product gallery, upload it on a popular hosting platform like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Vimeo, etc., then add the video link to the product page.

You can add unlimited videos for one product—there are also no restrictions on video size, length, aspect ratio, or resolution.

Check out the article below to learn how to upload a video to your product page and make the most out of this new tool.

Effortlessly Export and Import Your Whole Catalog

Meet the enhanced product catalog import and export tool! This powerful solution lets you easily update every aspect of the product catalog.

You can upload and download a CSV file with all product details. This way, you can easily and quickly edit several product settings simultaneously. Whether you’re fine-tuning product options, refining variations, handling files, or even more, this tool has got you covered, providing all the essential functionalities you need.

Note: The new import and export tool is already available in your store if you’ve signed up for it recently. If you’ve been selling with Ecwid for a while, enable the tool on the What’s new page in your Ecwid admin.

To learn more about the updated catalog import, please visit our Help Center.

Enjoy Simplified Ecwid Store Editing in WordPress

This update will greatly simplify your routine if you use the Ecwid plugin to sell on your WordPress website.

Likely, you are already familiar with the WordPress default code-free page editor and publishing tool called Gutenberg. That’s where you can add Ecwid’s store content blocks to your site, such as Ecwid storefront, Buy Buttons, categories menu, and so on.

The news is that you can now see the live preview of the Ecwid blocks on your website while editing it in the Gutenberg editor. All changes made in the editor, like changing the size of product images or changing the button colors, will be immediately displayed in the live preview. No need to switch between the preview page and the editor!

See a live preview of the Ecwid blocks on your website while editing it in Gutenberg

Learn more about adding Ecwid blocks in the Gutenberg editor in the Help Center.

Manage Pickup and Delivery Schedule with Ease

Make the pickup and delivery process in your online store a breeze with an organized and efficient schedule. With Ecwid, you can seamlessly add delivery and pickup orders from your Ecwid store to your calendar of choice, like Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook Calendar, and more.

You can share your calendar with couriers and employees, print it out, or set up reminders for pickups and deliveries. That simplifies your business operations and enables you to provide exceptional customer service.

Check out how to add pickup or delivery orders to your calendar in our Help Center.

Save Time Bulk Editing More Product Details

You might already be familiar with Bulk Product Editor, a spreadsheet-like tool that lets you simultaneously update product information for dozens of products. 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 change item information.

Now there’s one more neat tip for you when using Bulk Product Editor: use it to save time when editing SEO for your Ecwid store! Instead of opening each product individually, you can simply use the Bulk Product Editor to quickly update your products’ SEO titles, descriptions, and translations all at once.

Editing SEO for several products is now easier than ever

Speaking of changing product information for dozens of products at once, we have one more cool update for you (in this category). You can mass update stock levels of several products at once right on the Product page in your Ecwid admin! You can also set up the Low stock email notifications for several products there. No need to open products one by one to make changes!

Not sure how to use Mass Update to edit several products at once? Our Help Center has got you covered!

Buy DHL Shipping Labels Hassle-Free

German sellers, you’ll love this news! You can buy and print DHL shipping labels for domestic shipments directly from your Ecwid admin.

Buy shipping labels right where you manage your orders

Here’s how it works: you purchase DHL shipping labels right in your Ecwid admin, and then you print them and put the labels on your parcels. All that’s left to do is to drop the parcels off at the nearest post office or book a pickup by DHL pick-up service. It’s that simple!

By the way, buying shipping labels right from your Ecwid admin is also available for sellers from the US, Belgium, and the Netherlands. If your store is located in another country, you can buy shipping labels using the apps from the Ecwid App Market.

Do More Business Operations on the Go

Ecwid Mobile apps for iPhone and Android allow you to manage your online store wherever you go. With our recent updates, you can do much more using your phone.

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

Enable pre-orders for products and variations using the app for Android (iOS users, this tool has already been available for you for some time)
Quickly update order statuses using two new buttons in the iOS app—”Mark as Paid” and “Mark as Ready For Pickup” (Android users, this tool has already been available to you for some time)
See if a customer belongs to a specific customer group on the order page in the iOS app (Android users, we’re already working on this for you.)

Manage Taxes with a Peace of Mind

Managing and reporting taxes is a vital part of any business. However, as important as it is, dealing with taxes can be a headache for a busy business owner. Luckily, you can save some time by managing taxes in your Ecwid store.

Check out the latest updates we released to help you make tax management stress-free:

Simplify Tax Reporting with US Taxes Breakdown

US sellers, automated tax calculations are now even more convenient. Sales tax collected for each order is split into state and local tax, whether it’s county, city, or special district tax. You can see tax breakdowns on the order details page, tax invoices, and customer emails.

Learn more about US sales tax in Ecwid in the Help Center.

Control How Shipping Costs Are Taxed

Your Ecwid store automatically calculates shipping taxes by default based on your country’s commonly used framework. But what if your tax adviser has a different idea? No worries! You have the flexibility to customize how shipping costs are taxed at checkout.

If your store is located in the EU, UK, and Switzerland and you use product-specific tax rates, you can switch between two shipping taxation options:

Shipping taxes depend on products in the shopping cart
Shipping taxes do not depend on products in the shopping cart.

Learn more about changing the tax on shipping schema in your Ecwid store in the Help Center.

Power Your Store with New Apps

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

Experiment with AI-generated content based on your product catalog:

Generate product descriptions in a few clicks with the AI Product Descriptions app
Simplify social media copy creation for your business using the Social Post AI app.

Creating product descriptions using the AI Product Descriptions app

Expand your business strategy with new selling channels and partnerships:

Collaborate with affiliate and influencer partners through Impact
Explore multichannel selling and various marketing options with Channable
Promote your products on Bing Shopping and Google Shopping with Shoparize.

Test various product display settings:

Automate your product launches and sales with Product Planner, PowerSale, and Product Availability Scheduler
Display your bestsellers based on your customers’ purchase behavior using the Most Popular Products app
Customize the look of your product options and variations with Logicly and Hide Variations

Planning a special offer for products with the PowerSale app

Try new promotion tools for boosting sales in your online store:

Create a sense of urgency during special offers with Countdown Timer
Experiment with shoppable video popups on different pages of your store with Unodos
Test different ways of showing discounts and special offers in your store with Follow me offers & promotions.

Check out new store management, accounting, and shipping apps:

Automate QuickBooks and Xero accounting with PayTraQer
Protect your store content, like images and text, from copying with Prevent Store Content
Let logged-in customers download a PDF version of their invoice in their account with Invoice Module
Use Store Copy to create a copy of your store for purposes like testing new apps, training new employees, and more.
Process and ship orders with Deftship.

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:

To keep track of product updates, events, and relevant company news, visit the News section of your notifications dashboard in your Ecwid admin (a bluebell on the bottom right of your screen).
For the entire timeline of updates, big and small, visit the Help Center.
Peek into the What’s New tab in your Ecwid admin 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.

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

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Ecwid Updates

Sep 22, 2023

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.