Add an Online Store to your Site in Minutes
It's easier than you might think to add eCommerce to your website. No matter the platform, you can quickly and easily add an online store within minutes and not only that, you can do it for free!
Recently, I had an opportunity to visit the offices of Ecwid (short for ecommerce widget) that makes this very functionality available for anyone to use. It's so incredibly easy that if you aren't using it, you are missing out. Not only does Ecwid let you sell things on your website easily (we're talking set up in 5 minutes or less) but you can even sell on Facebook with it.
Here's a quick video showing off the product:
The best part about Ecwid in my mind is that it's already integrated with a large number of systems such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and more. It's also fully responsive and integrates directly with your site. In the case of the plugins, it will even adopt the styling based on your theme. There's even a mobile app that lets you manage your store from your phone or tablet, making adding new products very easy to do.
You don't, however, have to just have an existing website to use Ecwid. You can also sign up on their website and host your store there for a very low cost. When I did a comparison between Ecwid and some of the other big players in the eCommerce space like Shopify, for instance, the cost if significantly lower with Ecwid and you actually get more integrations. The average store can be created for free whereas other packages are priced between $15 and $99 (with this high end package, you get an enormous amount of functionality).
The $15 package that Ecwid offers quite literally should be more than enough for the average person looking for slightly more functionality than the free offering (although the free offering is also loaded with quite a few features you won't find free elsewhere).
Here's a look at a sample product page, keeping in mind of course this is from the demo, which you can try out on the Ecwid website.
When it comes to payment processors, you can use any of their over 30 different ones they support which is pretty extensive. Further to this, shipping options include an automatic shipping calculator for UPS, Fedex and other shipping partners and a huge list of other features which you can read about on their website.
Just to clarify, this isn't a sponsored post. I'm a huge fan of Ecwid and think they are doing amazing things and wanted to share. Making eCommerce easy is something that alot of companies want to do but I think Ecwid is definitely leading the charge here. The capabilities of this product are quite extensive and being able to not have to worry about changing your CMS in order to accommodate a store (or being forced to move to an ecommerce platform) is a huge bonus.
If you are in the market and considering adding an online store to your site, you definitely need to check out Ecwid.