'Net Features : ecwid

Social Commerce Continues to Grow on Ecwid

Allison Howen — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:22:00 GMT

The popularity of social commerce hasn’t slowed down, instead, first quarter data from Facebook shopping cart application Ecwid shows that this trend has seen significant year-over-year growth.

The data reveals that merchants leveraging the Ecwid platform have seen orders grow by 37 percent in their Facebook-based stores compared to the same period last year, as well as a 26 percent increase in sales.

The merchants included within this research maintain stores both on a website and on Facebook. According to the data, these merchants’ Facebook-based sales saw a 25 percent year-over-year increase, making up 10.3 percent of the merchants’ total online sales.

“We’re seeing an increasing number of our merchants open online stores on multiple sites – like their website, blog, mobile site and a Facebook page,” said Jim O’Hara, president of Ecwid, Inc. “We believe retailers should be able to sell anywhere their customers wish to shop online, not just on a traditional website store, eBay or Amazon. Retailers should have multiple online storefronts to reflect where their target customers look for products. In fact, some of our most successful merchants derive 50 to 80 percent of total online sales on Facebook, as they learn how to work the developing social commerce marketplace.”

This research suggests that consumer-shopping behavior is becoming increasingly more social. In fact, many shoppers are using social networks like Facebook and Pinterest as a way to discover products instead of traditional search, which has resulted in more merchants deploying multiple storefronts to reach this customer segment.

Payvment to Refer Current Customers to Ecwid

Michael Garrity — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:35:00 GMT

A new Facebook commerce deal will see the social commerce platform Payvment, which powers most of the storefronts on the social network, referring its many subscribers to the e-commerce widget provider Ecwid in anticipation of the platform's demise at the end of February.

Needless to say, this will be a big boost that pretty much positions Ecwid as the leading social commerce platform on the market; in fact, the company already powers the most Facebook storefronts by active users. Currently, more than 250,000 merchants in over 174 countries are using Ecwid, and the platform is integrated with “all major payment gateways,” which include PayPal, Google Wallet, FirstData and Authorize.net.

Payvment recently announced that it would be closing its service on February 28, but wanted to provide its customers with a smooth transition to a new platform. The deal with Ecwid will allow Payvment customers to continue selling on Facebook and other online properties with little-to-no hassle.

“Ecwid’s e-commerce technology will not only enable our merchants to keep selling on Facebook,” says Payvment CEO Jim Stoneham, “But also allow them the opportunity to open up new channels by placing a store anywhere their customers shop online.”

The cloud-based e-commerce widget from Ecwid can easily be embedded into any Web pages or blogs, but for most Payvment users, it’s the platform’s Facebook capabilities that they’ll really be interested in. Ecwid’s Facebook application lets merchants add fully featured e-commerce stores to their Facebook pages in “a few clicks,” enabling the social network’s users to discover products and make purchases without ever having to leave Facebook (which may just be a dream come true for some consumers).

Ecwid has shown consistent growth in the f-commerce field, with total sales from Ecwid-powered stores growing 65 percent from October through December 2012 over the preceding fiscal quarter. The platform also powered up to 8.5 percent of all Facebook purchases this past holiday season.

Social Traffic Impacts Conversions During Holidays

Allison Howen — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:40:00 GMT

There are many uncertainties regarding the impact that social media has on conversions for e-commerce merchants, however, a new study from Ecwid reveals that purchases resulting from Facebook referral links grew significantly during the 2012 holiday season.

The e-commerce widget provider collected data from 180,000 stores and found that the percentage of Facebook referral links to Ecwid-powered storefronts that resulted in a purchase ranged from 4 to 5 percent during the pre-holiday period of October 30th through mid-November. Moreover, during the actual holiday shopping period of Thanksgiving through Christmas, Facebook referral links that resulted in a purchase jumped to the 6 to 7 percent range at times, and even reached as high as 8.5 percent on December 6th.

It is important to note that the data that was collected came from a variety of online stores that are powered by Ecwid, including standalone Web stores, mobile-based stores and Facebook stores. Additionally, the company has been tracking Facebook-sourced sales data from its merchants over the last year and has seen strong sales growth for Facebook storefronts, and this study further supports that social commerce can significantly impact a merchant’s bottom line.

Customers Buy Into F-Commerce

Allison Howen — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:15:00 GMT

More consumers are buying into social commerce, according to recent data from shopping cart application provider Ecwid.

The data was aggregated from merchants who are leveraging Ecwid’s Facebook application, and it reveals that in Q3 of 2012, total sales from all Ecwid-powered Facebook stores grew 36 percent from the previous quarter, while Facebook store orders grew by 39 percent in the same time frame. Furthermore, the data shows that the majority of these social stores are owned by small- to medium-sized businesses.

“F-Commerce could stand for ’flourishing’ commerce in the SMB market we serve,” said Jim O’Hara, president of Ecwid, Inc. “While some big name retailers have misfired at Facebook commerce, we see a different story with small businesses, which seem to be more effective at connecting personally with social audiences.”

It is important to note that despite the varied success that merchants have with F-commerce, Ecwid data from the last two years found that merchants who sell on both the traditional Web and Facebook storefronts, generate between 9 percent and 22 percent of their online income from Facebook.

Social Sharing, Faster Checkouts

Allison Howen — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:30:00 GMT

Offer consumers faster checkouts and better social sharing options with a new version of Ecwid.

Ecwid, producer of the platform-neutral, drop-in store builder widget, has launched version 11 of its e-commerce software that works for Web, mobile and social sites. The new version extends on the platform’s current feature set by offering enhanced social sharing tools, expanded shipping options and faster checkouts.

"Ecwid has advanced to the point where our feature set is comparable to the best online stores,” says Ruslan R. Fazlyev, Ecwid’s founder and CEO. “Yet our installation is still as simple as embedding a YouTube video, with ongoing management as easy as maintaining a Facebook page. This makes Ecwid an ideal, drop-in e-commerce solution that hosting companies and affiliate partners can easily offer their customers.”

The new features have already been updated for all members, and include:

Social sharing – The new "Share your purchase" option encourages consumers to share their purchases on Facebook or Twitter after an order is placed.

Revamped shipping module – this feature has been completely rebuilt and includes a shipping wizard that makes it easier for merchants to add new shipping methods, as well as the ability to limit carrier-calculated shipping rates by region and customize shipping rates based on order subtotals.

Promotional pricing features – these new features now include bulk pricing discounts via an algorithm that offers suggestions to shoppers on how to secure better discounts, as well as a "Compare to" sales price feature that highlights how much better your store's price is vs. the competition.

Faster checkout – Although this feature is only available for customers who use Google Chrome, it is definitely worth noting. Version 11 supports an experimental Google API that allows Chrome users to complete Ecwid checkout forms quickly – with just a click. This experimental “autocomplete type” enables Chrome to pre-populate a checkout form with the consumer’s appropriate information.

Six Steps for Social Commerce Success

Linc Wonham — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:00:00 GMT

Recently, a few big brands such as Gap, Gamestop, Nordstrom and JC Penney closed their Facebook stores. As a result, many prognosticators sounded the death knell for Facebook commerce.

The fact is, nothing could be further from the truth.

As the second largest store-building application on Facebook, Ecwid’s aggregate data demonstrates that f-commerce is alive and well. The data shows that the small businesses that have both a website store and a Facebook store typically get 15 percent of their overall revenue from Facebook.

That’s a significant chunk. The data also shows the average revenue of each Facebook store powered by Ecwid’s software rose 40 percent in 2011.

“It’s a matter of time – within the next five or so years – before more business will be done on Facebook than Amazon,” says Sumeet Jain, principal at CMEA Capital.

That’s a pretty bold prediction. While this may not happen as fast or at the dramatic scale that Jain predicts, the trend is clear – social commerce is on the move, and SMBs may be leading the charge.

So why are some big brands failing while SMBs are finding their way? It’s all about how you engage your customers. Do small businesses have an advantage here? Is it easier for smaller, more personalized businesses to succeed at social commerce?

How effective are you at engaging your customers and selling products via social media?

Here are some concepts and best practices for selling on social networks and tapping this potentially lucrative avenue for expanding your business:

Recognize that social commerce isn’t new
“Social” has always been part of “commerce,” even when Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist. We listen to our friends’ recommendations and tend to buy more if we know a merchant personally.

So social media sites like Facebook and Twitter didn’t invent social commerce, but amplified it greatly. They introduced a convenient, easy and fast way to communicate with friends and others, and deliver “social messages” much faster and to a larger audience.

Fully utilize today’s powerful e-commerce tools
Merchants can now easily create f-commerce storefronts in minutes and make their offerings more targeted: e.g. show a discount on a particular book to all customers who like the book’s topic. This makes store offers more friendly, so social customers are more open to them.

Today’s modern store software also offers features previously found only in major brand storefronts, including powerful application program interface (API) options. Take advantage of this new breed of software and you’ll also spend less time on administration.

Decide what your unique social media strategy is
Most brands understand that they need to communicate with their customers, but many are not clear on what the conversation should be. A Facebook page is always a two-way communication, so if you’re not ready to engage your audience with a particular theme or approach, you won’t be successful.

This may involve trial-and-error, but eventually you’ll find a sweet spot of engagement. Also, always talk honestly and without marketing slang.

Don’t disrupt the conversation flow
If you’re going to make the leap from e-commerce to f-commerce – actually selling products on a site like Facebook – remember not to disrupt the original purpose of social networks, which is to connect people. You’ll want to make the process as seamless as possible, integrating your store into the conversation, and allowing people to shop without having to leave Facebook.

Avoid product “hawking” and focus on community building
Don’t try to just sell items on your Facebook page. Transforming your Facebook page into a list of links to your products will turn away customers.

Social networks are communications platforms, so maintaining a flow of communication with – and between – your customers is key. Try to build a community around your items, engage your customers, encourage fan-to-fan communication and product discussions, then simply offer a convenient way to buy.

Harness the power of your biggest fans
The enthusiast core of your audience loves to be recognized, so consider leveraging engaging, community-building applications such as “Fan of the Week,” new Open Graph API and frictionless sharing. This will help you to harness the power of your most avid customers.

Ultimately they are your biggest supporters, so it pays to offer them something special. You’ll be well rewarded as they spread their enthusiasm to friends.

About the author: Ruslan Fazlyev is the founder and CEO of Ecwid, a leading social commerce solutions provider that currently powers more than 140,000 online stores.

A First-rate Facebook Commerce Outlook for SMBs

Linc Wonham — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:00:00 GMT

Responding to recent questions surrounding the sustainability of Facebook commerce, the makers of the social network’s second largest store-building application have spoken out.

On average, according to research recently released by Ecwid, businesses that have both website and Facebook stores get 15 percent of their overall revenue from the Facebook stores. The statistics were pulled from aggregate data based on the more than 140,000 Ecwid-powered storefronts in 174 countries, a large portion of which are also on Facebook, and most of which are small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The data also showed that the average revenue of each Facebook store powered by Ecwid’s software rose 40 percent in 2011.

“F-Commerce is not only alive and well, it is growing,” says Ruslan Fazlyev, CEO and founder of Ecwid, a free, SaaS-based store-building widget. “While some big brands have stumbled, our data shows the SMB market is making progress on Facebook and other social sites. This may be where the real social commerce innovation is to be found.”