Configuring general settings for your store

During the initial store setup you may have already configured the general business settings for your online shop – such as your store’s name and address, time zone and currency. Before you launch your store to the public, it is important to go over the general settings once again to make sure they are all set correctly.

You can access the general store settings in Setting → General → Store Profile and Settings → General → Regional Settings sections in your Ecwid admin.

Store name

The name of your store appears in customer-facing email notifications and in your invoices. It is also displayed as the name of your website in the Website section of your Ecwid admin. A good store name is catchy and reflects the concept of your store – as well as the range of products.

To set or change the name for your store:

Store web address (URL)

Store's web address (URL) is a link of the site page where your Ecwid store is located. For example, you have a website at https://www.mywebsite.com and added your Ecwid store to the https://www.mywebsite.com/store site page — the address of this site page is your store web address. Or you prefer using Ecwid Instant Site – then your store web address is https://XXXXXX.company.site/products (with XXXXXX being a changeable part) or your custom domain name if you’ve connected your own domain to your Instant Site.

Make sure to specify the right store address in your Ecwid admin as it’s used as a base to form links to product, category and other store pages. These links are displayed in customer email notifications, at order history page in customer accounts, in posts shared to social networks, etc. Besides, the store web address is used for the "View Store" and "Open in storefront" links in your Ecwid admin panel.

To get your store web address, open your site in a browser, navigate to the page where you’ve added your Ecwid store and copy the URL link for this page that you'll see in the browser’s address bar:

To add or update the store web address in your store settings:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Settings → General and click Store Profile tab.
2. Click Edit in the Store's web address (URL) section.
3. Select what applies to you:
   • If you use your store on Ecwid Instant Site:
   • Choose I’m using Instant Site.
   • Click Customize domain name.
   • Enter a new name in the Use our subdomain field or specify your own custom domain in the Use your own domain name field (then connect your own domain to your Instant Site if you haven't done it yet).
   • Click Save to keep the changes.
   If you want to update your store web address and move your store from your custom site to Ecwid Instant Site, you should first choose I’m using Instant Site, then click Save. After that, the Customize domain name button will appear. Click it and specify your domain name.
   • If you use another site platform:
   • Choose My store is set up elsewhere,
   • Enter the web address of the site page where you’ve added your Ecwid store.
   • Click Save.
     
     Example:
     

If you’ve added the same Ecwid store to multiple sites, specify the store page URL of your main site as your store web address to ensure that this address is used to form the links related to your Ecwid store.

Company name, email and address

You can also specify the name, email and physical address (including phone number) of your company. This data is usually displayed in your invoices and in email notifications. Your phone number and email, entered in these fields, also appear on the Thank you for your Order page (in the special “Questions on your order?” block) that customers see after placing an order in your shop.

Providing a company name, email and address will make your store look more trustworthy. Moreover, clear, concise and up-to-date information will improve the communication with customers later.

To enter company name, email, and address:

Social media accounts

You can add links to your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and Pinterest accounts to the bottom of your store’s email notifications. Providing these links will help keep your customers informed about your news and promotions.

Adding links is simple – you can enter the address of your social media account on the Store Profile page in your Ecwid admin and just click Save.

If your time and other resources are limited, it's better to have one regularly updated account than several half-abandoned pages on different social media. Considering the product range of your store is important to make the right choice: some products can be marketed more efficiently on Instagram, some on Facebook, etc.

You can read more about using social media for marketing and about marketing on Instagram and Facebook.

Closing your storefront for maintenance

In case you don't want to display your storefront – for example, your website is at a pre-launch stage or is currently under construction – you can always temporarily close your storefront for visitors on the Store Profile page in your Ecwid admin.

Currency

Ecwid supports all the official currencies, which means you can set your product prices exactly in the currency you want to accept in your store.

To set or change currency in your online Ecwid store:

Units of weight & dimensions

In Ecwid you can choose from several weight and dimension units for your store. The weight and dimension values that you enter on your product pages are used to calculate the automatic and carrier-calculated shipping rates for your customers (also product weight is used for manually set-up rates based on weight). You can also display the entered weight values on the product pages using the built-in design settings.

As your store’s weight unit you can choose: kilograms, pounds, ounces, grams or carats. As your store’s dimension units you can choose millimeters, centimeters, inches or yards.

To set default weight and size units in your Ecwid store:

Store language

When you create an account, Ecwid automatically detects your browser language and uses it as your store language, i.e. for text in your storefront labels, customer notifications, and invoices. If necessary, you can change the default language of your Ecwid store.

To change the language of your Ecwid store:

This change will be applied immediately.

Date & Time

In Ecwid, you can set up the time zone, time display format and date display format for your store. These settings will be used in data export and email notifications – thus helping you and your customers keep track of the events better.

To set date and time in your online Ecwid store: