Updates 2022
Check out Ecwid updates to learn about new features in your store.
December
Access all pre-orders in a few clicks
When you accept pre-orders, you can easily see all pre-orders at once. All you have to do is filter them in the list of orders. To do so, simply go to the Orders page, then click Pre-orders. Viewing pre-orders only comes in handy when you need to know what products to upstock next, or if you want to see the list of customers who are expecting their orders.
Learn more about how to accept pre-orders in your store →
See how customers interact with your marketing campaigns with UTM tags
When you track the source of orders using UTM tags, you can now see not only the link that led to purchase, but the list of UTM parameters from different marketing campaigns that a customer interacted with. That will help you to better understand what campaigns are more popular than others and which one converts visitors into paying customers.
Learn how to track the order sources in your store →
Android app: Get the routes for local delivery from order details
No need to enter or copy-paste addresses of local delivery in Google maps or other navigation apps. From your Ecwid mobile app, go to the order details to see the Get Directions button. Tap the button and choose which app you want to open to create a route, e.g., Google Maps. And voi-la! You will see the route from your location to the customer’s delivery address.
Learn how to get a direction for delivery from your Ecwid mobile app →
iOS app: Set reminders to orders
Either you bake, make custom goods, or for any other reason you need to jot something down for an order, you can now do it in your Ecwid mobile app. Set a reminder the same way you do it on your iPhone: open an order in the app, tap Add Reminder, and choose when you want to receive a notification. You will get a push notification reminding you to take some action to the order. The order reminder feature will be soon released on Ecwid apps for Android.
Updated tax calculation for the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK
Stores from the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom now have a new way of calculating taxes. When products in an order have different tax rates, tax will be calculated based on item prices instead of total weight. That way, you get more accurate sales taxes. It also complies with tax regulations in the countries.
Soon, this tax rule will be expanded to more countries in the European Union. Stay tuned!
November
Translate custom checkout fields into multiple languages
Custom checkout fields are extra fields that you can add to a checkout page to ask customers about adding gift wrapping, preferred delivery day, or any other information. From now on, you can translate those fields into another language, therefore improving the shopping experience for a broader audience.
Learn how to create checkout fields →
Learn how to translate custom checkout fields →
Manage product ribbons, weight, and dimensions of product variations in bulk
Three more product details that you can now mass update with the Bulk Product Editor: ribbons and product variations' weight & dimensions. The Editor works like a spreadsheet where you can change information about product details for dozens of items at once.
Learn how to use the Bulk Product Editor →
Android mobile app: Use the dark mode in your Ecwid mobile app
Ecwid mobile app for Android now supports the Android dark mode. It means that if you turn on the dark mode for your phone, the Ecwid mobile app will adjust the colors on the screen to match the darker appearance.
Try dark mode in the Ecwid mobile app →
The Ecwid storefront for WordPress now loads drastically faster
A new version of Ecwid WordPress plugin speeds up your storefront loading. That means your customers will see your storefront right away after they open the store page. It also improves your SEO since loading speed affects how high your site is in the search engine results.
Update your Ecwid plugin for WordPress to get a new faster version of your store.
October
Let customers buy again in one click
With the Repeat order feature enabled in your store, repeating an order is just a few clicks away for your customers. The “Repeat order” button will be displayed in the order history in customer accounts. The button will also appear in the Order Confirmation emails. Buyers can reorder any in-stock product simply by clicking the button from their customer account or email.
Learn more about taking repeat orders →
Lightspeed Payments is out of beta
We are excited to announce that Lightspeed Payments are officially launched to the public. Lightspeed Payments has the lowest fees compared to other payment methods in Ecwid, it supports Apple and Google pay, and it’s native to Ecwid, so you can see reports and make refunds right from your store admin. Currently, it is available for US merchants and allows you to accept all major credit and debit cards.
Learn more about Lightspeed Payments →
Edit default store texts in seconds
Text on buttons, links, and other default store texts are now easier to customize. The updated version of the Store Label Editor tool allows you to quickly find and replace default content with your custom text, even if your store has more than one language.
Check your Lightspeed Payments income in iOS mobile app
The Finance page that appears in your store admin after connecting Lightspeed Payments is now available in the Ecwid mobile app for iOS. You can check your payouts, balance, and transaction details on the go. You can also download a report for a certain time period to your iPhone or iPad. To access the Finance page, open your mobile app and tap the Store tab at the bottom.
Learn more about Lightspeed Payments reports →
Ecwid Android app: Add product ribbons and subtitles
You can now add product ribbons and subtitles from your Android mobile app. Ribbons are colorized labels that appear on the product image, e.g., “Hot sale”, “New arrivals”, etc. Subtitles are short texts shown on the product list and on the product details page. For example, food ingredients, free shipping availability, etc.
Learn more about product ribbons →
Learn more about product subtitles →
Automatic tax calculation for Canary Islands, Melilla, and Ceuta
You can enable the automatic tax calculation to get a precise tax rate on each order depending on the customer and store locations. All tax rates are up to date and automatically updated every time a particular country announces upcoming changes in the sales tax rules.
Learn more about tax management in Ecwid →
September
Navigate between products from the product page
Each product page now has arrows that are shown above the product image. Clicking on the arrows, customers can switch between products in your catalog.
Edit custom checkout fields
Custom checkout fields are now editable. After you add a custom field to checkout, you can change any part of your field except for its type. For example, you can edit a field's name or make it available only to customers from specific countries.
Learn how to add custom checkout fields →
Add meta tags to category pages
From now on, you can decide what meta tags to use for category pages instead of letting Ecwid create meta tags automatically. That way, you can control how meta tags look in Google, e.g., provide more context for search engines so the category page ranks better. SEO metadata can be translated to other languages if you run a multilingual store.
Learn how to create custom meta tags for category pages →
Ecwid iOS app: Add product ribbons and subtitles
You can now add product ribbons and subtitles from your iOS mobile app. Ribbons are colorized labels that appear on the product image, e.g. “Hot sale”, “New arrivals”, etc. Subtitles are short texts shown on the product list and on the product details page. For example, food ingredients, free shipping availability, etc.
Learn more about product ribbons →
Learn more about product subtitles →
Ecwid iOS app: Get the routes for local delivery from order details
No need to enter or copy-paste addresses of local delivery in Google maps or other navigation apps. From your mobile app, go to the order details to see the Get Directions button. Tap the button and choose which app you want to open to create a route, e.g., Google Maps, Apple Maps. And voi-la, you will see the route from your location to the customer’s delivery address.
Learn how to offer local delivery →
Automatic tax calculation is live for more countries
You can enable the automatic tax calculation to get a precise tax rate on each order depending on the customer and store locations. All tax rates are up to date and automatically updated every time a particular country announces upcoming changes in the sales tax rules. Apart from the US, EU, and other countries, automatic tax calculation is now available for South Africa, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia.
Learn more about tax management in Ecwid →
August
Set up conditional custom checkout fields
You can set up conditions for showing custom fields at checkout and make the checkout process extremely flexible. For example, you can show a custom field to customers who choose a specific shipping or payment method, or purchase from a certain country. Displaying relevant fields to different audiences can reduce the cart abandonment rate and increase conversion.
Learn how to add custom checkout fields →
Add surcharge fees for checkout fields
For each custom checkout field in your store you can specify a fixed-price surcharge. For example, you can create the “Gift wrap” option at checkout and charge extra $5 for it. When a customer selects an option with a surcharge, the specified flat fee is added to the order total. Surcharges are taxable for all taxable items and services.
Learn how to add custom checkout fields →
Go fully multilingual with the New-Gen Instant Site
You can translate your New-Gen Instant Site into other languages. Customer reviews, navigation menu, brand history, and basically any text on your site can be translated. Furthermore, you can localize the SEO title and meta description of your site, making it high-ranking in search results in any language.
Learn how to translate your New-Gen Instant Site →
Translate product attributes into multiple languages
Product attributes are now available for translations. Colors, brand name, materials, and other attributes can now be localized for different audiences. Beside attributes, you can translate other things in your store, including product catalog, buttons, storefront, shipping methods, and more.
Learn how to offer your store in multiple languages →
Show promo bars to customers on your New-Gen Instant Site
You can add the colorful promo bar on top of your New-Gen Instant Site to highlight sales, new arrivals, or even offer a discount code. Along with the text message, you can add a link to the relevant page on your websites.
Learn how to add a promo bar to your New-Gen Instant Site →
Ecwid iOS app: Scan all barcodes, even those with poor readability
The mobile barcode scanner in the Ecwid mobile app for iOS has been drastically improved. The updated app uses machine learning to recognize and decode even bad-quality barcodes that are damaged, slightly visible, upside down, dirty, etc. You get a more reliable, accurate, and faster way to scan barcodes on products and order invoices to complete regular tasks.
Purchase shipping labels for international packages (for Belgium and the Netherlands)
Selling worldwide from Belgium and the Netherlands is now much easier with international shipping labels that you can buy right from your Ecwid admin.
Learn more about buying shipping labels in Belgium →
Learn more about buying shipping labels in the Netherlands →
July
Sort custom fields at checkout the way you need it
Now, if you add two or more custom fields at checkout, you can change their order the way you want. Sorting the fields allows you to place mandatory fields first and create a better customer experience.
Learn how to create and set up custom fields at checkout →
Automatic taxes calculation is live for more countries
You can enable the automatic tax calculation to get a precise tax rate on each order depending on the customer and store locations. All tax rates are up to date and automatically updated every time a particular country announces upcoming changes in the sales tax rules.
Apart from the US, EU, and other countries, automatic taxes calculation is now available for non-EU European countries: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, and Switzerland. Soon, the feature will be available for the Canary Islands, Melilla, and Ceuta.
Learn more about taxes for European stores →
Buy shipping labels from Ecwid admin (for Belgium and the Netherlands)
If you are a Belgian or Dutch business owner, you can now buy and print shipping labels without leaving your Ecwid admin. For now, you can buy labels for domestic shipments (that includes the EU countries). Soon, we will add labels for international shipments. Stay tuned!
Learn more about buying shipping labels in Belgium →
Learn more about buying shipping labels in the Netherlands →
June
Pre-orders: Sell products even when they are out of stock
With the new pre-orders feature, you can sell both stockouts and/or upcoming collections yet to hit the shelves. All you have to do is enable pre-orders for products, and even with zero stock they will still be available for purchase.
Learn how to accept pre-order in your store →
Make refunds with Lightspeed Payments from your Ecwid admin
Issuing refunds is now much easier with Lightspeed Payments. Unlike other payment solutions, Lightspeed Payments allows you to make a refund without leaving your store’s admin. You can check out the order’s details right away before proceeding with a refund. It’s possible to make a full or partial refund and perform multiple partial refunds on the same order.
Learn how to deal with refunds from your Ecwid admin →
Show shipping methods, order comments, and SEO tags in multiple languages
If you sell abroad or live in a country with several official languages, you can make your store multilingual. Just enable additional languages in your store and then translate your store’s content. In addition to storefront, buttons, and catalog, you can now show the Order comments caption and shipping methods names and descriptions in other languages. Also, you can translate the product's page title and meta description for SEO.
Learn how to offer your store in multiple languages →
Manage product attributes in bulk
Updating product attributes is now easier than ever. Use the spreadsheet-like Bulk Product Editor tool to quickly add or change products’ brand, materials, and other attributes.
Learn how to use the Bulk Product Editor →
Meet new zoom-on-hover effect for product images
With the new smooth zoom-on-hover effect for desktops, it’s easier for shoppers to inspect product details (texture, material, etc) on a product’s page. New zoom effect works for all high-resolution product pictures that are 1.5x bigger than the product thumbnail shown on the product page.
May
Customize your store checkout
Now you can add custom fields to your checkout page to collect information from customers. Ask for buyers’ tax ID, gift messages, packaging preferences, special delivery instructions, or date delivery preferences. This list is not complete and is only a selection of potential use cases for your store. Adding new checkout fields can be done in a blink of an eye right from your Ecwid admin.
Learn how to add custom fields to your checkout page →
Show the delivery date right away
In Ecwid, an estimated delivery date can be shown at checkout to help buyers decide quickly what shipping option to choose from. Now you can go the extra mile and show the delivery date right on a product page. It improves customer experience, especially when the holiday season approaches, when shipping needs to be extra predictable. For self-pickup, you can show an estimated available time for pickup instead.
Learn the ways to inform customers about an estimated delivery or pickup date →
April
Add cost of goods to your products
Specifying the cost price for products can help you to correctly calculate your profit. You can set separate cost price values for each of the variations your product has. All prices are stored in your Ecwid admin and remain invisible to customers.
Learn how to enable the Cost price attribute in your store →
Set discounts, “Compare to” prices, Price per unit, and dimensions for product variations
Now you can be very specific about your product variations and set up discounts, “Compare to” prices, add price per unit and dimensions for each type of your product.
Learn how to set bulk discount pricing for product variations →
Learn how to set ”Compare to” prices for product variations →
Learn how to specify Price per unit values for product variations →
Show off your business features
Tell customers why to choose your store with a new Feature List block in Ecwid Instant Site. In the new block, you can describe your advantages, whether it's free delivery, natural materials, or eco-friendly manufacturing. Choose icons to illustrate your benefits and customize the block design.
You can find new blocks in the "Company info" and "Delivery & Payment" sections of the Add new block editor.
Learn more about Ecwid Instant Site →
Get a better control over your Ecwid account
If you sign up to Ecwid with your Facebook, Google, Apple, or PayPal account, you can unlink your third-party account in case it’s compromised or you lose access to it. That way, you will secure your store and prevent any unauthorized access.
You can see all your linked accounts on the Profile page in your Ecwid admin.
Continue to chat with support after switching from iOS to desktop
Now you can continue to chat with Ecwid support even if you switch between devices. So if you have started a live chat on your iPhone, you can continue it on the desktop on your MacBook or PC, and vice versa. The chat history will be saved and visible both on your iPhone and in the web Ecwid admin at the same time.
To continue conversation in the current chat, keep it open while switching to another device. If you switch from desktop to your Ecwid app on iOS, open chat by tapping Get help → Online chat, and you will see the current chat.
Currently, continuing chatting between desktop and Ecwid mobile app is available for the iOS Ecwid app only. We plan to release the same feature for Android devices soon. Stay tuned!
Interact with the content via the Live Text feature on iPhone and iPad
Ecwid mobile app for iOS 15 and later now supports the Live Text feature. It means that you can copy text from pictures into any text field on your iPhone or iPad to fill in product details, customer addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, tracking numbers, etc. All you have to do is double-tap any text field in the Ecwid app to launch the Live Text option, then choose to scan the content. Point camera at the text on a picture and it will be automatically inserted in the text field.
Live Text works with both handwritten and typed text, and supports English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Portuguese, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Hallo! Ecwid Help Center is available in Dutch
We’ve added Dutch to our collection of translations that already includes English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. We constantly update articles to bring you a better self-service experience.
March
Set up blackout dates for pickup and local delivery
To prevent customers from selecting certain dates for delivery or pickup at checkout, you can add blackout dates to your store. This can be useful during the hot Holiday season or if you simply want to go on vacation.
Learn how to add blackout dates →
Specify dimensions for product variations
Let’s say you sell apparel that comes in different colors and sizes. Each combination of size and color is a variation. And now, you can now specify dimensions (length, width, and height) for each product variation to get more accurate carrier-calculated shipping rates! This means that customers will no longer underpay for the shipping and you will no longer need to cover the additional shipping expenses yourself.
Learn more about product variations →
Specify price per unit for product variations
Great news for all who sell product variations, especially for German merchants. You can combine several variants of the same product into one product with variations and specify the price per unit for each variation. Let’s say you sell juice. For a bottle of orange juice, you can specify how much 1 liter of orange juice costs and how many liters one bottle includes. Customers will see the appropriate unit price in the store after selecting the variation they want.
If your store address is German and your storefront is visited by a customer from Germany (Ecwid will determine that automatically), Price per Unit fields will be displayed on the product listing pages, too.
Learn how to enable price per unit →
Sell on the go with the Ecwid mobile app
Selling offline (e.g., on events or through messengers and phone) is now easier than ever. You can create a new order within the Ecwid mobile app in seconds. Add or remove products from an order, change the item quantity, add staff notes or customer info, and more. You don’t have to keep in mind tax rates and discounts for each order and calculate them manually—taxes and discounts are calculated automatically based on store settings.
Learn more about Ecwid mobile app for Android →
Learn more about Ecwid mobile app for iOS →
Update product subtitles in bulk
Update short descriptions for different products in seconds with Ecwid Bulk Product Editor. It looks like a spreadsheet where you can edit information about products. As you will type the first three symbols of a product subtitle, Ecwid will show suggestions if there were matches with other product subtitles already added to products. And not only that! If you have several languages added to your store, you can update translations as well:
Learn more how to quickly edit catalog with Bulk Product Editor →
Sell in different languages
If you sell abroad or live in a country with several official languages, you can make your legal pages multilingual. All you need to do is enable languages for your store and add your legal pages in each of them in Settings → Legal. Ecwid will automatically show a proper language to a customer depending on their browser preferences.
Learn more about offering your store in multiple languages →
Add additional tax fields when selling B2B in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa
If you are from one of the countries in the title and you do B2B sales, you can ask your local customers to enter their VAT IDs at checkout in a new Tax information field. Customers from Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia, or Singapore will see the GST account number field. Customers from South Africa will see the VAT ID field. Customers from Australia will see the ABN field. To show customers the new Tax information field, you must first enable it in your store.
Learn how to enable the new Tax information field at checkout →
February
Сonnect shipping methods to a free shipping discount coupon
You can connect any shipping or delivery method to “Free shipping” and “Free shipping + discount” coupons in your store. Why do so? First of all, that is the way for you to decide the free shipping locations for a coupon and avoid spending too much on distant regions. If you have a date picker set up in your store, customers can select the preferred delivery date and time, the same way they do without a coupon.
Learn how to apply a shipping method to the free delivery coupon →
Better scheduling for local delivery
When you offer a local delivery or pickup, you can ask customers for a delivery date. In some cases, customers might postpone the delivery or pickup date to a month or even a year. If you are not sure whether your item will be in stock for that long, you can specify how far in the future customers will be able to schedule local delivery or pickup. All dates after the specified period from the time of the order will not be available at checkout.
Learn how to set up a local delivery →
Learn how to set up pickup →
Easier to use gift cards in your store
From now on, the gift card field will be always displayed at the checkout if you sell at least one gift card. That means customers will be able to use a gift card in your store even if you accidentally deleted a card from your catalog or downgraded to the Free plan where gift cards are not available.
It creates a better customer experience and makes it easier for you to retain new customers who were invited to redeem a gift card in your store.
Learn how to add a gift card to your store →
New Tax ID fields at checkout for the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, and Brazil
If you are from Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, or Brazil, you can ask your local customers to enter their additional tax-related information (individual tax codes or business taxIDs) when placing orders. We added a new “Tax information” checkout step that can be enabled in the store settings. For Italian stores, you can collect Codice Fiscale or Partita Iva, and you can also collect PEC emails or SDI codes if you need. For Czech and Slovak stores, you can collect IČO and DIČ numbers from your business customers. For Brazilian stores, you can collect CPF numbers (from direct customers) or CNPJ numbers (from business customers).
Learn how to ask for Codice Fiscale, Partita Iva and SDI info →
Learn how to ask for CPF/CNPJ numbers →
Learn how to ask for IČO/DIČ numbers →
January
Chat support on any Ecwid plan
We’ve made live chat support available for Free plan users. Now you’ll get instant assistance to start your online business and learn how to use Ecwid. If you are on a Free plan, you can contact our support team for the first 30 days. After that, you may choose to upgrade to a paid plan to continue using chat support.
Check out other features available on paid plans →
Try Lightspeed Payments
We are excited to introduce you to a new payment system with the lowest fees compared to other payment methods in Ecwid—Lightspeed Payments. It is available for the US merchants and allows you to accept all major credit and debit cards. Currently, Lightspeed Payments is in beta, so contact our support team if you want to try it.
Learn more about Lightspeed Payments →
Design your navigation menu
Now you can decide how to show a navigation menu on your New-Gen Instant Site. There are eight layouts to choose from, including the hamburger menu view.
Learn how to add the navigation menu to your site →
Add customer reviews
Add customer reviews to your website to build trust with your customers and encourage them to buy from you. There is a whole new block in the New-Gen Instant Site dedicated to testimonials only. You can choose from several layouts.
Learn how to add a new block to your Instant Site →
New apostrophe separator for Switzerland
One small change for the price display, one giant leap for Swiss businesses. We added a new price display format for merchants from Switzerland using Swiss Franc that looks like this— 1'999.99. The apostrophe is a unique separator used in Switzerland only. The new price format is available if you set up the Swiss Franc currency in Ecwid settings.
Learn how to set up currency in your store →
Accept payments with Pin Payments in New Zealand
For New Zealand merchants, it is now possible to accept payments with Pin Payments, an Australian-based credit card processor.