Think about something you’ve bought recently. Maybe you were inspired by an Instagram post or found a product on Pinterest and followed the link to the website. Later in the day, you might have stopped by the store after work or searched for the product on eBay or Amazon to compare prices.
Your customers make their purchases through a number of different channels too: they shop on websites, social media, in apps, brick and mortar stores, and online marketplaces.
As a merchant, this means that whatever you’re selling should be available to your customers in a variety of locations. But how can you be everywhere as a small business?
People often say "you can’t be in two places at once." Here at Ecwid E-commerce, we reject that statement. We believe that you can be in all places at once because that’s exactly what our software was designed to do.
Our technology unites a bevvy of ways to sell online and in-person into single inventory, so you can serve your customers anywhere and everywhere they are from a single Ecwid dashboard. Here at Ecwid, we’ve made managing multiple sales channels as easy as checking your email. Curious? Read on to learn about some of the different ways you can sell with Ecwid, then give us a try for yourself!
1. Sell on a Free E-commerce Website
The moment you sign-up with Ecwid, you’ll be given a free one-page website to sell your products. We call it the "Instant Site." Our Instant Site is designed as a stepping stone and a great way to launch your online presence with minimal cost and effort.
You can customize your Instant Site’s template with your own cover images, text, and information about your business, like your story, testimonials, business hours, address, contact details, and social links. You decide the content, and we’ll automatically format it to look great on your customer’s screen.
Read more: Ecwid E-Commerce Website: Your Great Online Store from Day One
2. Open a Facebook Store
Selling your products on a website with 2 billion monthly active users sounds awesome, doesn’t it? In fact, the average Ecwid merchant with synchronized stores receives 15% of their sales from Facebook. Take your Facebook selling to the next level by opening a Facebook storefront.
If you set up your Facebook store with Ecwid, your customers can shop directly from your business page and go through the checkout from any device. Getting your product catalog on Facebook also gives you the opportunity to advertise specific products with powerful marketing tools like Dynamic Ads and the Facebook pixel.
It only takes a few minutes to create a Facebook store, and it’s also a great option as a standalone channel if you haven’t created a website yet. Follow our helpful guide to learn how to add products to your first Facebook store.
Read more: Ecwid’s New Social Selling Tools on Facebook
3. Sell on Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger live chat allows you to connect with your customers on one of the most popular apps, improve customer service, and create a personal connection with your audience. You can answer customers’ questions, help them choose the right size, give advice on how to use your product, or recommend other items based on their needs.
In terms of customer care, Facebook Messenger live chat checks a lot of user-boxes:
- Most online shoppers would rather send a message than call customer service.
- Being able to chat with a business helps customers feel more confident about a brand.
- And 1.3 billion people are already communicating with friends and brands through the Messenger app.
With Ecwid E-commerce, you can connect your store to Facebook Messenger and add live chat to your site in just a couple of clicks. Customers will be able to start a chat right from the product pages on your website, while any conversations will be saved in their Facebook Messenger inboxes for later.
Read more about using Facebook Messenger live chat in your Ecwid store.
4. Sell on Instagram
Instagram is a hot platform for businesses thanks to its visual format and active audience. But there’s no easy way to convert a follower into an actual paying customer without the use of something called Shoppable Posts. This new Instagram feature encourages purchases by allowing users to buy products featured in your posts by tapping a special shopping tag. The user stays on Instagram during checkout and the whole purchase process is completed in just a few clicks.
Ecwid’s integration with Instagram allows you to connect your Ecwid product catalog with your Instagram business profile and tag products in your posts (just like you’d tag people) that users can purchase. Take your Instagram feed from eye-candy to eye-catching storefront in minutes.
Read more: Sell on Instagram: How Ecwid Merchants Can Now Reach 1 Billion Shoppers
5. Sell on Pinterest
Unlike the majority of social platforms that thrive on influencers and conversations, Pinterest exists solely to inspire. And regular Pinners use the platform to plan for some of life’s biggest moments — including the purchases they’ll be making in those moments.
If you want to get in front of shoppers at the exact moment they’re looking to be inspired by products like yours, Pinterest is a no-brainer.
What’s more, unlike other platforms, Pinterest users don’t mind seeing branded pins while they’re exploring the platform. In fact, the majority of Pinners even find it helpful, provided that branded content they’re seeing is related to the inspiration they’re seeking. Here’s a couple stats:
- 66% of users buy something after seeing a brand’s pin
- 78% of Pinners say it’s useful to see content from brands on the platform.
Another major advantage of selling on Pinterest is the long lifespan of pins compared to other forms of social media content: Pinterest posts can win repins and engagement for months after an initial posting, while posts on other platforms will only thrive for a couple hours before losing steam.
Pinterest is also one of the world’s most trusted social platforms, scoring the highest level of customer satisfaction among social media platforms in 2019.
6. Sell on Snapchat
When it comes to engaging younger audiences, there’s no platform like Snapchat. According to a recent study, Snapchat reaches 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds and 90% of 13- to 24-year-olds in the U.S.
And Snapchat users visit their apps a LOT: 71% of Snapchat users visit the platform multiple times per day, with the average user opening their app 20 times for a total of 30 minutes of engagement.
So, if you’re looking for new advertising channels to grow your business and your target audience includes teens and young adults, Snapchat might just be your answer. Snapchat also provides an opportunity to reach new markets, with more than one-third of Snapchat users currently inactive on Facebook or Instagram.
And to top it off, Snapchat is still a relatively untapped resource. More marketers are turning to Instagram Stories for similar solutions, making advertising on Snapchat fairly competition-free.
To make your ads more effective and enhance your ability to find the right audience, add the Snap Pixel to your online store. The Snap Pixel will help you run remarketing ads, optimize ad performance, and even find more people like your customers to engage through your ads.
If you’re on Ecwid, all you have to do to claim your Pixel is copy and paste the code into your Ecwid Control Panel. Best of all, the integration is available on all Ecwid plans — including our Forever Free plan.
Learn more: Sell on Snapchat with the Snapchat Pixel for Ecwid
If you want to learn more about selling on social channels, check out our comprehensive guide to the most popular social media platforms and how to sell on them.
7. Sell on Amazon and eBay
These giant online marketplaces provide business owners with a large and ready-to-buy audience. While a standalone e-commerce website works great for building your brand, exporting your products to Amazon or eBay is a chance to sell on an already trusted platform with a developed infrastructure.
Ecwid’s integration with Amazon and eBay opens these sales channels to merchants on Business and Unlimited plans. Sell on eBay and Amazon right from your Ecwid account, set up prices and product titles specifically for these audiences, and keep your inventory synced with your other channels. Test the deep water of marketplaces without ever leaving your Ecwid Control Panel.
Read more:
- Sell Your Products on Amazon With Real-Time Inventory Synchronization
- How to Sell on eBay for Beginners
8. Add a Storefront to an Existing Website
Maybe you already have a website? If so, it might be time for a commercial touch.
You can add an Ecwid store to any existing website whether it’s built on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Joomla, Weebly, or something else entirely. Even with a custom website, it only takes seconds to plug in a new Ecwid store.
Your Ecwid store will come ready with all the features you need to sell online:
- A rich storefront: photo gallery, detailed product descriptions, and convenient product options
- 60+ payment methods
- Multiple shipping services with an automated calculator for shipping costs
- Automated tax calculation
- Marketing tools like coupons, sale prices, etc.
- Access to Ecwid App Market with 160+ e-commerce apps and more.
Read more: How To Add an Online Store to Your Existing Website
9. Add "Buy Now" Buttons to Your Blog or Webpage
A "Buy Now" Button is a fast and flexible option to sell your products beyond your online storefront.
You can place a "Buy Now" button on:
- A landing page
- A blog
- A sidebar
- Your homepage
- Partner websites
Simply copy and paste the code to any spot on your website (just like embedding a YouTube video). You can customize the look of the "Buy Now" button by adding frames and choosing which fields are displayed (price, quantity, etc.). The color scheme of your smart button will automatically match your website and flow seamlessly with your company branding.
If you want to create or edit your "Buy Now" button, open your Control Panel → Catalog → Individual product page → Embed Product → Copy a piece of code and paste to any desired page.
Read more: 7 Ways to Sell With Ecwid’s "Buy Now" Button
10. Turn Your Online Store into a Mobile App
A native mobile app under your brand name is a unique sales channel available in Ecwid. It’s fully responsive and works on every mobile device. With an app, your customers will always have your store right in their pockets, perfect for the quickly growing market of mobile shoppers.
Having your mobile app available on the App Store and Google Play brings your business closer to your customers than ever before. Request your app today and have it ready in two to three weeks.
Read more: Сomplement Your Ecwid Shop with a Mobile App — No Coding Required
11. Sell In-Person
Over 50% of your customers expect you to sell both online and offline — maximize your revenue opportunities by creating both an online store and physical points of sale.
With Ecwid, it’s convenient to sell your products on-the-go: at craft fairs, marketplaces, or even a pop-up store. Accept cash and update your sales list using Ecwid Mobile for iOS and Android.
Or make things even easier when you accept credit cards with one of our POS integrations (available in the Sell-on-the-Go app for iOS):
Manage Your Sales from Anywhere
No matter how many sales channels you use, managing your store with Ecwid is always fast and easy. For convenient access to your Control Panel from anywhere, download the Ecwid mobile app for iOS and Android to manage your orders and inventory, upload product pictures from your smartphone, launch and control special offers, and much more.
Read more: How to Run a Store from Your Smartphone
Omnichannel shopping is more than another trend: it’s the present and future of the retail industry. It comes down to understanding where and how your customers like to shop and providing them with a seamless shopping experience that gives them access to your products at the right time and through the right channels.
Create your free Ecwid account and start serving your customers better with a new omnichannel strategy.
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