We’re happy to announce the next major release of Ecwid, the long-awaited version 7.0. All Ecwid users have been upgraded automatically.
So what new features have been added since v6.0?
Stock control for options & Product Combinations
This great new feature allows you to set a unique SKU, image, price, stock on hand and low stock level for each option. When a customer selects the necessary option, the product details will be updated on the fly! Check how it works in our demo store.
This change was complex and it took a lot of time for our team to implement and release. Moreover, it was the most voted and long-awaited feature in our ideas base, so we’re very happy that it’s finally live! We’d like to thank our users who helped us beta-test this feature. Your help is very much appreciated.
Product combinations can be used in a ton of different ways. Just to list a few:
Track inventory per option. For example, you can have one t-shirt available in “S” and “L” sizes, and then you can have a separate stock for each size. So for example, if “S” size is sold out, your customers will still be able to purchase the “L” one. This feature will be especially useful for merchants who sell apparel.
Assign different images to your options. When a customer selects an option, Ecwid will update the products main image. This will allow your customers to instantly see what they are going to buy and what the option looks like.
If your options affect (raise/lower) your product price, the product combinations feature will allow you to update your product price on the fly. Your customer will be able to see the new price immediately right on the product details page.
Assign different weight to your options. If you use options to sell products in different packs or bundles, then your shipping methods will return more accurate rates.
Find any other use of this feature or just want to showcase how you use it? Post a link to a product with combinations to this thread: www.ecwid.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5278
This feature is only available with the Silver plan, so it’s an awesome reason to upgrade your account and support our team!
Now you can change your next Order ID
This feature appeared in v6.1, however we believe it deserves mentioning in our blog.
Now you can change what your Order IDs look like for your customers and increase them if necessary. So if you don’t want to start with order #1 and want to appear as a mature online store for your customers, you can increase it to #1000 in a few clicks. Confident customers = more sales for you : -)
Moreover, you can add a prefix or suffix to your IDs! So they can look like “MY-STORE-1000-2011″. Where “MY-STORE” and “2011″ are prefix/suffixes set up in your Ecwid backend. For example, this feature helps if you have numerous Ecwid stores and want to differentiate your orders.
The search functionality has been completely revamped
Fast and efficient search is a key feature for any online store, especially if you have many products. The faster your customer can find what they are looking for, the more likely they will purchase your products.
Our team has completely rewritten the search mechanism in Ecwid. It now works much faster, even if you have thousands of products. Moreover, it’s now a lot smarter; it returns more relevant results and supports advanced search syntax. For example you can search for an exact phrase or exclude products from the result if they contain a specific word.
Initial store loading speed has been improved
A great deal of work has been done by our engineers to improve the speed of the initial loading of your store. The size of the JavaScript code which loads when you initially open your store for the first time has been decreased by 35% ! This and some other internal improvements will make your store load faster. Remember, speed matters!
Required or non-required product options
Now your “Text field”, “Text area”, “Date Picker” and “Upload File” product options can be required or non-required for a customer. So you can set your products up in a more flexible way and adapt Ecwid to your unique business needs.
For example you can now make it a requirement for your customers to fill out the text field (e.g. “What text do you want to have on your t-shirt?“) or make the “Upload File” option optional (e.g. “Upload a file, you want to change the default image“).
New optional checkout field: “Company name”
Now your store can ask your customers about their company names.
Not all stores need this option, so this field is disabled by default. You can enable it on the “System Settings > General > Cart > Checkout Settings” page.
10 new storefront built-in translations
Portuguese, Slovak, Marathi, Hungarian, Polish, Latvian, Welsh, Dutch, Serbian and Turkish languages are built-in to the Ecwid core. So you can now enable them in one click from the Ecwid backend.
We’d like to give a big Thank You to Ricardo, Advix, Prashant, Dandekar, Balázs, Maciej, Arturs, Dafydd, Petra, Pro003 and Onur for their invaluable help with adding new languages.
Ecwid now has 29 built-in translations! So your international customers will see your store in their native language, so they will be able to purchase your goods without any problems.
If you’d like to add your language to our list of built-in translations, please refer to the “Translations” article.
Also
CSV export of orders has been improved. The design has been enhanced significantly (this design will be used in all export dialogs in the future) and it now allows to quickly export orders without information about ordered items. For example, you can export in such a way that one order will only take one line in the export file (instead of the one ordered item per line, if you export items). This format is very useful if you import your orders into accounting or shipping software.
Geeky stuff: Ecwid Product API now supports JSONP. So now you can easily access our API via JavaScript code on your page. All developers are welcome to create cool custom mods using this API and share them on our forums.
If you use the Silver plan, then your product import tasks will be done much faster.
Your store now shows a small note on the “Shopping bag” page, which tells your customers that products added to their cart will not be expired. This makes your customers confident that they can pick up where they left off, so they will come back to your store rather than abandon a cart.
And tons of other minor tweaks and improvements.
We want to thank all Ecwid users who voted for suggestions in our ideas base. If you voted for the features that are already implemented in this release, you will get your votes back. Pleases vote for the new ideas to show us what features we need to implement first.
Feel free to use and enjoy these new awesome features. Our team has already started to work on the next major version, which will add more cool and necessary things. Stay tuned : -)