ROI, or return on investment, is not a buzzword — it’s a powerful metric that helps businesses understand their profitability. But how does this apply to ecommerce stores? And, more importantly, how can you make it work for your business?

This blog will walk you through everything you need about ecommerce ROI — what it is, how to calculate it, what benchmarks to aim for, and actionable tips to improve your results.

What Is Ecommerce ROI and Why Does It Matter?

ROI, or return on investment, measures how much profit you’re earning compared to the amount you’ve invested. It’s a straightforward yet critical metric that businesses use to assess the efficiency of their investments.

Formula for ROI

ROI can be measured in various ways, but one of the most widely used formulas for ecommerce businesses is outlined below:

ROI = (Net Profit / Investment Cost) x 100 

For ecommerce, ROI is particularly significant because it reflects the profitability of initiatives like ad spend, inventory investments, or paid marketing campaigns.

Whether you’re analyzing the ROI for a seasonal product launch or your overall strategy, it’s a data-driven way to track how well your business is doing.

Remember, there are plenty of ways to calculate ROI. When talking about or comparing ROIs between departments or businesses, it’s a good idea to clarify which formula is used. Each method might focus on a different set of investments.

What Affects ROI in Ecommerce

Unlike traditional retail, ecommerce ROI is influenced by distinct factors, such as digital marketing performance, website user experience, and the scalability of logistics.

Here are a few considerations:

• Digital ads: Every click counts in ecommerce — are your ads converting into sales?
• Customer acquisition costs (CAC): Depending on how much you spend to attract a new buyer, this can heavily affect your ROI.
• Operational costs: Shipping prices and fulfillment processes can make or break your profit margins.

Understanding and managing these unique aspects will help you make smarter, ROI-driven decisions for your ecommerce business.

How to Calculate ROI for Ecommerce

The first step to boosting your ecommerce ROI is knowing your numbers. Once you’ve got that down, calculating ROI is easier than you might think.

To calculate ROI for ecommerce businesses, follow these steps:

1. Determine net profit: Subtract all costs (e.g., advertising, inventory, shipping) from your total revenue.

Example: If your revenue is $10,000 and costs total $7,000, your net profit is $3,000.

2. Divide net profit by cost of investment:

$3,000 (Net Profit) / $7,000 (Costs) = 0.43

3. Convert to percentage: Multiply by 100 for the ROI.

0.43 x 100 = 43%

What Is the Average Ecommerce ROI?

The ecommerce industry is very competitive, so benchmarks can vary by sector and type of business.

Industry Benchmarks for ROI in Ecommerce

Here are some ecommerce ROI insights that can help you set clear expectations:

• Overall ROI: A "good" ROI in ecommerce is generally considered 20% to 50%, which indicates that for every $1 invested, you’re returning $1.20 to $1.50 in profit.
• ROI for advertising campaigns worldwide is $2.43, meaning advertisers earn $2.43 for every dollar spent.

Median ROI of successful ad campaigns worldwide, 2017-2023 (Source: Statista)

What Is a Good ROI for Ecommerce?

While benchmark figures provide helpful guidelines, remember that a good ROI depends on your goals and operational costs.

If you’re running a luxury brand, your margins — and therefore your ROI — might naturally be higher. Conversely, a high-volume, low-cost model might prioritize market penetration over short-term profitability.

The average ROI for online businesses can vary significantly depending not only on the industry but also on the stage of the business.

For instance, a startup may experience a negative ROI in its early years due to heavy investments in research and development. In contrast, a well-established ecommerce business might achieve a healthy ROI of around 20%.

The key is to consistently track and optimize your ROI in alignment with your specific business model.

Tips for Boosting Ecommerce ROI

Once you’ve calculated your ROI, the real work begins: boosting it sustainably. Below are some proven strategies that ecommerce businesses can use.

Remember, blindly following advice from the internet isn’t always the best approach. Start by taking a closer look at your current operations, marketing, and customer service.

Once you spot where the biggest costs or inefficiencies are, you can focus on creating a plan to tackle those.

The ideas below are definitely helpful, but your business might already be using them — or you might have other areas that need more attention.

Optimize Your Marketing for High Returns

Effective marketing can dramatically increase your revenue while minimizing investment. Here are some strategies to focus on:

• Retargeting ads: Target shoppers who’ve already shown interest in your products to convert at a lower cost.
• Email campaigns: Build loyalty with personalized messages or exclusive subscriber discounts. On average, email brings in $36 for every dollar you spend — that’s a better return than any other channel.
• SEO: Although this approach requires more time, it can be cost-effective when done right. Drive organic traffic with product pages and blogs optimized for keywords relevant to your niche.

Read the article below to learn more about improving ROI for marketing campaigns:

Maximizing ROI: Creating Cost-Effective Marketing Campaigns for Ecommerce
Read more

If you sell online with Ecwid by Lightspeed, you’re in for a treat! Along with a powerful online store, this ecommerce platform gives you handy tools for running retargeting ads, email marketing, and improving your SEO.

Streamline Operational Costs

Operational costs of an ecommerce business can include inventory management, shipping and fulfillment, and customer service. These costs can quickly add up and eat into your profits if not properly managed.

Here are some ways to reduce operational costs:

• Use inventory management software to reduce stock wastage by tracking inventory levels, monitoring expiration dates, and ensuring optimal stock levels at all times
• Partner with efficient warehousing and shipping providers to minimize shipping costs and ensure timely delivery to customers
• Negotiate with suppliers for the best prices for bulk orders or negotiate better payment terms.

If you run your online store with Ecwid by Lightspeed, you’ll love the built-in tools for managing inventory, like stock tracking and low-stock alerts. On top of that, Ecwid helps you save money on shipping with discounted rates for shipping labels.

With Ecwid, you can buy shipping labels right where you manage your orders

Enhance Customer Experience

Happy customers = loyal customers. This increases repeat purchases, which is more cost-efficient than acquiring new buyers. Try:

• Simplified checkout: Streamline the purchasing process by removing unnecessary steps to improve your conversion rate. A smooth checkout keeps customers engaged and reduces cart abandonment.
• Flexible returns: Offer a customer-friendly return policy to reassure hesitant buyers, making them more likely to complete their purchase. This approach minimizes the risk of bad reviews or lost sales.
• Product reviews and FAQs: Provide product reviews and clear answers to common questions to build trust through transparency. This helps customers make informed decisions, boosting confidence in your products.

If you run an Ecwid store, you can easily improve the customer experience. Tools like a smooth checkout process, product reviews, live chat, or self-service options like an FAQ can make a big difference.

A review showcased on a product page within the Ecwid store

Leverage Analytics

Data is your secret weapon for fine-tuning every corner of your business, helping you make smarter decisions and drive better results. For instance, it can reveal customer behavior trends and identify areas for growth or improvement.

Here are some ideas to leverage data:

• A/B testing: Regularly test new product pages, ad creatives, or loyalty incentives to see what drives better results.
• Analytics platforms: Use in-depth reports to monitor trends and proactively refine underperforming areas.

Ecwid stores include built-in reports that show how your online store is doing. You can track revenue, visits, conversions, the results of your marketing campaigns, and more. This helps you make informed decisions about your business rather than relying on guesswork.

Use Ecwid’s reports to understand shoppers’ behavior better

Start Boosting Your Ecommerce ROI

A healthy ROI is one of the indicators of your ecommerce business’s success. Understanding what drives ROI, calculating it, and committing to improvements will enable you to create scalable, long-term growth.

From fine-tuning your marketing strategy to enhancing customer experience, every tip shared here can help you move one step closer to your goals. Start tracking your ROI today and see where you can make adjustments — it’s never too late to increase your returns.

Looking for tools to streamline your processes and grow even faster? Check out Ecwid’s ecommerce solutions to build a thriving business.

The post Boosting Ecommerce ROI: Top Ways to Increase Returns first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Starting a business is a thrilling adventure, but many entrepreneurs struggle to secure the funding needed to bring their ideas to life. Traditional options like loans or venture capital can be hard to access, especially for new founders.

What if there was another way?

While crowdfunding is commonly linked to personal or charitable projects, it can also be a powerful way to fund a business, especially in its early stages. In fact, the Business and Entrepreneurship category leads all crowdfunding markets, accounting for 41.4% of funds raised.

Whether launching a tech innovation, a creative product, or a social enterprise, you could benefit from a crowdfunding campaign. Let’s learn more about how it works!

What Is Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is raising capital through small contributions from many people (backers or donors), typically via online platforms. It’s often used to fund projects, medical aid, businesses, products, or charitable causes.

Crowdfunding allows individuals or organizations to gather financial support without relying on traditional sources like banks, venture capitalists, or wealthy investors, which often involve strong credit history, high interest rates, and money that needs to be paid back.

With crowdfunding, any money raised is typically free of interest and debt-free.

Another benefit often overlooked about crowdfunding is that it allows you to gauge interest in your product or business idea before fully committing to production or scaling. If people are willing to back your business, it’s a good sign of demand for your product or service.

Generally, crowdfunding can provide access to capital, market validation, and a built-in customer base. It also helps test ideas before a full-scale launch.

An example of a crowdfunding campaign for a new product

Is Crowdfunding Right for You?

Crowdfunding offers an easy way for startups to raise capital, requiring smaller investments than traditional methods. But is it right for everyone?

Fortunately, one of the most appealing features of this funding method is that anyone and everyone can do it. Although there is no guarantee of success, as long as you have a good funding platform and understand how to appeal to your audience, you should be able to see some benefit from it.

Let’s take a closer look at this approach to fundraising and figure out if this is the right choice for you.

Are You a Good Storyteller?

When it comes to crowdfunding for startups, users must be able to put together a strong and compelling story. You must be convinced that your product or prototype offers something great.

When telling your story, you’ll need the ability to craft it in a way that implies to your audience how your product is an industry game-changer. If you’ve never been good with your words or find it difficult to inspire others, perhaps crowdfunding might not be your best route.

This crowdfunding campaign shares the story of its founders to encourage support for their product — an app for female stroke survivors designed to aid recovery

Do You See a Demand for Your Product?

This goes hand in hand with having a compelling product story. Before you even put together a story for your campaign, you’ll need to ensure that your product is appealing to the public.

Can your business idea genuinely benefit a wide audience? Is there a clear demand for what you’re offering? Does your product solve a common problem — or does it better than your competitors?

Even if you have an excellent product, it can be difficult to secure backers if demand is lacking and few people are anticipating it. Without a clear market interest, attracting support for your project may prove challenging.

On platforms like StartEngine, campaigns often showcase the current market demand for a product to demonstrate its potential and attract backers

Do You Have Reasonable Financial Goals?

Although it is possible to raise millions through crowdfunding, most campaigns stay within the thousands. This is why you might consider a plan B to support your campaign or evaluate whether your product idea requires a much bigger financial foundation than crowdfunding.

Can You Offer Compelling Rewards?

Last but not least, what’s in it for your bakers? Most backers expect something in return, ranging from a discount once your product is launched to monetary compensation once your business is running and thriving.

Creating a valuable reward for your bakers is a huge determining factor in whether you can make a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Campaigns for physical products often incentivize backers by offering the product as a reward, either at a discounted price or as part of a value-packed bundle

After examining what it takes to create a successful crowdfunding campaign, do you see your business idea relating to all of these? If yes, you should be ready to choose your crowdfunding platform and start raising funds to turn your idea into a viable business.

Choosing a Crowdfunding Platform

Once you’re ready to launch your campaign, you’ll find a wide range of crowdfunding platforms to choose from.

Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, and equity-based platforms like Crowdcube or StartEngine allow entrepreneurs to raise capital directly from a broad audience.

With each offering something different, selecting the right one can feel overwhelming. Ultimately, you’ll want to pick the platform that best aligns with your target audience and the industry you aim to engage.

Choosing the right crowdfunding platform depends on several factors, including the type of project you’re working on, your target audience, and your funding goals.

Let’s briefly explore some available options, keeping in mind that each platform has strengths and considerations.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is the most well-known and widely used crowdfunding platform. It primarily supports creative projects such as Design, Tech, Arts, Games, Music, and more. Due to its large audience, the platform attracts millions of visitors yearly, making it an appealing option for many.

Kickstarter’s diverse projects appeal to both creators and backers alike

However, a significant drawback is that if a project doesn’t reach its funding goal—even by just a dollar—the creator loses all the funds raised, which can be concerning for some.

Also, Kickstarter projects can’t offer certain rewards for backers, such as equity, revenue sharing, or investment opportunities.

Indiegogo

This crowdfunding platform allows individuals, startups, and organizations to raise funds for a wide range of projects, including new products, creative endeavors, charitable causes, and more.

Indiegogo provides various tools for creators, including marketing support and backer management.

Indiegogo also has a shop section on its website that features ready-to-ship products that originated as crowdfunding campaigns

Unlike Kickstarter, it offers both "fixed funding" (where you only keep the funds if you reach your goal) and "flexible funding" (where you keep whatever you raise, even if you don’t meet your goal).

StartEngine

StartEngine focuses on equity crowdfunding, where backers invest in early-stage companies in exchange for equity. This platform is more suited to entrepreneurs seeking venture capital-style funding.

Every StartEngine campaign highlights why it’s a worthwhile investment opportunity

Patreon

With a platform like Patreon, you can receive unlimited backer support and donations, unlike the one-time donation policy adopted by previous ones. It is a membership platform that allows creators to earn a sustainable income by offering exclusive content and rewards to their supporters, known as patrons.

Creators across various fields, such as artists, musicians, writers, podcasters, video creators, and others, use Patreon to connect with their audiences and get paid for their work.

While Patreon is mainly targeted at creators, businesses can also use it to offer exclusive perks and content to their loyal customers.

This club and bar uses Patreon to provide exclusive perks for its supporters, such as merch and priority access to events

Just be wary of Patreon’s fees, as they tend to be slightly higher than those of the previous platforms.

How to Create a Succesful Crowdfunding Campaign

Preparing your crowdfunding campaign is the most crucial step and will be a huge indicator of your overall success. Failure to properly put together a reliable plan could result in a waste of your time.

Successful crowdfunding campaigns require careful planning, a compelling story, and strategic execution. Let’s examine each step.

Consider the Length of Your Campaign

The length of your campaign will depend on your specific financial goals. A campaign length of 30 to 60 days is a rule of thumb and simply designates what typically works best before bakers or campaign creators begin to feel worn out.

If you can easily manage a campaign lasting more than two months and feel confident about your promises, then you can do so. Just make sure you plan your length accordingly.

Identify Key Messages and Goals of Your Campaign

You’d want to determine your specific campaign goals to align them with your key messages; these will make your campaign stand out.

What exactly are the key messages and goals of a crowdfunding campaign?

A key message is the main idea or theme you want to convey to potential backers or supporters. It should be clear, concise, and memorable. Your key message could be your project’s purpose, impact, or why people should care about it.

Your goal, on the other hand, should be a specific and measurable outcome that you want to achieve through your campaign. This could be a certain amount of funds raised, a number of backers reached, or even raising awareness for a cause.

When determining your key messages and goals, consider what will resonate with your target audience. What are their interests and priorities?

Identifying your key messages should also help you develop a great campaign title, making it more appealing to your audience.

The title of this campaign clearly conveys its core message: transforming waste into sustainable fashion

Consider examining similar campaigns done in the past to understand more about how they earned bakers’ attention and trust.

Start with a Compelling Story

​​Share your personal journey behind the project. People love connecting with authentic, fun, and relatable stories.

This campaign begins with the inspiring journey of its founder

If it suits your product, consider incorporating light-hearted humor into your story. Whether through funny anecdotes, playful language, or quirky details about your project, humor can make your campaign memorable.

Define Your Audience

Who is most likely to support your project? Define their demographics, interests, and pain points. How can you appeal to them and motivate them to support your campaign?

Use Engaging Visuals

While you can do a standard pitch video, animations or engaging visuals can help explain your product or cause better.

For example, if you are promoting a new app, consider creating a short animated video that showcases its features and explains why they are innovative and how they benefit your audience.

Using images and infographics to showcase your product conveys its value clearly to potential backers

Highlight Your Accomplishments

If you have any previous successes or achievements related to your project, highlight them. This will demonstrate credibility and show you have the skills and experience necessary to bring your project to life.

Design a Campaign Page

Ensure your page is visually appealing and the primary information, such as project description, rewards, and timeline, is easy to find.

Offer Compelling Rewards

Encourage your backers with fun or meaningful rewards for their contributions.

One standard reward for crowdfunding campaign backers is receiving the final product or service once the campaign is completed.

Offering tiered rewards helps incentivize backers to contribute more, with higher tiers offering exclusive or additional rewards

Alternatively, rewards can be as simple as a thank-you post highlighting their contribution, a discount to your store or services after launch, or using 10% of their donation for another meaningful cause.

Creating a valuable reward for your backers is a huge determining factor in whether or not you can successfully run a crowdfunding campaign.

What Happens After You’ve Launched Your Crowdfunding Campaign?

Once your campaign is running, most of the hard work is over, and it’s just a matter of waiting. All you’ll need to do is keep the momentum going.

To do this, you’d want to post every day about your story and campaign on social media, continue pitching people, and pay close attention to any questions from your bakers.

You’ll also want to try to provide updates regularly to let your audience know you are still counting on their support.

You can also use this time to develop a strong promotion plan to reach a wider audience. For example, you can create an email campaign, focus on paid advertising, start a blog, or contact your local press regarding your project idea.

Don’t hesitate to ask friends, family, and colleagues to share your campaign with their networks and help you reach your goal. They’ll likely be happy to help.

In the end, the success of your campaign will be determined by how good of a storyteller you are and how much effort you put into letting others know about it.

If you like to be proactive and ahead of the game, even if your campaign is not over yet, Ecwid offers a free plan to help you put together your online store and have it ready for the time you open for business. With no fees, you have nothing to lose.

No matter your niche, Ecwid offers a variety of customizable templates to help you quickly create a professional business website

Famous Businesses That Started Through Crowdfunding

If you’re still doubting whether crowdfunding can help you kickstart your journey as a business owner, let’s look at some well-known businesses that got their start through crowdfunding.

Pebble Technology

Pebble was one of the earliest success stories in crowdfunding, raising significant capital for its smartwatch project. The company launched its smartwatch on Kickstarter in 2015, quickly becoming one of the platform’s most-funded projects at the time.

Pebble’s early success helped pave the way for future crowdfunding projects in tech.

• Platform: Kickstarter
• Initial goal: $100,000
• Raised: Over $20 million

Oculus VR

Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset that Oculus VR launched through crowdfunding, gained massive attention and ultimately caught the eye of Facebook.

• Platform: Kickstarter
• Initial Goal: $250,000
• Raised: $2.4 million

The Oculus Rift crowdfunding campaign garnered the support of over 9,500 backers

Exploding Kittens

A popular card game that was successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter.

• Platform: Kickstarter
• Initial goal: $10,000
• Raised: $8.7 million.

Coolest Cooler

The Coldest Cooler launched on Kickstarter. Its goal was to create a high-tech cooler with several features, including a built-in blender, Bluetooth speakers, a USB charger, and LED lighting.

The pitch was aimed at outdoor enthusiasts who would appreciate innovative capabilities and convenience.

• Platform: Kickstarter
• Initial goal: $125,000
• Raised: over $12 million.

Final Thoughts on Crowdfunding Your Business

Crowdfunding a business is like sharing your dream with the world and inviting others to join your journey. It’s not just about raising money — it’s about building a community, earning trust, and proving your idea before it even launches.

Of course, crowdfunding takes some planning, clear communication, and a solid strategy to succeed, but when done right, it can be a viable option for funding your business. We hope this article helps you achieve just that!

Power up your startup with ecommerce.
Learn more

• How to Choose the Best Tools to Help You Launch Your Startup
• Federal Funding Programs for Small Businesses Startups
• How to Crowdfund Your Online Startup
• Getting Started with Business Loans for Startups

The post How to Crowdfund Your Business or Startup and Bring It to Life first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Blogging has evolved from a hobby into a viable career option. With the right strategy, tools, and mindset, anyone with a passion for writing and a unique voice can transform a blog into a full-fledged business.

In this article, we’ll break down the key steps to monetize your blog, grow your audience, and turn your content into cash. From affiliate marketing and sponsored posts to selling your products or services, there’s no shortage of ways to generate income online.

So grab your laptop, settle in, and explore how you can start earning money doing what you love: blogging!

Choose Your Niche

The first step to making money from blogging is selecting a profitable niche for your blog. Ideally, it should be something you’re passionate about but also something that has demand in the market.

Some niches tend to perform better than others in terms of monetization. A few examples include:

• Finance (e.g., investing, personal finance, credit cards, loans)
• Health and wellness (e.g., fitness, nutrition, mental health)
• Lifestyle and parenting (e.g., family, home organization, lifestyle tips)
• Tech (e.g., gadgets, software, reviews)
• Travel (e.g., destination guides, travel tips, itineraries)
• Business and marketing (e.g., SEO, entrepreneurship, ecommerce).

Remember to go after a blog niche you can picture yourself writing about for the next few years. For example, if you have a love for technology, then a tech-focused blog might be the perfect fit for you.

When it comes to blog content, the most common formats are how-to articles, lists, news and trends, guides, and opinion pieces. You can use these formats for pretty much any blog topic.

Most frequent blog content types among bloggers worldwide (Source: Statista)

It’s up to you to decide which format best suits your writing style and the niche you choose to focus on. However, keep in mind that some formats may be more popular for certain niches than others. For example, how-to articles are commonly used in tech and business blogs, while destination guides and travel tips are popular in travel blogs.

If your blog already has a consistent theme and regular posting schedule, the next step is simple: start monetizing. We’ll cover how to do that shortly, so keep reading!

Start a Blog Online

The first step in starting a blog is selecting your domain name and setting up your website.

Choosing the right site builder for a blog may seem daunting, but it’s more straightforward than you might expect. The most common option for blogging is WordPress, as it is highly scalable and versatile.

WordPress offers full control over website customization with thousands of free themes, various plugins, and a drag-and-drop editor for multimedia content. Features like forums, online stores, and SEO tools make it a top choice for monetizing blogs.

Ecwid’s plugin for WordPress lets you easily add an online store or Buy Button, making it simple to monetize your WordPress blog.

Ecwid allows you to seamlessly integrate Buy Buttons into your blogs, enabling readers to make purchases

Create High-Quality, Engaging Blog Content

The heart of a successful blog is valuable content. Whether through articles, videos, or infographics, the goal is to educate, entertain, or inspire your readers.

Quality content solves problems or answers questions your audience has.

Don’t just provide information—tell a compelling story. People connect with personal experiences, relatable struggles, or humor. A blog that tells a good story is more likely to build a loyal following and keep readers coming back.

Build an Engaged Audience

Blogging isn’t just about writing; it’s about creating a community. You need readers to actively engage with your content, whether through comments, social media shares, or email signups.

Tip: Focus on creating "conversations," not just one-way communication. Ask questions, respond to comments, and create opportunities for your audience to interact with each other. This will make your blog feel like a space where readers belong.

Monetize Your Blog

Once you’ve built an audience and have consistent traffic, you can start thinking about monetization.

You can monetize your blog using any of the following ways:

• Affiliate marketing: You can promote products or services and earn a commission for each sale made through your referral link.
• Sponsored content: Brands may pay you to write posts about their products or services.
• Ad revenue: You can run ads through networks like Google AdSense or directly with brands.
• Selling products or services: Create and sell your own products, such as e-books, courses, or merchandise.
• Membership or subscription models: Offer exclusive content to paying subscribers.

Be sure to choose monetization strategies that feel authentic to your blog. For instance, if your blog is about sustainable living, promoting eco-friendly products or brands that align with your values will feel more natural and engaging.

This travel blog adds affiliate links in the content to promote products and services related to their niche, such as travel gear, accommodation, and transportation

Or course, you can use several monetization options for blog at once, for example, pairing affiliate marketing and sponsored content with selling your e-book. Ultimately, the key to successful blog monetization is finding the right balance between generating income and maintaining your audience’s trust.

One of the most popular monetization options for blogs is affiliate marketing. For many bloggers, affiliate marketing is the primary revenue focus because it influences initial content strategy and generates significantly more income than ads alone.

Another popular option is adding an online store or a Buy Button to your blog (if you’ve got something to sell). With Ecwid by Lightspeed, you can seamlessly add these features to any blog, regardless of the site builder. This solution is perfect for selling physical and digital products, subscriptions, or services like consultations.

Blogging for Ecommerce: Best Strategies for Online Stores
Read more

Do I Have to Write a New Blog Consistently to Make Money via Blogging?

Not necessarily. While consistency is important for building a loyal audience, you can still make money through blogging without constantly creating new content.

Many successful bloggers have found success by focusing on quality rather than quantity and by using passive income streams such as affiliate marketing or digital products that continue to generate income over time.

Additionally, repurposing or updating old content can also bring in extra revenue without the pressure of constantly producing new blog posts.

Posting once a week seems to be the go-to schedule for most bloggers around the world, so it’s a great starting point to guide your own posting routine.
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24% of bloggers surveyed worldwide reported posting blog entries weekly (Source: Statista)

However, it’s important to note that consistent and fresh content can help attract new readers and keep your current audience engaged, which can ultimately lead to more monetization opportunities. So, while it’s not necessary to write a new blog every day, finding a balance between consistency and quality should be on your to-do list.

Work on Your Blog SEO

To get more readers to your blog, you need to show up on search engines like Google. SEO involves using the right keywords, optimizing your content for search engines, and improving your site’s structure. Good SEO helps more people find your blog.

Tip: Instead of just writing for search engines, write with your readers in mind. Focus on answering real questions and providing in-depth, helpful content. This kind of "reader-first" approach will help your content rank well in the long term.

Use Relevant Keywords in Your Blog Content

Popular keyword research tools are Moz’s Keyword Explorer and SEMrush. These tools can help you find long-tail keywords, which are longer and more specific phrases that people may use when searching for information.

Update Old Blog Posts

Remember to update your old blog posts. Search engines use different factors to rank websites, and the freshest content often gets the best spots. Keeping your posts up-to-date can help them climb higher in the search results.

Improve Your Blog Structure

Another important aspect of SEO is optimizing your website’s structure. This includes making sure your pages are easily accessible and organized and using descriptive titles and meta descriptions for each page. This will improve the user experience and make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site.

Additionally, make sure to optimize other elements of your blog, such as title tags, meta descriptions, and image alt text with relevant keywords. This will give search engines more information about what your blog is about and improve its chances of showing up in search results.

Create Backlinks

It’s also crucial to have high-quality backlinks pointing to your blog. Backlinks are links from other websites that lead to yours. These links act as votes of confidence in the eyes of search engines, showing that your content is valuable and trustworthy.

You can build backlinks by guest blogging, collaborating with influencers, and creating shareable content that other websites want to link to.

6 Common SEO Practices You Need to Leave in the Past
Read more

Use Social Media and Email to Promote Your Blog

While SEO is vital for getting your blog seen, it’s also important to actively promote your content through other channels.

Over 90% of bloggers use social media to promote their posts, with email marketing and SEO also popular, used by about two-thirds of respondents.

Top ways to promote blog posts among bloggers worldwide (Source: Statista)

Social media is a great way to expand your reach and bring traffic to your blog. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest (depending on your niche) can help you build a larger audience.

Tip: Promoting your blog through social media isn’t just about self-promotion. You should also engage with other users, share valuable content from others in your niche, and participate in online communities related to your topic.

Email marketing is another powerful tool. Building an email list allows you to reach out directly to your audience with updates, new posts, and promotions. It’s also a great way to keep your readers engaged and turn them into loyal subscribers.

The common ways to build your email list are through pop-ups, opt-in forms on your website, and offering a freebie in exchange for an email address.

This email form entices subscribers to sign up by offering freebies

Start Earning from Your Blog From Day One

Once you set up your blog and start posting regularly, you can begin monetizing right away. There’s no need to wait for a certain number of monthly visitors.

Selling your own product is one of the fastest ways to start generating revenue from your blog. For bloggers, the most common types of products to sell are e-books, online courses, and memberships. If you have expertise in a particular niche, consider offering coaching services or consulting sessions.

Ecwid by Lightspeed is a top choice for bloggers because it allows you to sell products directly on your blog without needing a separate ecommerce site.

You can easily embed an Ecwid storefront into your blog and start selling your products or services immediately. This makes it ideal for bloggers who want to keep their readers engaged and on their site while making money.

Here’s how you can use Ecwid to start making money from your blog:

• Sell physical products, like your merchandise. Ecwid works with popular print-on-demand services that handle printing and shipping your custom-designed items for you.
• Sell digital products, such as e-books, courses, or printables
• Sell services, such as coaching or consulting sessions
• Sell memberships or subscriptions, for example, for access to exclusive blog content or community for blog readers
• Allow your readers to show their support by contributing tips or donations
• Use built-in marketing tools to promote your products or services, like discount codes, email marketing, and social media selling.

Check out all the benefits of Ecwid for bloggers and start making a living with your blog.

Final Thoughts on Making a Living Blogging

Success in blogging doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to build an audience, refine your voice, and start making money. But consistency is key. Keep posting regularly, experimenting with different types of content, and tweaking your strategies.

Pay attention to which posts get the most traffic or engagement, and double down on those types of content. Also, be open to feedback from your readers — it’s one of the best ways to grow and improve.

Add an online store to your blog or sell products directly in your blog posts.
Learn more

• Buy Button: A Simple Way to Monetize Your Blog
• How to Make Money Blogging
• Blogging for Ecommerce: Best Strategies for Online Stores
• 10 Simple Evergreen Ways to Monetize Your WordPress Blog
• How to Become a Fashion Blogger and Make Money
• How to Make A Living Blogging
• The Best Blogging Platforms

The post How to Make a Living Blogging: A Step-by-Step Guide to Turning Your Blog into a Business first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Are you considering migrating your online store to a new platform? If so, you’re not alone.

Many businesses find their current ecommerce platforms limiting as they grow. This shift—known as ecommerce platform migration or ecommerce replatforming—can provide better tools, improve functionality, and power your business’s next stage of growth.

However, migrating ecommerce stores can be complex, requiring careful execution to ensure a smooth transition. That’s why we’ve put together this guide for ecommerce migration designed to help you transfer your store to a new platform safely while minimizing disruptions.

Read on to discover the reasons behind ecommerce migration, how it works, and the step-by-step process to get it right.

What Does Ecommerce Platform Migration Mean?

Ecommerce platform migration refers to the process of transferring your online store from one ecommerce platform to another. This could involve moving your product catalog, customer data, and other key information to a new system.

Why do businesses migrate? It could be anything from scaling their operation with better tools to improving workflow, design flexibility, or customer experience. Whatever the reason, ecommerce migration isn’t just about technological upgrades—it’s about setting your business up for long-term success.

Common Reasons for Ecommerce Migration

Not sure if it’s time to migrate? Here are some of the most common reasons why businesses switch:

Need for Enhanced Features

Your current platform may lack advanced features such as automated marketing tools or robust analytics. Switching to a new platform with richer features can add value to your business.

Limited functionality is the top factor leading businesses to migrate to a different ecommerce platform (Source: Statista)

Scalability Issues

If your platform can’t keep up with your growing sales or traffic, it’s time to move. Evolving businesses need platforms that scale seamlessly.

High Costs

Some platforms have hidden fees, high hosting costs, or expensive plugins. Migrating to a more cost-effective platform can free up your resources for critical business needs.

Poor User Experience

Are customers complaining about slow load times, confusing navigation, or outdated designs? A migration to a customer-centric platform can improve their experience—and your conversion rates.

Limited Integrations

An ecommerce solution that limits integrations with payment gateways, marketing tools, or analytics platforms can hold your business back. Moving to one that supports broader integrations can open up new growth opportunities.

If any of these challenges resonate with you, it might be time to consider ecommerce replatforming.

Ecommerce Migration Checklist

Switching platforms might sound daunting—but following a structured plan can make it seamless. Here’s your guided path to migrating your store:

Step 1: Choose a New Platform

A survey of ecommerce businesses revealed their biggest platform complaints. Over 20% were unhappy with limited website customization, while 8% cited poor customer support.

Key features ecommerce businesses miss on platforms (Source: Statista)

Consider the shortcomings of your current platform and do your research to make an informed decision. Look for a platform that aligns with your business’s needs and goals.

Consider factors such as:

• pricing
• scalability
• available features
• user-friendliness
• integrations
• customer support.

Take advantage of free trials to explore your options first-hand. Some platforms also offer free plans, for example, Ecwid by Lightspeed.

Step 2: Configure Your Account and Basic Settings

Once you’ve chosen your new platform, it’s time to set it up:

• Add your store’s address and contact details.
• Configure currency, language, and timezone settings.
• Set up your branding (such as your logo and color scheme).

While these may be small steps, they ensure that your store aligns with your business identity from the beginning.

Step 3: Transfer Your Products to Your New Platform

Now that the groundwork is ready, it’s time to move your products. This can be done in several ways, depending on your catalog size:

• Copy and paste content: Suitable for stores with a small number of products.
• Upload products via CSV file: Most popular shopping carts let you export product details to CSV files. Export your product data as a CSV file from your old platform and upload it to your new one. Ensure the CSV file matches your new platform’s format for a hassle-free import.
• API-based app migration: For large-scale migrations, a custom app can handle the transfer using APIs. This is ideal for businesses with thousands of product listings.

Double-check that all product descriptions, prices, and images appear correctly after import.

If you’re migrating your online store to Ecwid, you’re in luck — you can easily import even large product catalogs, saving time and transferring essential data like descriptions, prices, media, inventory levels, product options, and more.

Here’s what an Ecwid merchant, Jordan Woolmer of Tapered Roller Bearings, says about Ecwid’s import tool:

 Any store with a large catalog must give Ecwid by Lightspeed a try. Importing products with CSV files is very simple, enabling users to upload thousands of products at once. The image upload is also very simple, and you can add multiple product images across all products in bulk. Jordan Woolmer

Discover how Jordan streamlines the management of thousands of products with Ecwid, all while saving valuable time:

Step 4: Transfer Customer Data

The next step is migrating your customer database. Here’s how you can handle it:

• CSV upload: Export your customer details (names, emails, purchase history) from your old platform and upload it to the new one.
• API solution: If you’re dealing with a larger data set, a custom app can extract and transfer this information seamlessly.

Maintaining a customer database is crucial for personalized marketing, email campaigns, and ongoing customer relationships.

When migrating an existing customer base from another platform to Ecwid, you don’t have to worry about a thing. Ecwid’s built-in data import tool lets you quickly bring over everything about your customers. The tool covers everything from multiple shipping addresses and social media contacts to phone numbers, notes, and more.

Importing your customer base to Ecwid is straightforward

Step 5: Complete Shipping, Payment, and Tax Configuration

With your products and customers successfully migrated, it’s time to configure essential store functions:

• Set up shipping options (if you sell physical products).
• Add payment gateways to enable transactions—popular options include Lightspeed Payments, Stripe, and PayPal.
• Configure tax rates based on your business region.

Make sure to test everything by running a few sample orders before launch.

Step 6. Add an Online Store to Your Website

Whether you’re building a new ecommerce website from the ground up or integrating an online store into an existing site, you may need to connect your new store to your current platform.

For instance, if you have a WordPress website with a Shopify store but decide to migrate to Ecwid, you’ll need to integrate your new Ecwid store into your WordPress site.

Most ecommerce platforms provide clear instructions for adding an online store to your website. For instance, here’s a how-to on integrating your Ecwid store with any site.

If you do not have a website for your online store, you can create an ecommerce site from scratch.

Choosing the Best Platform for Ecommerce Migration

Many business owners switched to Ecwid by Lightspeed for ease of use, robust functionality, or to avoid transaction fees.

Ecwid offers a user-friendly website builder that allows you to create a professional-looking website with a built-in online store without coding knowledge.

You can choose from various site templates and customize them to fit your brand’s aesthetic. Ecwid’s responsive design will make your online store look great on any device–desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.

Use pre-designed templates for a quick site setup

Alternatively, you can create an Ecwid online store and add it to your current website, built with WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, or any other site builder.

Ecwid combines intuitive design with powerful ecommerce features to support your business growth. With advanced tools like analytics, marketing features, and effortless integrations with leading payment, shipping, accounting, and other platforms, Ecwid empowers you to scale with ease.

So, whether you’re starting from scratch or searching for a better ecommerce platform for your current business, Ecwid is here to be your go-to partner.

Take a look at this ecommerce migration case study, which reveals how switching to Ecwid helped the business increase revenue by an impressive 43%.

Ecommerce Migration Wrap-Up

Migrating to a new ecommerce platform may seem like a big leap, but with a well-executed plan, it can unlock unparalleled opportunities for your business. Follow this ecommerce migration checklist to ensure every aspect is covered—from choosing the right platform to transferring data safely and setting up critical configurations.

Are you ready to take the next step? Streamline your ecommerce migration with platforms like Ecwid by Lightspeed, designed to grow your business and make selling online effortless.

The post A Step-by-Step Guide for Ecommerce Migration first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Have you ever walked into a store looking for something, only to leave empty-handed because too many choices overwhelmed you? Today’s digital marketplace intensifies this phenomenon.

As people receive over 100 emails daily, business owners face an increasing challenge to stand out in crowded inboxes.

While cart abandonment continues to hover around 70%, email marketing offers a silver lining to recover these lost sales. Recent studies demonstrate email marketing’s profitability, delivering a $36:1 return.

Though many marketers use email tactics, few harness its full potential in 2025’s AI-driven landscape. We’ll show you how to leverage cutting-edge strategies to increase your sales exponentially. Let’s dive in.

Building a Relevant Email List in the Privacy-First Era

Smart marketers have abandoned purchased email lists, with profitable lists being curated over months or even years.

It can be daunting to put together an authentic email list. However, all steps required to grow your email list, even with data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA and the death of third-party cookies, are as follows:

Targeted Pop-ups

Popups refer to visual cues that appear on your website, usually in the form of a small box or window, to prompt an action from site visitors. These popups can be used strategically to encourage sign-ups for your email list.

Make your popup stand out. Take inspiration from GQ, which uses striking imagery to grab attention

If you have an Ecwid store, adding an email collection popup is simple. Visit the Ecwid App Market, search for "popup," and choose the app that best suits your needs.

By 2025, pop-ups have evolved far beyond simple timing-based triggers. AI now analyzes user behavior patterns to pinpoint the perfect moment to display messages. These smart forms customize their content based on how visitors browse, engage, and their likelihood to convert.

Value Exchange for the Modern Consumer

Modern consumers expect far more than the simple discount-for-email exchanges of the past.

Offering a discount remains a great way to build your email list, but don’t hesitate to explore alternative methods to expand your subscriber base

Leading brands create compelling value propositions beyond monetary incentives. Early access to exclusive product drops drives subscription rates three times higher than traditional discount offers.

Companies win subscribers by offering privileged access to sustainability impact reports and personal carbon footprint calculations, attracting environmentally conscious consumers.

Premium content access and early invitations to virtual AR/VR shopping experiences also drive powerful list growth.

Zero-Party Data Collection

As third-party cookies fade away, brands now gather customer data directly and transparently.

Unlike third-party data, which is collected indirectly and often without the customer’s direct involvement, zero-party data is willingly shared by individuals, ensuring transparency and trust.

Interactive quizzes and style assessments help collect zero-party data while delivering immediate value to customers. These engaging experiences gather crucial information while helping brands personalize email experiences from day one.

For example, beauty brands segment email lists using skin type assessments, while fashion retailers curate personalized product recommendations through style quizzes.

In Ecwid, there are several ways to collect customers’ emails. If you want to grow your email list with engaging tools like quizzes, rewards, or gamification, check out the Gratisfaction app.

How to Improve Deliverability of Your Ecommerce Newsletter
Read more

Advanced Segmentation & Hyper-Personalization

AI-driven approaches have replaced basic demographic segmentation, now considering every aspect of customer behavior.

Modern segmentation in 2025 tracks every interaction customers have with your brand, going far beyond age and location.

For example, if a customer engages with your brand’s social media posts or leaves a review on your website, this data is used to create a more accurate and detailed profile.

Brands implementing hyper-personalized, segmented campaigns see 26% higher open rates and revenue increases by up to 760%, clearly demonstrating the power of personalization.

Identifying your most loyal customers in an Ecwid store allows you to create tailored promotions

Top brands now track and respond to complex behavioral patterns across multiple channels. They create deeply personalized email experiences by analyzing how customers use apps, browse websites, make purchases, and prefer to shop.

Cross-channel behavior plays a crucial role in modern segmentation strategies, forming the foundation of multichannel digital marketing.

Brands create holistic customer profiles by combining data from social media interactions, customer service conversations, SMS engagement, and push notification responses. This comprehensive view enables truly personalized communication that connects with recipients individually.

In Ecwid, customer details and order histories are conveniently stored in the Customers dashboard within your admin panel. This valuable data allows you to segment your audience and create tailored email campaigns. For instance, you can craft a special offer for customers who have purchased a particular product more than once.

Learn more about using the Customer dashboard in this article:

How to Start Building Strong Customer Relationships
Read more

AI-Powered Automation

Sophisticated AI technologies have transformed email automation.

Simple trigger-based emails have given way to advanced machine-learning algorithms that create sophisticated, responsive campaigns. Brands using automated emails generate 320% more revenue than non-automated campaigns, mainly because they deliver precisely timed, contextually relevant messages.

GPT-4 and other large language models (LLMs) have revolutionized content generation, creating highly personalized email content at scale. These AI systems generate engaging subject lines, product descriptions, and email copy by analyzing customer data, purchase history, and browsing behavior.

The impact speaks for itself — personalized AI-generated subject lines drive 26% higher open rates than traditional approaches.

If you’d like to automate your email marketing while delivering personalized messages at scale, check out the Omnisend app. This email marketing platform integrates with your Ecwid store, allowing you to create tailored email campaigns that feature your products.

AI will also take timing optimization to new heights in 2025.

Modern systems determine the perfect send time for each recipient by analyzing historical engagement patterns, time zone data, and individual behavior. These systems learn and adapt continuously, adjusting schedules as customer habits change.

Brands report 35% higher engagement rates simply by implementing AI-driven send time optimization.

Harness AI for a Business: Practical Uses of AI in Ecommerce
Read more

Modern Email Design Trends

Email client evolution and changing user preferences drive email design in 2025.

First, dark mode dominates, with 80% of users preferring it on their devices.

This shift demands careful attention to design trends and elements. Designers now create sophisticated CSS that smoothly transitions between light and dark modes, maintaining consistent brand experiences across settings.

Next, depending on your target audience, between 26-78% of your emails will be opened on a mobile device. Make sure your emails are designed accordingly.

Successful designs in 2025 incorporate thumb-friendly tap targets, fast-loading images, and easily readable typography. Top campaigns employ progressive enhancement to deliver optimal experiences across all devices while maintaining functionality for older email clients.

Casper has created a seasonal offer email that truly stands out from the crowd

Finally, interactive elements transform how recipients engage with emails directly in their inboxes.

Widespread AMP for Email adoption lets brands create dynamic, app-like experiences without website visits. Live shopping carts and real-time inventory updates convert static messages into engaging, conversion-driving experiences.

Email Campaign Strategies for 2025

New technologies are making imagination-bending differences in the way ecommerce email marketing works.

A Conversation

Brands are now moving to integrate AI-powered chatbots directly into emails, enabling natural, responsive two-way conversations. Furthermore, integration with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger creates seamless communication channels, bridging email and instant messaging.

Sustainability

Sustainability now drives email marketing strategy. Modern campaigns track carbon footprints in real time, showcase transparent supply chains, and highlight eco-friendly shipping options.

Walgreens highlights a donating option in their welcome email

Social Proofing

Social proof extends beyond simple reviews. Modern email campaigns integrate live social feeds, user-generated review content, and real-time purchase notifications to build community and urgency. This dynamic content builds trust and drives conversions by showcasing active customer engagement with your brand.

Modern CTAs and Engagement Strategies

Privacy regulations and user expectations have transformed how brands approach calls to action.

Modern CTAs combine compelling design with transparent data practices. Brands now include clear consent mechanisms and data usage explanations alongside CTAs, finding that transparency increases conversion rates.

For example, integrating options to record video testimonials directly in emails can drive engagement and provide authentic social proof to future customers.

The most effective CTAs in 2025 combine personal language, social proof, and clear value propositions to drive action while building trust.

This Grammarly email is an example of effective upselling with a clear value proposition

Email preference centers have evolved beyond simple unsubscribe pages into sophisticated engagement management tools.

Subscribers now control email frequency, content types, communication channels, and data usage preferences. Brands offering detailed preference centers see significantly lower unsubscribe rates and higher overall engagement.

Email Security and Privacy in Modern Ecommerce

Security and privacy demand equal attention as email marketing grows more sophisticated. This ensures that your customers’ personal information, such as identity, social security numbers, and payment details, stays safe and secure.

Consider offering identity theft insurance as part of your customer protection strategy to provide added peace of mind and build trust.

Ecommerce businesses must balance effective communication with data protection, particularly as privacy regulations and cyber threats continue to evolve in 2025.

Authentication, encryption, and verification form the core pillars of modern email security. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols verify email legitimacy and block spoofing attempts. Regular list cleaning eliminates inactive addresses and security risks, while double opt-in verification maintains list quality from day one.

Ecommerce Security: How To Protect Your Online Store From Cyber Threats
Read more

Brands now display clear data usage and security practices in their preference centers alongside email frequency options. This approach empowers customers to make informed decisions while building trust.

Companies weave security updates into their regular customer communications, positioning security as a customer service priority rather than a technical afterthought.

Security across channels gains importance as email marketing merges with other communication methods. Modern strategies protect data as it flows between email, SMS, push notifications, and other touchpoints, maintaining consistent protection throughout all customer interactions.

Wrap Up

Email marketing in 2025 will powerfully combine technology, creativity, and customer-centricity. While connecting with customers and driving conversions remains the core goal, businesses now have access to more sophisticated tools and strategies than ever before.

Success demands a careful balance of technical expertise, creative innovation, and authentic customer connection:

• Use data-driven insights to craft personalized and targeted email campaigns. In Ecwid, you can do that with the Customers dashboard and an email platform of your choice, like Omnisend or Mailchimp.
• Prioritize customer privacy and security to protect data across all communication channels.
• Create email content at scale using AI-powered tools like MercuryAI but maintain a human touch.

This approach will enable you to embrace new technologies while maintaining human connections, leverage data while protecting privacy, and push creative boundaries while staying true to your core message.

Everything you need to sell online
Learn more

• What Is Email Marketing and the Benefits
• How To Write A Welcome Email That Sells
• What Is Email Marketing Funnel
• 10 Evergreen Smart Ways to Grow Your Newsletter List
• How to Send Trigger Emails That Keep Customers Coming Back
• How to Increase Your Revenue With Newsletter Segmentation
• Ecommerce Email Marketing Best Practices to 3x Sales
• 5 Email Fails You Need to Avoid
• How to Reflect Your Brand Personality in Your Emails
• How to Improve the Deliverability of Your Ecommerce Newsletter
• The Best Professional Email Address Ideas
• The Best Email Marketing Service for Ecommerce
• The Best Email Marketing Software for Ecommerce
• The Best and Must Have Email Marketing Templates
• Email Marketing Benchmarks

The post Ecommerce Email Marketing for 2025 and Beyond first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Keeping up with consumer trends is the key to hitting it big in business. Whether you’re planning to launch a new venture, diversify your offerings, or test a promising product idea, knowing what’s hot in the market can make all the difference.

Wondering what people are searching for, buying, and talking about as the trendsetters of 2025? We’ve got you covered. Using insights from several consumer reports, we’ve curated the ultimate list of trending products to sell in 2025.

How to Identify Product Trends

Why wait to follow a trend when you can spot it early? Understanding consumer behavior through reliable data sources ensures you invest time and money in winning products.

To identify trending products to sell, we used the following tools and consumer reports:

• Google Trends reveals long-term search patterns and industry upticks. For this article, we explored Google’s Year in Search and Holiday 100 reports.
• The Pinterest Predicts report captures what inspires consumer decisions based on what users are looking for on Pinterest. In addition to reading that report, we suggest taking a look at Pinterest’s Trends tool for more insights.
• Exploding Topics identifies products with skyrocketing popularity that are about to hit the mainstream.

These product recommendations are data-based, helping you make smart business decisions.

For the list of trending products below, we picked some of the most popular and interesting items out there. That said, we’d highly recommend checking out these consumer reports for more details and product ideas.

Also, make sure to read more great tips on how to find trending products to sell online.

Top Trending Products for 2025 

Now, without further ado, here are the top trending products for 2025 you’ll want to add to your inventory.

Eclectic Apartment Decor

Home design has gone personal. Searches for eclectic apartment rose by 630% on Pinterest, reflecting a global push toward making home spaces more unique. From gallery wall art to vibrant fixtures, these products work best for online stores in the home-and-lifestyle niche.

By late 2024, Pinterest also saw a significant increase in searches for the keyword "modern eclectic home," reflecting growing interest in this design style

Rococo Outfits

The modern revival of rococo fashion is making waves in the world of clothing. Think of ornate details, pastel tones, and luxurious materials.

With a +5465% search spike (according to Pinterest Predicts), this niche market is growing fast among fashion-forward consumers. Perfect for boutiques focused on unique, statement-making attire.

Nesting Party Products

Say hello to the nesting party—the baby shower reinvented! This heartwarming parenting trend is up 205% on Pinterest, and it’s less about the gifts and more about helping new parents get ready for the postpartum period.

This trend is about helping new parents prepare for their baby’s big arrival. Think diaper bouquets, freezer-friendly meals, baby cabinet organizers, and more.

The terms "Nesting party" and "nesting party ideas" stayed popular on Pinterest all year and are expected to grow more by 2025

Padel Rackets

Padel tennis is one of the fastest-growing sports worldwide, with padel rackets reaching a jaw-dropping 1,186% increase in search growth, according to Exploding Topics. This is a niche market worth exploring, especially in regions where this sport is gaining popularity.

Cable Knit Sweaters

Practical and stylish, cable knit sweaters have proven to be a cold-weather staple year after year. Searches on Pinterest have increased by +110%, signaling strong demand. They’re easy to market during the fall and winter seasons—think cozy, chic Instagram campaigns.

Indoor Planters

The houseplant obsession isn’t fading anytime soon. According to Google, searches for indoor planters are up 55%, reflecting an appetite for sleek, Instagram-worthy plant accessories. Market to millennials and Gen Zers who are perfecting their green thumbs.

Plant accessories have the potential to be a profitable product idea

Skiing Fits

Winter sports are trending! With a 255% rise in Pinterest searches, skiing gear and apparel—such as thermal layers, flashy jackets, and performance outfits—offer endless potential. Target outdoor enthusiasts and adventure-seekers.

Products for Pickle Making

Pickling is no longer just grandma’s pastime—it’s a hobby for eco-conscious, DIY-savvy consumers! Look to sell jars, fermentation kits, or specialty spices.

Google Trends listed "pickle recipe" as one of the top searches in the Food & Lifestyle category in the "Year in Search" report, showing that interest in these products is on the rise.

Pickle recipes have become a sensation, earning a spot on Google’s list of top trends for 2024

Interestingly, Pinterest Predicts also spotlighted a growing pickle trend, with top searches including pickle margaritas, fries, dips, and even cakes.

Renter-Friendly Wallpaper

A staggering 8,100% surge in search growth (according to Exploding Topics) proves renters are hungry for stylish, removable wallpaper to personalize their spaces without committing long-term. This is a dream category for home decor online stores.

Workout Essentials

The fitness-at-home trend remains strong. All kinds of workout products, from resistance bands to yoga mats, will remain highly profitable entering 2025. Create bundles or offer customization for a standout edge.

Google Trends’ "Year in Search" report highlighted these trending workout searches—use it as inspiration to shape your product offerings.

Use insights from trending Google searches to refine your product offerings

Moto Boots Outfits

Functional yet edgy, moto boots are more than footwear—they’re a cultural statement. Consumers pair these with casual and rugged looks, and search volumes are up a massive 445% on Pinterest. These boots are ideal for ecommerce stores targeting younger or streetwear-savvy audiences.

Kids’ Scooters

Thanks to active parenting trends, kids’ scooters are seeing a 65% spike in search traffic, according to Google. These products cater to families looking for fun outdoor activities for their children.

If you sell products for kids, consider adding scooters to your product offerings

Boba Tea Protein

The internet never underestimates its love for boba tea! According to Exploding Topics, the fusion of boba tea flavors with protein powder is trending, with an 8,200% rise in search traffic. It’s ideal for foodies with a taste for fun flavors.

White Noise for Sleep Machines

According to Google Trends, "white noise for sleep" searches hit an all-time high in 2024.

With rising interest in wellness and better sleep habits, white noise machines are a go-to gadget. They’re small, affordable for consumers, and perfect for marketing to stressed professionals or new parents.

White noise machines are a perfect addition to any electronics store

Mocktails and Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Over the past five years, more and more people have been searching for "dry January"—taking a month off from alcohol—and it hit an all-time high in 2024. This trend is only expected to grow even more in 2025.

However, the demand for mocktails and non-alcoholic drinks is strong year-round. This makes them perfect for targeting health-conscious or lifestyle-focused shoppers looking for fun, alternative beverages.

Consider offering customizable options that cater to specific dietary restrictions or preferences.

Start Selling Trending Products

Adapting to trends gives your business the edge it needs to stay competitive in fast-changing markets. Offering in-demand products not only helps you attract more buyers but also builds long-term customer loyalty.

No matter what niche you’re targeting—fashion, fitness, home decor, or wellness—there’s something for every business owner on this list.

Create a free online store with Ecwid today and turn your trending product idea into a thriving business. With dozens of ready-made site templates designed for all kinds of niches, you can have your online store up and running in no time.

From fresh-baked cakes to digital art. Sell what you sell with Ecwid.
Learn more

• New Product Ideas to Sell Online: Current Trends
• How to Find Products to Sell Online
• Hot Eco-Friendly Product Ideas to Sell Online
• Best Products to Sell Online
• How To Find Trending Products To Sell Online
• How to Create Demand For Unique Products
• How to Develop a New Product that Solves a Problem
• How To Evaluate Product Viability
• What is a Product Prototype
• How to Create a Product Prototype
• How to Figure Out Where to Sell Your Products
• Why You Should Sell Unprofitable Products
• White Label Products You Should Sell Online
• White Label vs Private Label
• What is Product Testing: Benefits and Types

The post Top Trending Products to Sell in 2025 first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Instagram is where people connect, share, and find inspiration–a perfect place to spotlight your business! But with so much content out there, it can be tricky for business owners to stand out.

A well-crafted Instagram caption can be a powerful thing. Whether showcasing a new product, sharing a behind-the-scenes moment, or highlighting a special offer, a great caption can turn casual scrollers into loyal shoppers.

Let’s dive right into some tips to make your captions pop and make the audience stop scrolling.

Why Are Instagram Captions Important?

With roughly two billion monthly active users, Instagram is one of the most popular social networks worldwide.

Instagram has become a vital platform for businesses to engage with customers, build a brand presence, and drive sales. Captions play a crucial role in achieving these goals.

Captions help drive engagement on Instagram, as they can encourage comments and interactions. This engagement is essential for improving your visibility within Instagram’s algorithm. The more your followers engage with your post, the more Instagram will promote it to its users.

30 Opening Lines for Product Videos on TikTok and Reels

Сreate a catchy opening line for your product video that will grab the attention of your target audience.

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As a business owner, it’s up to you to encourage users to engage with your content so your posts get more visibility.

The more engagement you get (likes, comments, shares), the more likely Instagram is to show your content to a larger audience, boosting your visibility and brand awareness.

A well-crafted copy in your captions not only tells your brand’s story but also reflects its personality, helping followers understand why they need your product or service.

In other words, powerful Instagram captions can enhance your social media success—and ultimately drive better business results.

How To Write Engaging Instagram Captions

A good caption can transform an ordinary post into an interactive, shareable experience. It’s not just about describing the photo or video—it’s about capturing your audience’s attention, sparking conversations, and building a connection with your followers.

Here are some practical tips and creative strategies for writing Instagram captions that get noticed.

Begin with the Key Information

People scroll fast, so it’s crucial to catch their attention right away. If you’re writing a longer caption, ensure the first 2-3 lines stand out to get them to keep reading.

Followers won’t miss the sale announcement—it’s right at the top of the post

For example, if you’re sharing a special offer in your caption, start with the word "sale" so it’s the first thing your followers see under the picture.

It’s always a good idea to add a title to your caption (maybe even in all caps) to grab your followers’ attention.

Instagram shows only the first 125 characters of a caption in the feed before cutting it off with a "more" button. If your first few lines aren’t engaging or compelling, users may not bother to click "more" to read the rest of the caption.

The first part of your caption is also indexed for search purposes. Including relevant keywords in the first 125 characters can help improve discoverability.

Format Your Captions

Since many Instagram users browse their feeds on their phones, reading captions can be a hassle due to the app’s small text and cramped line formatting.

For some, skipping the caption is easier than struggling with Instagram’s dense, unformatted text blocks.

To improve readability, use emojis and numbers to create bullet points or break your text into paragraphs.

To add line spacing to your text, write your copy in the Notes app first and then copy it to Instagram.

Emojis can help make your text easier to read

Speak Your Audience’s Language

By now, you probably know your target audience pretty well. So, speak their language!

Great Instagram captions help humanize your brand and make it easier for users to feel connected to your business. Show your followers that you get them by sharing their values and interests with a fun, relatable voice.

Try using humor or emotion to connect with your audience. Whether you want to be funny, inspiring, or get people thinking, your caption should show your personality and match your brand’s vibe.

Storytelling in Instagram captions is another excellent way to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Share personal stories or experiences they can relate to. They don’t need to be dramatic—sometimes, everyday moments or struggles can be the most meaningful.

The business owner kicked off the caption with a catchy title and shared a little glimpse into what it means to run a business

Highlight the Benefits of Interacting with the Post

A great caption doesn’t just grab your followers’ attention — it gets them to take action.

Your call-to-action (CTA) is your finishing touch, encouraging your followers to connect with your store in a meaningful way. Whether it’s driving traffic to your website to learn more or shop, a good CTA makes all the difference.

Action verbs like "tap," "tell," "use," and "share" are the key here. For example, "Check out the 5 best tips for wrapping presents in our blog — link in bio."

To boost the effectiveness of your call to action, clearly communicate what your followers will gain by responding. For example, "Comment below to enter the giveaway and stand a chance to win a gift." This emphasizes the benefits your audience will gain by acting on your call to action.

Encourage Followers to Write Comments

Keep the conversation going by asking questions or starting fun discussions with your audience. Encourage your followers to tag their friends in the comments (“tag a friend who’d love this” or "tag a friend who’s always running late") or have them pick their favorite option.

The business owner asks followers to share what they think about the products in the video

For example, ask which product would make the perfect gift for a mom, which item from the gallery they like best, or which packaging idea they prefer. Gather feedback—and later, share it in a post featuring customer reviews.

You can also share the latest industry news and encourage your followers to chat and share their opinions about it.

Ultimately, Instagram remains a social platform at its core, even with its strong emphasis on visual content.

Add Polls to Captions

You can add a poll to your Instagram post to engage with your followers and get their feedback on anything from new product ideas to what they want to see on your page. This is a great way to interact with your audience and show that you value their input.

When creating a poll, keep it simple and concise. Ask one question at a time and offer up to four options for your followers to choose from. You can also add humor to the options to make them fun.

From there, you can use the poll results to guide your content strategy and create more posts that resonate with your audience.

Even a simple poll can help boost engagement on your posts

Make User-Generated Content Shine

Sharing user-generated content is a great way to personalize your feed and show your followers how much you value their support. Ensure your captions go beyond just tagging the photo’s creator—add a little extra love!

Tag the follower who shared this photo or video, give them a big thank you, and share a little bit about what makes this piece stand out. Talk about what you love about it or how it makes you feel. Don’t forget to encourage everyone to check out their page.

When you make the most of user-generated content, you’ll get more customers sharing photos of your products, fresh content for your profile, and a nice boost in brand awareness for your store.

This business acknowledges a baker who sparked a viral cake trend

Use Location Tags

Adding location tags to your posts can help increase the post’s reach. Geotags make finding your business easier for local customers, which can mean more sales.

Rather than just writing in the caption where the picture was taken, try using a location tag and focusing on other important details. Do you deliver to the tagged location? How long does it take? Is your popup store nearby? Maybe add a phone number so people can quickly get more info.

Use Hashtags Wisely

Hashtags are a great way to boost the visibility of your Instagram posts, but using too many can make your captions look cluttered.

Dropping hashtags too early in your caption might discourage people from engaging with your content, which is the opposite of what you want. Sprinkle your hashtags strategically to get the most out of them while keeping your audience engaged.

Be sure to use hashtags that actually relate to your post. Using random or overly broad hashtags can feel spammy and might make your audience feel less connected to your content.

Using all 30 hashtags won’t magically boost your interactions overnight. Aim for 11 or a bit more hashtags to get the best results.

If long lines of hashtags make your Instagram captions look a bit spammy, try adding them to a comment instead.

Don’t sleep on branded hashtags—they’re a great way to make your company or campaign stand out. They help people discover your brand and encourage them to share their thoughts. It could be your company name, a tagline, or something fun and creative, like a clever play on words.

Zara limits their captions to just two branded hashtags

Remember the Goal of the Post

Before writing a new caption, think about the primary goal of your post. Are you showcasing a product or sharing helpful info? Maybe you’re introducing your brand and building awareness. Or is it a customer testimonial, an announcement, or just a fun way to connect with your audience and share some laughs?

Your caption should support and align with your goal. For example:

• If promoting a new product, focus on its features and benefits.
• If sharing helpful information, ensure your caption includes a call to action for readers to try out the tips themselves or share their opinions.

When in doubt, keep it simple and concise. You don’t want to overwhelm your audience with too much text in the caption. Instead, use relevant keywords and eye-catching phrases to grab their attention and entice them to read further.

If you have additional information or details that you want to include but may not fit within the post itself, try adding them to a pinned comment instead. This allows for a cleaner and more focused caption while still providing extra context for interested readers.

What’s The Best Instagram Caption Length?

Always consider the appropriate caption length depending on your goals and audience.

Short and sweet is often the norm for higher exposure. Short captions (120-150 characters) are easy to read and straight to the point.

Remember that only the first two lines of a caption will be visible initially

Nonetheless, more extended captions can also be ideal for higher engagement, as people are likelier to engage with posts that ask questions or invite responses.

If you’re writing a longer caption, use line breaks or emojis to make the text easier to read.

In short, 125-250 characters tend to be a good range for most posts, but don’t shy away from longer captions if your message calls for them.

Takeaways for Writing The Best Instagram Captions

Writing great Instagram captions is an art. A well-crafted caption can increase engagement, showcase personality, and drive action.

Remember, writing the best Instagram captions involves more than just clever wordplay; it’s about engaging your audience, enhancing the visual content, and expressing your brand’s or personality’s voice.

Here are some key takeaways for writing the best Instagram captions:

• Captions are limited to 2,200 characters
• Text previews are cropped to the first two lines in the Instagram app
• You can use up to 30 hashtags, but aim for around 11 to keep it balanced
• Concise captions tend to perform better–short, punchy lines are easy to digest. No matter how long or short your caption is, ensure it’s adding value.
• Polls and location tags can help increase engagement
• Storytelling can showcase personality and create a connection with your audience
• Use CTAs to get users to like, comment, or visit your bio link.

With the right mix of creativity, relevance, and timing, you can write captions that grab attention, spark engagement, and build a loyal community around your content.

Shoppable Instagram Posts are just a few clicks away
Learn more

• How to Sell on Instagram: Complete Guide for Beginners
• How to Sell on Instagram Without a Website
• How the Instagram Algorithm Works
• 10 Ideas for Creative Product Presentation
• How to Create a Content Plan for Instagram
• How to Write Engaging Instagram Captions
• How to Monetize Your Instagram
• 10 Free Ways to Get More Instagram Followers
• How to Change Your Instagram Name
• What Is The Best Time to Post on Instagram?

The post Text Matters: How to Write Engaging Instagram Captions for Online Stores first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Traffic, or the number of visitors to your online store, is the lifeblood of your business. The more people visit your site, the higher your chance of making a sale.

In a world teeming with online stores, how do you differentiate yours and attract more traffic? The digital age offers endless opportunities for businesses of all sizes to thrive—if you know how to seize them.

Check out proven strategies to drive relevant traffic to your website and turn visitors into customers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO—Search Engine Optimization—the unsung hero of the digital realm. It refers to the process of optimizing your website so that it ranks higher in search engine results. When someone types a keyword related to your business, your website will appear at the top of the search results.

Search engine optimization is a must for online stores attempting to increase traffic. To rank higher in search results, focus on keyword research, on-page SEO, and quality content–more on that below.

By the way, if you use Ecwid by Lightspeed for your online store, there are many ways to improve your Ecwid store’s SEO, including customizing product page URLs, setting up a custom domain, and more.

A Quick Tip to Make Your Products More Discoverable in Search Engines
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Optimize Keywords

To drive traffic to your online store, you need to rank highly for terms related to your business. You can either handle SEO on your own or hire a skilled analyst to assist you.

There are tools that help you find out where your online store ranks on specific terms, for example, Moz, SemRush, and Ahrefs. Do thorough keyword research and determine which keywords are most relevant to your brand and products.

Once you have a list of keywords, incorporate them into your website content, including titles, descriptions, headers, and body text. Use meta tags and descriptions to help search engines understand what your site is about.

However, be careful not to overuse these keywords, which can lead to keyword stuffing and negatively impact your SEO.

In addition to on-page optimization, off-page optimization is also crucial for improving search engine rankings. This includes building backlinks from reputable websites and using social media platforms to increase visibility and drive traffic to your website.

Remember that SEO is an ongoing process and requires constant monitoring and adjustments.

6 Common SEO Practices You Need to Leave in the Past
Read more

Enure Your Online Store Is Mobile-Friendly

A website’s mobile friendliness is one of the top-ranking factors, as more and more people are using their phones to browse the internet.

Make sure your online store is optimized for mobile devices. Online stores that only work on desktops will not have as much traffic as mobile-friendly ones.

Making your online store mobile-friendly is easy when you pick the right ecommerce platform. For example, if you use Ecwid by Lightspeed, your online store is automatically mobile-friendly, so you don’t have to lift a finger.

Mobile phones drive most digital commerce site visits and online orders globally (Source: Statista)

Use Local SEO

If your business has a physical location, using local SEO can significantly improve your search engine rankings. This includes optimizing for local keywords, creating a Google My Business listing, and getting reviews from customers in your area.

The Ultimate Guide to Local SEO
Read more

Establish a Referral System

Customer referrals are key to increasing traffic for your site. This is a relatively simple way to use your current customers to create traffic. Encourage your customers to refer their friends and family to your website by offering incentives such as discounts, freebies, or exclusive content.

You can also create a referral system that rewards both the referrer and the person being referred. This not only encourages current customers to spread the word about your brand but also entices new visitors to check out your website.

You could also set up rewards for customers with a certain number of referrals.

Make sure to track referrals using unique codes or links so you can accurately attribute traffic and conversions.

Promote your referral program to ensure all customers are aware of it, for example, by adding a banner on your website or mentioning it in order confirmation emails.

If you run an Ecwid store, you can set up a referral program using the Gratisfaction app.

An example of a referral program you can set up for your store with the Gratisfaction app

Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms offer opportunities to engage with your target audience, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your online store.

To drive shoppers to your online store, your content should be high-quality, valuable, and aligned with your brand.

Let’s take a look at some key strategies that work well for driving traffic:

• Use a link-in-bio tool: Use tools like Linkup to make it easier for users to access your website or product pages from your social media bio.
• Include a call-to-action in your posts: Encourage followers to click the link in your bio or swipe up on Instagram stories to visit your product pages.
• Make your content shoppable: If you sell physical products, consider setting up an Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok Shop. This allows users to purchase directly from your posts without leaving the app.

A link-in-bio tool helps direct customers to your website or specific products

Remember, the key to driving traffic through social media is consistency. Regularly posting quality content and engaging with your audience will help build a loyal following and ultimately lead to increased website traffic. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different strategies and see what works best for your brand.

Set Up Notifications for Return Visitors

Push notifications are a popular way to get people to return to your online store.

Notifications reminding customers of products, deals, discounts, and more pop up on mobile and desktop devices. Customers can click on these notifications to go directly to your website.

This strategy helps keep your brand at the forefront of your customers’ minds and makes them want to return for more.

Notifications for return visitors can be tailored to their browsing and purchasing history, providing personalized recommendations or discounts based on their interests. This way, you are more likely to entice them back to your store and increase sales.

Another tip is to limit the number of push notifications sent in a certain period. Bombarding customers with too many notifications can lead to annoyance and potential opt-outs. Instead, carefully select the most essential updates or promotions to send out through push notifications.

Email Marketing

Email marketing allows you to engage directly with an audience already interested in your content, products, or services, making them more likely to take action.

However, this approach works best for businesses that already have some visitors to their websites. To get people to sign up for your email list via popups or forms, they first need to visit your site.

A great way to collect customer emails is with a popup offering a gift

To get started with email marketing:

• Create an email list: Use a lead magnet, such as an e-book, a discount code, a free course, or an exclusive resource, to encourage visitors to sign up for your emails.
• Segment your list: Tailor your messaging to different segments based on demographics, past behavior, or interests. This helps increase the relevancy of your emails, boosting engagement and traffic.

If you’re using Ecwid for your online store, you’re in luck! It comes with built-in email marketing tools, such as automated emails, and a handy integration with Mailchimp.

Influencer Partnerships

Influencer marketing allows you to reach new audiences and build trust with potential customers.

Smaller influencers with highly engaged niche audiences can pack a bigger punch than their larger counterparts. Their followers are loyal, connected, and more likely to act—proving that sometimes, less is more.

Select influencers who align with your brand values, target audience, and content style. Consider factors like:

• Niche relevance: Choose influencers who operate in your industry or niche
• Audience demographics: Look at age, location, interests, and purchasing habits
• Engagement rate: High engagement (likes, comments, shares) is more valuable than a large following
• Content style: Ensure their style resonates with your brand (e.g., informative, entertaining, or educational).

A survey found 18-29-year-olds bought the most products via influencer recommendations (Source: Statista)

Consider offering influencers an affiliate partnership where they earn a commission for each sale or action driven by their audience. If you own an Ecwid store, there are several ways to set up an affiliate program for your business.

Measure the effectiveness of the influencer campaign through unique, trackable links or promo codes that allow you to monitor website traffic coming from their content, conversion rates, and critical engagement metrics like clicks and shares.

Blogging

A well-crafted blog not only informs and engages readers but also enhances your website’s visibility in search engines, driving organic traffic.

Blogging is considered a cornerstone of inbound marketing, offering multiple benefits that directly impact your website’s traffic:

• Each blog post allows you to target different keywords
• A blog is a great way to connect with your audience and increase engagement.

As part of your blog strategy to increase traffic to your store:

• Offer fresh content: Google loves fresh content. Regularly updated blogs indicate that your website is active, which can improve your chances of ranking higher in search results.
• Focus on SEO: Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner to find keywords related to your niche. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your post.

Focus on crafting completing headlines along with quality meta descriptions, and make use of linking to other relevant pages on your site (internal linking) and authoritative external sources to help you improve your SEO ranking and help readers discover more content on your site.

Ecwid allows you to seamlessly integrate Buy Buttons into your blogs, enabling readers to make purchases

Don’t forget to post about your new blog on all your social media channels, using relevant hashtags to increase its reach.

Reach out to influencers or other bloggers in your industry. You can collaborate on guest posts, mention each other’s work, and get backlinks, which can help with SEO.

Digital Ads

You’ve likely seen them online: ads promoting everything from online courses to sunglasses and beyond. These are digital or banner ads, and their primary goal is to drive traffic to a website or a campaign-specific landing page.

Digital ads can drive traffic to a website quickly by targeting specific audiences through platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. These ads can be tailored to reach users based on their interests, demographics, search behaviors, and online activity.

You can do this yourself or work with a more experienced professional to help you determine the best budget, channels, and ad duration for your needs.

By the way, Ecwid stores have built-in tools to help you run ads on Google, Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat.

Understanding Instagram Advertising for Ecommerce Businesses
Read more

Create Targeted Landing Pages for Ads

Getting visitors to your website with ads is one thing, but turning those visitors into customers is the real goal. That’s where targeted pages can help.

Targeted marketing pages, often called landing pages or destination pages, are designed to focus on a specific audience segment or marketing campaign.

When you direct ad viewers to a specific page, you can tailor the content to their interests and needs, increasing the likelihood of them purchasing or taking an action.

For example:

• When someone clicks on an ad for "summer running shoes," they’re taken straight to a page featuring precisely what they’re looking for—summer running shoes. No distractions, no scrolling through unrelated products.
• A visitor interested in "digital marketing services" will land on a page focused on that, with tailored copy, testimonials, and case studies.

Podcasts Tailored to Your Niche

A podcast can be an effective tool for driving traffic to your website. It engages listeners meaningfully and leverages audio content’s unique strengths.

If your podcast provides valuable insights, tips, or expert knowledge relevant to your products or services, listeners will naturally seek out your website or store to learn more or make purchases.

Podcasts are also shareable across social media platforms, helping to increase brand visibility. Promoting these episodes via social media and linking to your website drives direct traffic.

Plus, when you feature guests on your podcast, they often share the episode with their followers, expanding your reach and bringing new visitors to your site.

Alternatively, you can guest on other podcasts, exposing your brand to a new audience. This will establish you as an industry leader and attract potential customers interested in your expertise.

How to Launch A Podcast for Your Store
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Promote Your Content on Quuu

Quuu Promote is a content promotion platform that helps increase engagement and reach. It is designed to help businesses, creators, and brands leverage social sharing.

The platform focuses on creating a network of trusted content promoters who share and amplify content across their social media channels.

The platform helps ensure that the content reaches the right audience by sharing it with a network of users interested in similar topics.

The more engagement your content receives, the more likely it is to appear in social feeds and attract organic traffic.

Promote Your Business and Grow Your Traffic

Increasing store traffic is an ongoing journey that requires creativity, strategy, and steady effort. Have fun with it—think of yourself as a detective! Stay on top of things, track your progress, and keep fine-tuning your approach to ensure your store stays the go-to spot for both new visitors and loyal customers.

Acquire more customers to your online store with Ecwid
Learn more

• 7 Steps to Attracting Shoppers to Your New Online Store
• How to Increase Traffic to Your Online Store
• 12 Free Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Online Store

The post Increase Online Store Traffic: 10 Ways to Attract More Shoppers first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

The retail industry is undergoing a transformation, and 2025 is set to be a pivotal year. For business owners, staying informed about emerging trends is not just a nice to have—it’s a must for staying ahead of the competition.

This blog post highlights 11 key consumer trends shaping retail in 2025 and offers actionable insights to help your business thrive in this new landscape.

Supply Chain Transparency

Today’s customers want to know more than the price—they want the story behind the product. Shoppers increasingly ask questions like, "Where was this made?" and "Is it sustainable?"

According to PwC’s 2024 Voice of the Consumer Survey, shoppers are willing to spend 9.7% more on sustainably sourced goods, even amid cost-of-living and inflation concerns.

Sustainability incentives have a significant impact on what people choose to buy (Source: PwC’s 2024 Voice of the Consumer Survey)

Make your supply chain transparency your superpower by showcasing detailed sourcing and sustainability processes. For example, highlight the following on your website, social media, and marketing materials:

• The origin of your products
• Use of eco-friendly packaging
• Partnerships with local suppliers
• The integration of renewable energy into your production process.

How to Make Your Online Store More Sustainable
Read more

Social Commerce Dominates

Social platforms like TikTok and Instagram are no longer just for marketing—they’re becoming the leading destinations for online shopping.

Seven out of ten online shoppers aged 27 to 42 worldwide are already making purchases directly through social media, according to a global survey. That makes millennials the top generation embracing social shopping. Gen Z ecommerce users (ages 18 to 26) are right behind them, with over half reporting they’ve shopped through these platforms.

TikTok lets shoppers purchase products directly from videos without leaving the app

Want to be where the consumers are? Create shoppable posts and live-stream sales to meet your audience in real time.

Running an Ecwid store comes with a significant advantage: the ability to set up shops on top social media platforms seamlessly. With Ecwid, you can sell your products on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, reaching your audience where they already spend their time.

The Resale Boom

Second-hand is having its moment—the resale market is booming! Major brands like Zara, Harley-Davidson, The North Face, and Ikea already launched platforms for pre-loved items.

Reselling isn’t just good for the environment—it can also be a profitable business opportunity. It not only attracts eco-conscious shoppers but also acts as a strategic move to reclaim business that has been shifting to third-party resale marketplaces.

Zara Pre-Owned helps customers extend the life of their clothing, including resale options

To stay ahead of this trend, consider implementing some resale options within your online store. For example:

• Create a dedicated section on your website for pre-owned items
• Offer customers the option to sell back their gently used items in exchange for store credit
• Partner with a resale marketplace to offer your products on their platform, giving you access to a new audience while still retaining control over the resale process
• Offer product repairs to extend the life of your products.

If you’ve been thinking about starting a new business, reselling pre-owned or vintage items can be a great way to enter the market. With Ecwid, you can set up a free online store in minutes—perfect for trying out new product ideas.

Embracing resale can also positively affect customer loyalty and trust. Offering ways for customers to extend the life cycle of your products shows that your brand is committed to reducing waste. This can help build a strong connection with eco-conscious consumers looking for brands that align with their values.

Gen Z Is Taking Over the Shopping World

Gen Z makes up nearly 30% of the global population and is expected to represent 27% of the workforce by 2025. As the first fully digital generation, they spend more time online than any other group, with growing spending power.

The share of global population and spending each generation made up in 2024 (Source: Visual Capitalist)

According to this report, Gen Z is projected to experience the fastest growth in spending power compared to other generations. By age 25, their per capita spending in the US will surpass previous generations, debunking the myth that they are the "most broke generation."

Gen Z’s spending power is growing fast — it is projected to reach an impressive $2.7 trillion in the coming years.

Some key takeaways for businesses to appeal to Gen Z’s shopping behaviors include:

• Gen Z prioritizes access over ownership, favoring subscriptions and services like streaming, car shares, and rentals.
• They value experiences over luxury, ease of use through mobile apps, and seamless online transactions.
• While they enjoy in-person shopping, they also expect excellent online options.
• Gen Z supports brands with strong values and sustainability practices but demands authenticity.
• Digital influence plays a big role in purchasing decisions, with many relying on online research, influencers, and social media to guide their choices.

With these tips, you can tap into Gen Z’s purchasing power and set your business up for success in the future.

Generative Customer Experiences

Gone are the days when personalization meant slapping a customer’s name on an email. Generative AI is transforming the shopping experience in 2025.

Generative AI refers to technology that can produce new, original content or ideas by analyzing existing data. This means retailers can use AI to create personalized product recommendations, targeted marketing campaigns, and even unique shopping experiences for each individual customer.

This approach helps make recommendations so precise they feel intuitive. For example, Walmart uses GenAI-powered tools to predict the type of content shoppers want to see on the site. With this technology, Walmart plans to create a unique homepage for each shopper.

Alternative Options for Small Businesses

While AI-powered tools have grown increasingly prevalent in recent years, many small business owners may lack the resources to develop their own custom AI solutions.

The good news is that plenty of off-the-shelf AI tools can help retailers implement generative AI into their business without breaking the bank.

These tools might not be able to create a sophisticated shopping experience for every customer. Still, they’ll save you time on routine tasks like writing product descriptions, sprucing up product photos, creating marketing materials, and more.

If you have an Ecwid store, you can leverage AI using the following built-in tools:

• AI-generated product descriptions and SEO-optimized content (via apps from the Ecwid App Market)
• AI-powered product picture enhancer
• AI-generated domain name.

Generating a domain name with AI in an Ecwid store

Hyper-Personalization at Scale

Promotions are shifting away from "one-size-fits-all" tactics. 81% of customers prefer companies that offer a personalized experience, meaning businesses need to focus on hyper-personalization. What is it, you ask?

Hyper-personalization refers to a personalized experience tailored specifically for each customer based on their unique preferences, past purchases, browsing behavior, and more. This approach helps create an emotional connection between the customer and the brand, ultimately increasing loyalty.

Here are a few examples of hyper-personalization:

• Discounts on favorite products
• Dynamic pricing tailored to individual budgets
• Loyalty programs that offer rewards a customer values most
• Personalized product recommendations based on past purchases and browsing behavior
• Email marketing campaigns that reference past purchases or customers’ wishlists.

If you’re ready to jump on this trend, Ecwid’s built-in tools are here to help. Here are some ways to create personalized offers for your customers in Ecwid:

• Various types of automated marketing emails, like ones showcasing your customer’s favorite products, offering related items, or reminding them about their abandoned carts
• Discounts for customer groups, so you can reward your most loyal customers or offer special promotions to new customers
• The Customers dashboard, aka your go-to hub for managing customer relationships. It lets you manage customer info and filter them by their data so you can create personalized promotions
• Retargeting ads on Google, Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat that allow you to reach customers who have already visited your store and show them personalized ads based on their previous interactions.

Identifying your most loyal customers in an Ecwid store allows you to create tailored promotions

Next-Level Virtual Shopping

Virtual reality in ecommerce isn’t about gimmicks—it’s about delivering a practical shopping experience.

Imagine virtual dressing rooms where customers can try on clothes from the comfort of their homes or lifelike 3D product inspections that help buyers examine items closely before making a purchase. These immersive experiences not only enhance customer satisfaction but also reduce returns and boost buyer confidence.

The research by Harvard Business Review and a global cosmetics retailer found that customers using AR spent 20.7% more time on the app and viewed 1.28 times more products than those without. More importantly, their likelihood of purchasing was 19.8% higher, showing that AR can help boost business revenue.

Businesses that adopt these tech-driven tools gain a significant edge in a highly competitive market.

Fortunately, AR technology isn’t just for big retail giants anymore. If you’re using Ecwid by Lightspeed, you can create 3D product models that let shoppers use their device’s camera to see the model in their real surroundings.

Customers can view a 3D model on a product details page

Imagine virtually placing a coffee table in your living room before buying it—that’s precisely what this AR tech can do!

Super Easy Way to Enhance Your Online Store with Augmented Reality
Read more

Ambient Shopping Experiences

Today’s consumers move across digital, physical, virtual, and social platforms, seamlessly switching between browsing, researching, and buying. This omnichannel shopping behavior is evolving from a focused task, like looking for a specific item, to an ambient experience.

Ambient shopping, or always-on shopping, is an experience that happens spontaneously while people browse social media, stream videos, or use apps. Instead of actively searching for products, shoppers passively encounter opportunities to buy.

You’ve probably experienced this firsthand: scrolling through TikTok, admiring an influencer’s health and beauty haul, and then spotting a link in their bio that leads you to purchase the items via their affiliate link.

Consumers come across new products and services, even while watching a funny sketch

What does this mean for your business? It means you need to connect with customers where they already spend their time and integrate your products into their daily lives.

Here are a few ideas to get started:

• Expand your reach and drive purchase consideration organically through influencer marketing, affiliate partnerships, and authentic user-generated content
• Make it easy for customers to buy, no matter where they are, by offering social media shopping options like shoppable content on Instagram or TikTok
• Use a link-in-bio tool like Linkup to allow customers to easily shop all your products from one centralized link on social media platforms
• Offer one-click payment options like Google Pay and Apple Pay to make the purchasing process quick and seamless.

With these strategies in place, you can tap into ambient shopping behavior and make it easier for customers to discover and purchase your products spontaneously.

Resilient Supply Chains

Recent years have demonstrated how vital flexible supply chains are in navigating an ever-changing world. From global pandemics to natural disasters, disruptions can strike anytime, leaving businesses scrambling to adapt.

Large companies are staying ahead by leveraging AI and machine learning to predict potential challenges and prepare for the unexpected. These technologies analyze vast amounts of data to identify trends, forecast demand, and streamline inventory management, ensuring a business is always one step ahead.

If you’re not ready to invest in such tech, here are some other strategies to build a resilient supply chain:

• Diversify your suppliers and have backup options in place
• Stay informed about global events and anticipate potential disruptions
• Maintain good relationships with suppliers and work together to find solutions when challenges arise
• Consider using drop shipping services to reduce the risk of inventory shortages
• Make demand forecasting a priority to avoid overstocking or understocking.

A resilient supply chain means your business is better equipped to handle unforeseen challenges and can meet your customers’ demands even during uncertain times.

Ecwid’s inventory management tools allow you to easily track inventory levels and make real-time adjustments to ensure your business runs smoothly.

A Product Sales and Stock Overview report in the Ecwid admin

For example, built-in inventory and sales reports allow you to identify popular products and plan for future demand, while low-stock notifications help you avoid running out of products.

Forecasting Demands: Strategies to Avoid Stockouts and Overstocking
Read more

Autonomous Retail

Imagine a store that runs itself, where technology takes care of the hard work.

Autonomous tech is changing the way businesses operate, offering self-checkout systems, automated inventory tracking, and even self-driving delivery vehicles. These advancements, which once sounded like science fiction, are now becoming a reality.

Better yet, affordable options are emerging, making these tools accessible to businesses of all sizes. For example, cashierless payment systems can speed up checkouts and reduce lines, improving customers’ shopping experience.

As for online stores, chatbots and AI-powered assistants can handle customer inquiries and help with common questions or product recommendations, freeing up time for you to focus on other aspects of your business.

If you run an Ecwid store, you can leverage chatbots using apps from the Ecwid App Market, such as Desku, Chaport, and more.

Privacy-Concerned Consumers

According to the Deloitte survey, consumers increasingly worry about being hacked or tracked through their devices. Nearly 60% of survey respondents fear security breaches, like hackers stealing personal data, and an equal number are concerned about being tracked by others.

Consumers aren’t just concerned about hackers; trust in devices and service providers is also declining. Only half of respondents believe the benefits of online services outweigh their privacy concerns.

Consumer concerns about personal data privacy when interacting with companies worldwide, by type (Source: Statista)

What does this mean for your business? Prioritize data privacy and security for your customers. This commitment can become your strongest competitive advantage in today’s privacy-conscious world.

Here is how you can do that:

• Use secure payment gateways like Lightspeed Payments, PayPal, or Stripe
• Offer transparent privacy policies, such as clearly stating what data you collect from your customers and how it is used (if you use Ecwid, you can do that with a cookie consent banner)
• Provide opt-out options for targeted advertising and personalized content
• Use secure website hosting through services like Ecwid’s SSL and TLS certificates for your online store
• Communicate steps taken to protect customer information.

Plus, following industry rules and best practices shows you’re serious about protecting customer data, which goes a long way toward building trust with your customers.

Ecommerce Security: How To Protect Your Online Store From Cyber Threats
Read more

The Bottom Line

Retail is evolving fast—these trends are proof of that. But you don’t have to tackle them all at once. Whether implementing generative AI, aiming for your supply chain transparency, or tapping into social commerce, even small changes can set your business up for success in 2025.

Take the next step toward future-proofing your business by exploring Ecwid’s ecommerce tools. With integrations for everything from social commerce to AR, this platform can help you stay ahead of the curve.

Experience an ecommerce platform that gives you the freedom of limitless growth.
Learn more

• Ecommerce Trends: Stay Ahead of the Curve
• 10 Mistakes in Creating an Ecommerce Strategy for a Business
• How to Build Your Ecommerce Website From Scratch (3 Easy Steps)
• Ecommerce and Recession
• Ecwid: How to Start Your Ecommerce Business and Sell Online for Free
• What is the Difference Between Ecommerce and Ebusiness?
• What Is Ecommerce Website and Why Start One
• The History of the Ecommerce Business and Its Future: Shopping Online Before and After
• Ecommerce Business: The State Of Ecommerce
• How to Start an Ecommerce Business Without a Budget
• A Beginner’s Guide to Business Insurance for Ecommerce
• Headless Ecommerce: What Is It
• The Role of Augmented Reality in Eсommerce

The post 11 Top Consumer Trends That Will Shape Retail in 2025 first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

As an ecommerce business owner, deciding where to sell your products can feel overwhelming. With so many sales channels available—each offering unique opportunities—it’s easy to get stuck wondering which one is best for your business.

The good news? You don’t have to choose just one!

From selling on your own website to leveraging social media or online marketplaces, each platform caters to specific types of businesses, products, and goals. This blog post will explore the pros and cons of various sales channels and how you can make each option work for you.

Plus, we’ll introduce the power of omnichannel selling, and how an ecommerce platform like Ecwid by Lightspeed can help you simplify the process and find your customers—wherever they are.

An Ecommerce Website

In 2023, ecommerce made up over 19.4% of global retail sales, according to Statista. By 2027, it’s expected to reach nearly a quarter of total retail sales worldwide.

An ecommerce website is an online store where you can easily sell your products directly to customers.

Having your own website with an online store is like having a digital storefront that’s open 24/7. It puts you in complete control—no sharing profits with other platforms or adjusting to their rules. Platforms like Ecwid make it easy for small businesses to set up beautiful, customizable stores in minutes.

How to Build an Ecommerce Website: The Easiest Way That Requires No Experience
Read more

Benefits of Selling Through Your Own Website

There are several advantages to selling via an online store:

• Higher margins: No commission fees for each sale (if you use Ecwid.)
• Ownership: If you sell through social media or a marketplace, all the traffic you generate is helping the platform. But when you own your own store, you own the traffic, too. This gives you more opportunities for marketing and monetization. Plus, it helps you build brand equity and makes your business more resellable down the line.
• Data collection: Having your own store allows you to gather valuable customer data, such as email addresses and website activity, providing deeper insights into their behavior. This information helps you create a tailored customer experience that drives higher sales and fosters stronger connections.
• Control: An online store allows you to sell whatever you like, however you want. There is no need to follow a marketplace’s rules.
• Branding: When you use a marketplace or social media, your brand is tied to the platform and its limitations. With your own store, you can create a unique customer experience that reflects your brand values.
• Marketing: Owning your store makes marketing easier. You can direct visitors to dedicated landing pages and create custom offers.
• Customer expectations: Customers expect brands to have their own online stores. Even if they’re shopping with you on marketplaces or social media, they’ll likely check out your store for more products or special discounts.

By the way, you can have a website up and running in under an hour with one of these 40 free ecommerce website templates.

Using a pre-designed template is the quickest way to set up your ecommerce site

Challenges of Selling Through Your Website

Selling via an online store offers many advantages, but there are also some challenges:

• Attracting customers: It’s up to you to bring traffic to your website. Unlike social media or big marketplaces, no "built-in" audience is waiting for you.
• Learning curve: Running an online store has a slight learning curve. The more control you have, the steeper it gets. This is why marketplaces, with limited control, are easier to start selling on.
• Maintenance: Managing your website requires updates, hosting fees, and potential troubleshooting.
• Legal responsibilities: As the store owner, you are in charge of handling any legal matters. Ensure you follow your country’s privacy and data collection laws.
• Shipping: Some marketplaces, like Amazon FBA, handle shipping for their sellers. With your own store, though, you take care of shipping the product to your customer.

Is This Right for Your Business?

An online store is perfect for businesses that want to build a lasting brand, sell products directly, and scale long-term. It works well for various products and services.

Having your own online store is a must-have in your ecommerce strategy. It’s the ideal place to guide all your customers, whether they discover you through marketplaces or social media.

Owning your traffic and data helps you understand your customers better and create products they’ll love. Plus, a sleek, professional website makes your brand feel more trustworthy.

An example of an ecommerce website you can create with Ecwid

No matter where you start selling, setting up your own store is worth considering sooner rather than later. That said, it’s okay to put your online store on hold if you’re just testing the waters, don’t have much technical experience, or are navigating industries with tricky legal, shipping, or payment rules.

For example, if you’re trying to gauge interest in your handmade crafts, a marketplace like Etsy might be a more practical choice than building a full online store.

Selling on a Blog

If you already have a website and it’s your blog, you can place a Buy Button on nearly any page, including your blog posts. This lets readers shop for products without leaving your blog. Plus, with all the space a blog gives you, it’s the perfect place to share the story behind your product and highlight its benefits.

Consumers can buy directly from the blog post while engaged with the content and interested in the product

Selling on your blog is an excellent option if you don’t want to run a full online store or if you like educating your customers before they make a purchase. That said, a blog might not be the best fit if you have many products or are aiming for a more traditional ecommerce setup.

Online Marketplaces

A marketplace is like a virtual mall where different sellers come together to offer their products.

Online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy are bustling hubs of activity. These platforms boast millions of active buyers who are ready to shop.

With 4.8 billion monthly visits, Amazon is the world’s most popular online marketplace. eBay comes second with 1.2 billion visits. Selling on marketplaces allows you to tap into that massive audience with minimal setup effort.

Amazon is one of the top online marketplaces where global shoppers recently made their latest cross-border purchase (Source: Statista)

Advantages of Selling on Marketplaces

Selling on marketplaces provides retailers with distinct benefits, including:

• Low startup costs: Selling on a marketplace costs little beyond your inventory (though fees vary depending on the platform). Anyone can jump in as long as they have something to sell.
• Built-in audience: Marketplaces come with a ready-made crowd of eager buyers. Instead of struggling to attract traffic on your own, you can tap into their audience and start making sales immediately.
• Trust factor: Shoppers feel safer sharing their payment info with big names like Amazon or eBay than with a brand-new online store. As a new seller, using a marketplace can help you build trust right off the bat.
• SEO-friendly: Big marketplaces are search engine powerhouses with optimized site structures, making it easier for customers to find your products online.
• Easy to use: Marketplaces handle all the tricky stuff—payment systems, site design, layouts—so you can focus on selling. It’s perfect for anyone who’s not super tech-savvy.

Challenges of Selling on Marketplaces

Selling on marketplaces has its perks, but it also comes with a few challenges to keep in mind:

• High competition: With so many sellers and a big audience, competition can get intense—especially in popular product categories. To stand out, you might need to lower your prices (which can eat into your profits) or focus on niche categories to attract customers.
• Fees: Marketplaces take a cut of your sales or charge listing fees. These fees can shrink your profit margins and make the already tough competition even trickier.
• No ownership: Any traffic or audience you build belongs to the marketplace, not you. If you ever leave the platform, the audience and any brand loyalty you’ve worked hard to create will stay behind.
• Limitations: Marketplaces decide what you can sell and what kind of data you can access, which can limit your marketing options and customer insights.

Amazon for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know to Start Selling on Amazon
Read more

Is This Right for Your Business?

Marketplaces are ideal for businesses:

• selling niche, high-demand items
• testing new product ideas to gauge demand
• who want to start selling quickly without the hassle of setting up a store (like dealing with domains, design, SEO, and more).
• working in an industry with trust challenges or limited customer demand (like niche handicrafts).

While marketplaces can be a great way to get started, it’s essential to build your audience in your store as soon as possible. Since you don’t fully own the traffic or have access to detailed customer data, relying only on marketplace sales might be tricky in the long run.

Keep marketplaces as a part of your omni-channel strategy. When you’ve got the resources, it’s worth prioritizing your own store.

Social Commerce

Social commerce involves selling directly through social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest. These platforms have evolved to offer ecommerce features like shoppable posts, in-app checkout, and personalized recommendations.

One-third of shoppers discover a new product or brand through social media, compared to 60% of Gen Z consumers. Gen Z is also twice as likely as the overall consumer base to find products through influencers and make a purchase.

Share of Gen Z vs. total shoppers who found and bought a new product or brand on social media (Source: Statista)

Advantages of Selling on Social Media

Selling on social media platforms offers several benefits:

• Targeting: Social networks like Facebook have loads of information about their users. You can tap into this to create super-targeted ad campaigns.
• Ease of use: Social selling is relatively easy to start. Most platforms offer simple tools and options for setting up an online store or shoppable posts.
• Discovery: Social networks are a fantastic way to help customers discover your products. Their visual nature makes them perfect for showcasing items, especially if your product is highly visual or works best when demonstrated.
• Trust factor: Just as with marketplaces, people often feel comfortable purchasing through social media due to the platform’s well-established credibility.

Platforms like Instagram let you make your content shoppable

Challenges of Selling on Social Media

Social commerce also has its challenges:

• Platform limitations: Each platform has its rules and guidelines for selling products and posting content, so you may need to adjust your marketing and content strategies accordingly.
• Limited data access: While social platforms have tons of data on users, they might not necessarily share it with retailers. This can make it harder to track customer behavior and optimize your strategies.
• Fees: Selling on social media platforms can come with additional fees or charges, which can eat into your profits.
• Changes in algorithms or policies: If a platform suddenly changes its policies or algorithms, it can significantly impact your sales.

Is This Right for Your Business?

Social selling may be a good fit if you:

• have a highly visual product that lends itself well to social media
• target younger demographics who are more likely to discover products through social networks
• want to tap into the targeting capabilities of social media platforms.

However, like marketplaces, it’s important to also focus on building your own online store and audience. Social commerce can be unpredictable and relies heavily on algorithm changes, so it’s essential to have a backup plan and a strong presence on your own website.

Offline Commerce

Brick-and-mortar stores, pop-ups, and local markets provide a tangible, personal experience that online selling cannot replicate. The key is integrating offline efforts with digital tools, such as POS systems, which allow tracking of both online and offline inventory and sales.

While 43% of US consumers enjoy shopping online more than in-store, shoppers in other countries still prefer the experience of physical stores—like in Austria, Finland, and New Zealand.

Benefits of Selling Through a Physical Storefront

Offline commerce provides unique advantages:

• Customer experience: A physical retail space gives you full control over how customers experience your brand. They can touch and try your products while enjoying an environment that reflects your brand’s values. Plus, certain products, like clothing or furniture, benefit from being experienced in person.
• Personal touch: Building customer relationships through in-person interactions can help foster loyalty and trust.
• Instant gratification: Customers can purchase and take home a product immediately, which can appeal to those who don’t want to wait for shipping.
• Targeted audience: Pop-ups or local markets allow you to target specific demographics or locations that align with your brand.
• Walk-in customers: Retail stores naturally attract walk-in shoppers, and a great location can help you grow your customer base.

Challenges of Offline Selling

Offline commerce also has its challenges:

• Higher upfront costs: Renting or buying a retail space, designing and decorating it, and purchasing inventory can involve significant upfront costs.
• Limited reach: You are limited to selling to customers who visit your offline store or pop-up location. A location with limited accessibility or low walk-in traffic can make things tough for a store.
• Legal requirements: Running a physical store means obtaining permits and licenses from local authorities. This can quickly add to the already high startup costs.
• Seasonal business model: Some businesses may only have success during certain seasons or times of the year (e.g., holiday markets).

Is This Right for Your Business?

Running an offline store can work well in certain situations, such as:

• You have access to affordable retail space in a great location
• Your product needs an in-person experience to shine
• You want customers to connect with and experience your brand vision firsthand.

However, if you’re just starting, don’t have a big budget, or aren’t sure about the demand for your products, opening a physical store might not be the best first step. Instead, it’s smarter (and less expensive!) to test the market online before investing thousands of dollars into a retail space.

Mobile Apps

Think of a mobile app as your online store’s handy sidekick, made just for phones. Instead of opening your website in a browser, customers can simply download your app and easily shop from their phones.

Mobile phones are at the heart of digital shopping, driving most website visits and online orders. In 2024, smartphones made up 77% of retail site traffic and brought in 68% of online purchases.

Advantages of Selling via a Mobile App

Mobile apps make online shopping easier and more enjoyable for customers—and they’re great for business owners, too:

• Better experience: A mobile app is built specifically for mobile devices, giving customers a smoother, more user-friendly experience than using a website through a browser. Plus, you can tailor the shopping experience to fit mobile users’ needs with features like larger images and bigger buttons for easier navigation.
• Customer loyalty: Mobile users don’t like cluttering their phones with too many apps. If you convince them to download yours, they’re less likely to turn to your competitors. It’s a great way to build a more loyal customer base.

A mobile app makes it easy for customers to shop using smartphones

Challenges of Selling via a Mobile App

However, mobile apps aren’t without their challenges:

• User acquisition: Customers need to install the app, which can be an obstacle. Some people are downloading fewer apps and opting for mobile websites instead. This makes it tougher to convince them to install your app.
• Development and maintenance: Building an app isn’t always budget-friendly for smaller businesses. Plus, running a dedicated mobile app is another platform to manage. It can get pricey and take up a lot of resources.
• Little advantage over websites: These days, mobile websites can do everything a native app can. For most businesses, having a mobile app isn’t a priority.

Is This Right for Your Business?

Mobile apps work for brands with loyal customers. They’re particularly effective for subscription boxes or repeat-purchase products like coffee beans or skin care. They can also be an excellent choice for businesses with younger customers who shop on their phones.

Skip the mobile app if your customers are older, aren’t big on smartphones, or your product catalog is very small. In these cases, a mobile-friendly website will do the job just fine.

Omnichannel Selling Is the Future

Why limit yourself to just one sales channel when your customers are everywhere? That’s where omnichannel selling comes in.

Omnichannel selling means offering your products through multiple channels and connecting them seamlessly.

The benefits of omnichannel selling:

• Enhanced customer experience: Meet shoppers wherever they are—online, offline, or mobile.
• Brand consistency: Ensure a consistent shopping experience across all channels to build trust and loyalty.
• Increased sales: Reach more customers through multiple channels, maximizing your sales potential.
• Streamlined operations: With the rights software, you can manage inventory and orders from a single system while avoiding overselling.

Simplify Omnichannel Selling with Ecwid

Choosing the right platforms to sell your products shouldn’t be complicated, and managing those channels shouldn’t be, either. That’s why hundreds of thousands of small business owners trust Ecwid by Lightspeed.

With Ecwid:

• Sell across multiple platforms, including websites, marketplaces, social commerce, and in-person POS.
• Manage all your products, orders, and customer interactions from one simple dashboard.
• No tech skills? No problem! Ecwid is user-friendly and built for small business owners ready to grow.

So, whether you’re just starting or looking to expand your business, omnichannel selling with Ecwid can help you reach more customers and grow your sales.

Wrap Up

When deciding on your business’s best sales channels, consider your target audience, product offerings, and budget.

While physical retail stores may still be necessary for certain businesses, online selling channels like websites, mobile apps, and omnichannel platforms offer endless growth potential.

Remember, with the right tools and strategies, you can reach more customers and boost your sales no matter where they shop. So why limit yourself?

Embrace the power of multiple sales channels today with Ecwid by Lightspeed. Its user-friendly platform allows you to sell your products on multiple platforms while managing everything from one simple dashboard.

Start Selling Online with Ecwid
Learn more

• New Product Ideas to Sell Online: Current Trends
• Top 15+ Trending Products to Sell in 2023
• How to Find Products to Sell Online
• Hot Eco-Friendly Product Ideas to Sell Online
• Best Products to Sell Online
• How To Find Trending Products To Sell Online
• How to Create Demand For Unique Products
• How to Develop a New Product that Solves a Problem
• How To Evaluate Product Viability
• What is a Product Prototype
• How to Create a Product Prototype
• How to Figure Out Where to Sell Your Products
• Why You Should Sell Unprofitable Products
• White Label Products You Should Sell Online
• White Label vs Private Label
• What is Product Testing: Benefits and Types

The post How to Figure Out Where to Sell Your Products – Complete Guide first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

People are swarming to TikTok like bees to honey, all for the edutainment, music, dance moves, hilarious pets, and whatever else tickles their fancy. That’s the magic of a video feed so personalized it might know you better than your friend!

Being one of the world’s fastest-growing social media platforms, TikTok is a fantastic way to connect with your audience and reach new customers in a relaxed, natural way. Keep reading to discover the best TikTok tools for small business owners.

Why Should You Use TikTok for Your Business?

Let’s kick things off with a question on everyone’s mind: should you use TikTok for your business? And why is TikTok a big deal for businesses?

To tackle those questions, let’s highlight what makes this platform stand out from other social media channels:

TikTok Boasts a Big and Loyal Fan Base

TikTok not only has a huge fan base but it’s also filled with loyal users who are eager to connect with brands:

• TikTok has 1.5 billion monthly active users worldwide
• TikTok users are 5.2 times more likely to say it’s the best place to connect with brands compared to other social and video platforms.

TikTok’s audience boasts users from various age groups (from 10 to 50+ years) with diverse interests. There are many communities on TikTok, such as #baketok, #synthtok, #parenttok, and so on. That makes the platform an excellent spot for advertising, no matter what you sell.

Demographics of TikTok users by age and gender

TikTok’s Recommendation System Is Off the Charts

TikTok’s recommendation system determines which videos will appear on a user’s For You page (the steady stream of videos they see when they open the app).

As TikTok puts it, the For You page "is powered by a recommendation system that delivers content to each user that is likely to be of interest to that particular user."

To curate this unputdownable feed, TikTok considers everything about your interactions with videos or accounts. For example, it considers clips you like or share, creators you follow, comments you post, and content you make.

Recommendations are also based on video information (captions, sounds, hashtags), your device type, and account settings (language and country).

The magic of the recommendation system allows TikTok to present users with content they like constantly. People open the app and get an endless stream of videos they are interested in. Which brings us to our next point:

People Spend a Lot of Time on TikTok

When we say "a lot," we mean A LOT.

Users worldwide spend about 34 hours on TikTok per month. In the UK, the average is over 49 hours, while in the US, it’s 45 hours and 37 minutes.

According to Emarketer, US adults ages 18 to 54 spend more time on TikTok than any other popular social platform.

TikTok leads time spent on social for most US adults

As a business owner, you want to reach your potential customers where they already spend time. Not only does TikTok have a super big and engaged audience, but it continues growing thanks to the recommendation system that users love.

So, when promoting your brand on social media, TikTok should be at the top of your list of platforms to test out.

Products Can Go Viral on TikTok

Check out the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag—it has billions of views in the app. On TikTok, products can go viral—just like songs, trends, or filters.

You’ve probably seen the viral video of a woman’s car that burned to a crisp—yet her Stanley cup survived, still holding ice. That video got 97.1 million views, not counting re-shares and media coverage.

Stanley’s marketers acted quickly. They supported their super fan by gifting a new car and highlighted their product as more than just another trendy cup—it’s durable and high-quality.

This viral video ensured that everyone became aware of Stanley cups

However, your product doesn’t need to survive fire to go viral on TikTok.

Many products have been flying off the shelves because of users’ enthusiastic review videos. For example, some CeraVe skincare products, roller skates, the Pink Stuff cleaning paste, Zara jeans, Peter Thomas Roth firming eye cream, Prepdeck kitchen organizer, and Cat Crack catnip. The list goes on and on!

TikTok users can duet, stitch, and react to each other’s videos, which, besides promoting co-creation, works as social proof for product testing. When you see dozens of videos on your For You page with different people (not brands) testing the same product, you’ll believe it’s genuinely worth the hype.

Now, let’s explore how to use the app to grow your brand visibility and sales.

How to Sell Products on TikTok

Sellers in certain countries can enjoy TikTok Shop, a handy feature that lets customers buy your products directly on the app.

How Does TikTok Shop Work?

Picture this: you’re scrolling through your For You page when a cool video pops up. Suddenly, you just have to have the product they’re showing! No worries—just tap the bag icon in the video and snag that awesome item.

How great is that? TikTok Shop makes this fun and easy shopping experience possible for your potential customers.

Shoppers can buy a product they spot in a video without leaving the app

You can also add a Shop tab to your TikTok profile that displays products from your catalog. Customers can browse your products in the app just as easily as they can browse your videos.

An example of a Shop tab in a TikTok profile

After customers tap a bag icon in your video or click on a product in your Shop tab, they can view the product’s name, description, photos, price, and *drum roll, please* a link to buy the product in your store.

Which Countries Have Access to TikTok Shop?

TikTok Shop is now available in the United Kingdom, the United States, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

How to Set Up TikTok Shop?

The easiest way to set up a TikTok Shop is to connect your product catalog to the TikTok Seller Center via your ecommerce platform.

If you use Ecwid by Lightspeed as your ecommerce platform and your business is located in the US and UK, setting up a TikTok Shop couldn’t be easier.

All you have to do is to connect your Ecwid catalog using the M2E Multichannel Connect app (for both the US and UK) or the TikTok Shop Connector app (for the US only). If your business is outside the US and UK, you can create a TikTok Shop manually.

One of the best things about syncing your product catalog with TikTok via Ecwid is that any changes you make in your Ecwid admin show up in your TikTok Shop. Whether adding products or toggling them on or off, everything updates seamlessly, saving you time managing products across platforms.

Ecwid is one of the few ecommerce platforms that allows you to connect your online store to TikTok to advertise and sell your products on the app. You can also connect your Ecwid store to other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and eBay.

With Ecwid, you can sell your products everywhere–on your website, social media, marketplaces, and even in person. All your products and sales will be synced, and you can manage them from a single dashboard.

If you’re ready to sell your products on TikTok, click the button below and follow the step-by-step instructions for getting started.

How to Advertise on TikTok

TikTok has been ranked number one globally for ad equity two years in a row. In other words, users value the ads on the app. This is thanks to TikTok’s unique ad formats that let you promote your products and services in a natural way.

The result? 61% of users have purchased directly on TikTok or after seeing an ad.

One great thing about TikTok Ads is that they’re available in many countries. So, even if TikTok Shop isn’t in your country yet, you can still connect with potential customers on the app.

Let’s explore how you can advertise your business on TikTok.

To start running effective ad campaigns, connect your online store to TikTok for Business through your ecommerce platform, aka Ecwid by Lightspeed.

Connecting your online store to TikTok for Business allows you to run effective ads. For example, display ads that show a specific product to people who were checking out that item on your website. Or promote your products to people who have a lot in common with your customers and are likely to be interested in what you have to offer.

After you connect your online store to TikTok for Business with Ecwid, you’ll be able to:

Feature Products in Your Ads

Syncing your product catalog and your TikTok for Business account allows you to create and manage ads that display your products–Spark Ads, Lead Generation Ads, Collection Ads, or Catalog Sales Objective Ads.

Spark Ads are your organic in-feed videos that you can turn into ads and add a call-to-action button. With your product catalog and your TikTok for Business account synced you’ll be able to link to your product page in your Spark Ads.

You can also use organic videos of other creators that feature your product and turn them into Spark Ads to promote them in the feed.

TikTok ads blend into the platform, offering an organic feel

Lead Generation Ads help you capture leads through contact forms. When someone taps the CTA button in your video ad, a popup form appears instantly.

Collecting leads on TikTok stays within the app, so there is no need to redirect users elsewhere

Collection Ads allow customers to browse a collection of products right in the app. You can pick the items to show yourself or let TikTok Ads Manager display the most relevant products for each potential customer.

Shoppers can explore a variety of products all from one ad

Catalog Sales Objective Ads display specific products to people who have expressed interest in them on your website (this feature is available only in the US and Indonesia for now).

Depending on your experience, you can choose between a simplified way of creating ads and a fully customizable ad campaign creation.

Ecwid provides a light version of TikTok Ads Manager that you can access right from your Ecwid admin. It is a simplified experience for creating an ad campaign in no time—perfect for beginners.

Pro users can go to their TikTok Ads Manager (that can be done from the Ecwid admin) and get the full control experience on setting up an ad.

Run More Effective Ad Campaigns

When you connect your Ecwid store to TikTok for Business, you automatically gain access to a smart analytics tool called TikTok Pixel. It comes pre-installed in your store, so it can start working immediately to help you better understand potential customers’ behavior on your website.

But what does TikTok Pixel do exactly? We’re happy you asked!

TikTok Pixel tracks customers’ actions on your website, such as how many people view a specific product page, search for an item, add something to a cart, or purchase. This allows you to find the right audience for your ads.

For instance, you can use Pixel’s data to reach out to people who behave similarly to your current customers or those who previously engaged with your store.

The key to running ads that bring you sales is advertising to the right audience–people who might be interested in your products. With Ecwid, you can get data from TikTok Pixel to analyze your ad performance and adjust your ads to ensure your products are displayed to the right people.

Advertising on TikTok is available for sellers in all countries supported by TikTok. So what are you waiting for?

If you need help connecting your store to TikTok or want to learn more about advertising on the app, our detailed Help Center instructions will definitely come in handy.

Start Selling and Advertising on TikTok

Besides being the world’s fastest-growing social media platform, TikTok is a fantastic way to connect with potential customers in a fun and natural way.

With thoughtfully targeted ads and built-in shopping, you can reach both new and loyal customers right where they love to spend time (because, let’s face it, once you start scrolling, it’s tough to stop).

Sign up for Ecwid to create an online store and connect it to TikTok to showcase your products to a large and diverse audience.

Turn your TikTok fame into an ecommerce empire
Learn more

• What is TikTok and Why It’s So Popular?
• How to Make Money on TikTok: A Guide for Business Owners
• Trending Products to Sell on TikTok
• How to Sell and Advertise on TikTok
• How to Use TikTok: A Beginner’s Guide
• How to Use TikTok to Drive Interest for Your Business
• How Small Business Owners Use TikTok to Grow Sales
• How To Go Live on TikTok
• How to Grow Followers on TikTok: Best Practices
• How to Use TikTok to Start Selling Your Products Online Today
• The Entrepreneur’s Guide For How to Go Viral on TikTok
• TikTok Search: How to Find People, Brands, and Products on TikTok
• How to Make Money on TikTok
• The Dos & Don’ts of Collaborating with TikTok Creators as a Business
• Advertising on TikTok from A to Z
• The Ultimate Guide to TikTok Ads

The post How to Sell and Advertise on TikTok first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Have you noticed any of your friends or the people you follow on social media recommending products or services in their feed or on their websites? Chances are they are taking advantage of referral programs to make money.

Do you want to get some additional profit, too? Everyone can use some extra cash. And with Ecwid, you can earn money both in your online store and by recommending Ecwid to your friends.

It doesn’t matter if you’re an Ecwid store owner or just a supporter of our product — you can take part in the affiliate program and get rewarded for every new Ecwid user you bring in!

If you are a web agency or a developer, there are even more options for partnering with us.

Below, we’ll provide some more details to help you choose the partnership option that suits you best.

Affiliate Program for Ecwid Users and Enthusiasts

This program works for everyone: Ecwid store owners, website owners, bloggers, freelancers, and active social media users. Initial investment is not required to become an Ecwid Affiliate, and you’ll earn a percentage from each new paid store.

How It Works

To participate, register in the program and get a unique link, then provide that link to anyone interested in launching an online store with Ecwid. Each person that opens an Ecwid store through your link becomes your referral customer.

When that person upgrades to a paid plan (Venture, Business, or Unlimited), you’ll receive $100 commission. You’ll be able to track the number of referral clients and fees in your partner account.

Bonus: Ecwid affiliate partners get access to closed beta versions of new products and the chance to advertise their business by writing a guest post on the Ecwid blog.

Get your affiliate link

Developer Program

If you’re a web agency or developer, there are plenty of ways to partner with Ecwid.

Creating Custom Sections & Templates for Instant Site

The Ecwid Instant Site is a website builder tailored to meet the demands of various ecommerce businesses. It provides ready-made site sections and templates that enable users to create unique and functional online stores.

Sometimes, business owners want a personal touch to ensure their website matches their business needs. As a developer, you can help them reach their goals by crafting custom sections and templates for Ecwid Instant Sites.

Custom sections allow you to create features for Instant Sites such as bestseller slides, brand video galleries, customer reviews, and more.

Custom templates let you create an Instant Site that fits your client’s unique business needs perfectly, no matter how niche. Need a booking feature or a unique homepage design? With custom templates for Instant Sites, you can make it happen.

Learn more about creating custom sections and templates for Instant Sites.

Headless Ecommerce

Headless ecommerce is a favorite among developers because it offers flexibility and customization options, giving them more control over design and user experience.

Whether you’re looking to build an online store from scratch or add ecommerce capabilities to an existing website, headless ecommerce gives you the freedom and flexibility to create a unique and personalized shopping experience for your clients.

If you’re using Next.js Commerce, a ready-made site template for selling online, you can easily choose Ecwid as your headless ecommerce provider.

Find everything you need about adding Ecwid as your ecommerce provider on Next.js Commerce in the Help Center.

App Development

Are you a talented developer? Add your apps to the Ecwid App Market and share them with over one million potential users from all around the world!

We’re fine with both small apps for a limited target audience, as well as bigger software for analytics and sales. All apps help Ecwid users run their businesses more successfully, and you get the profit.

How It Works
It’s up to you to decide if your app is free or paid, and you can set your own price.

And if you don’t have the ability to accept payments from customers, no sweat! Ecwid can process your payments.

How to Become an App Partner
If you want to create apps for the Ecwid App Market, we recommend that you submit your app’s details to Ecwid, and then you’ll be able to read our API documentation and create an Ecwid account to get access to the API. Then you can build out the app as you’ve designed it.

As soon as your app is ready to launch, fill out this form and describe your app’s key features. We’ll add the app to the App Market, and you’ll start earning.

Submit your app

It doesn’t matter whether you are a developer or just an Ecwid enthusiast — join one of our partner programs and watch your profits grow. And if you have other ideas for a partnership with Ecwid, feel free to reach out and share them with us.

Refer or develop for Ecwid by Lightspeed. Join our partner program and help businesses from around the world sell more.
Learn more

• How to Make Money as an Ecwid Partner
• Why Ecwid is the Best Ecommerce Platform for Partners
• 5 Ways to Build a Relationship with Your Clients and Customers
• How to Help Your Customers Launch Holiday Sales Events
• Top 10 Appointment Scheduling Software for Small and Midsize Businesses

The post How to Make Money as an Ecwid Partner first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Pinterest is more than a platform for DIY crafts and home decor ideas. For savvy small business owners, it represents a goldmine of potential customers eager to discover new and exciting products.

Discover the benefits Pinterest offers for business owners, explore which products perform best, get some helpful advertising tips, and learn about a nifty tool called the Pinterest tag.

Why Is Pinterest a Profitable Channel for Selling Products?

Pinterest isn’t just another social media platform; it’s a visual search engine. This distinction is crucial for businesses looking to increase their product visibility.

Pinterest Inspires Consumer Buying Decisions

Users come to Pinterest armed with intent—an intention to discover, pin, and often purchase. According to the platform, the top reason people use Pinterest is to discover new products and brands.

Content "Lasts Longer" on Pinterest

The longevity of organic Pinterest content means your pins can continue to garner traffic long after they are posted, unlike other platforms where posts quickly fade from view. This sustained engagement means ongoing sales with less effort.

Given that there are 537 million monthly active Pinterest users worldwide, your content can reach a large and diverse audience, increasing the potential for sales and brand recognition.

Monthly active Pinterest users worldwide from 2016 to 2024 (Source: Statista)

Pinterest Simplifies Shopping for Pinned Products

Apart from allowing users to pin inspiring content onto thematic boards, the platform provides direct pathways to online purchases.

Pinned products act as direct conduits to your online store, transforming casual browsers into potential buyers with a few clicks.

The numbers prove that this approach works. 85% of weekly US Pinterest users have made a purchase based on content they have seen from brands on the platform.

Pinterest Provides a Range of Ad Options

On Pinterest, you can run various types of ads tailored to different assets and goals. However, they all share a common thread: the potential for increased sales.

Here are the types of ads you can run on Pinterest:

• Carousel ads let people swipe through multiple images
• Shopping ads showcase one image at a time and let people buy products they discover on Pinterest
• Collections ads appear as one main image with three smaller ones underneath in the mobile feed.
• An Idea ad is a set of videos, images, lists, and custom text all in one Pin. You can promote an organic Pin as an Idea.


An example of an Idea ad

• A Showcase ad is a multi-layered format with swipeable cards. Each card lets advertisers highlight up to three features, with links to more content, products, and more.
• A Quiz ad is an ad format featuring multiple-choice questions and answers. Each quiz result can include links to content, products, and more.
• Image ads feature one image.
• Video ads feature either a video the same size as a regular Pin or a video that expands across people’s entire feed on mobile.

An example of a Collection ad

Understanding Pinterest Audience

Before you start pinning away, understand who you’re targeting. Pinterest’s demographics skew towards a female audience, with a high percentage of users under the age of 44.

Pinterest is most popular with women aged 25 to 34, making up 20.4% of its global audience. Additionally, over 19% of users are women aged 18 to 24.

Global Pinterest audience breakdown by age and gender (Source: Statista)

Here are some more demographic statistics from Pinterest:

• The Pinterest audience is 70% women and 30% men
• Pinterest reaches 40% of US households with an annual income over $150K.9
• Gen Z is their fastest-growing audience, making up 42% of their global users. They’re searching, saving, and ready to shop more than other generations.

As for other age groups, in the US, Pinterest reaches:

• 46% of people ages 18-24
• 40% of people ages 25-34
• 39% of people ages 35-44.

The United States leads with nearly 90 million Pinterest users, the highest globally. Brazil comes next with about 39 million users, and then we’ve got Mexico, Germany, and France following along.

Countries with the highest number of Pinterest users (Source: Statista)

Pinterest’s audience is often characterized by a keen interest in lifestyle and personal development topics. They also love gearing up for seasonal events and holiday planning. Let this guide your content calendar, tapping into their interests and boosting engagement.

How to Advertise Your Products on Pinterest

Pinterest’s ad platform lets you target users based on their interests and behaviors. This way, you can reach audiences that are more likely to engage with your ad. To get started, you’ll need a Pinterest tag.

What Is a Pinterest Tag and How Does It Work?

A Pinterest tag is a piece of code that gets embedded in your website to spot visitors. It then uses that data to build audiences for advertising based on their actions in your online store.

The Pinterest tag helps you connect with eager shoppers who visited your store but didn’t make a purchase. This tactic is called "remarketing," and it has proven more effective than traditional ads.

The Tag sees some customers’ actions, giving you the ability to shape audiences for remarketing:

• Page Visit: a visitor lands on the page
• View Category: a visitor browses products from a specific category
• Add To Cart: a visitor adds products to their cart
• Start Checkout: a user clicks the checkout button
• Checkout: a customer completes their purchase
• Search: a visitor uses the search box to find something in your store.

The Tag also lets you sell on Pinterest to users similar to your existing customers, known as "actalike" audiences.

But it doesn’t stop there. Your Pinterest tag also tracks what users do after clicking on your ad. Rather than count ad clicks (which doesn’t equal purchases), your Tag lets you see how much your ad has generated. That helps you see how effective your ads are.

Pinterest ads seamlessly integrate with organic content

Even if you’re not quite ready to hop over to selling on Pinterest, install the Pinterest tag now to gather audiences of almost-there customers to remarket whenever you’re ready.

How to Add a Pinterest Tag to Your Online Store

To install the Pinterest tag, you typically have to modify your site header code and add pieces of code on every page where you want to track events. However, some ecommerce platforms, such as Ecwid by Lightspeed, make it easier for you.

With Ecwid by Lightspeed, you don’t just get a robust online store—you gain access to a suite of promotional tools, including options for advertising on Pinterest. Create your online store with Ecwid to start selling on your website, social media like Pinterest, and marketplaces.

With Ecwid, your Pinterest tag requires no extra coding, meaning you can get started without special skills. The process is simplified–all you need is a single copy-and-paste in your Ecwid admin.

To start with Pinterest tag, set up a free Pinterest business account and verify your website. See the detailed step-by-step instruction in the Help Center.

Adding a Pinterest tag to your Ecwid store requires a quick copy-and-paste

How to Create Ads on Pinterest

Once your business account and Pinterest tag are set up, you can start creating ads on the platform. Here’s how to get started.

Navigating all the advertising terms can be tricky, but don’t worry! Below is a handy overview to help you better understand Pinterest Ads.

To advertise on Pinterest, you begin by running a campaign.

In any campaign, you’ll find several ad groups—think of these as chapters. This is where the action takes place! Set a bid and budget, target specific audiences, and create multiple ad groups to achieve different goals and share various parts of your business story.

Once you’ve set up your ad group, you can start promoting Pins that align with your campaign goals. These Pins will appear as users browse their home feed or search for relevant keywords.

What Products Sell Best on Pinterest?

Pinterest is all about inspiration, so it’s no surprise that products embodying an aspirational lifestyle perform well on the platform. Think dreamy vacation destinations, luxury goods, home décor items, fashion choices—you get the idea.

Pinterest users are drawn to aesthetically pleasing visual content, so products with high-quality images or videos perform best.

The most popular categories on Pinterest include:

Home Decor & DIY

Home decor remains one of the top categories on Pinterest, with ideas for interiors and garden beautification dominating searches.

DIY products, tutorials, and kits also have carved out their space on Pinterest. Offering both a product and an experience, they have an undeniable appeal among Pinterest’s active DIY community.

Pinterest is a hub of inspiring design ideas

Fashion & Beauty

Fashion and beauty products follow closely behind, with users seeking style tips and product recommendations to enhance their style. The vibrant visuals associated with apparel and cosmetics create allure and motivate people to purchase.

Users turn to Pinterest to curate outfits for every occasion

Food & Drink

Food and drink-related items also perform well on Pinterest. Whether specialty ingredients or artisanal kitchen gadgets, these categories have a dedicated following of connoisseurs eager for culinary exploration.

Recipes rank among the most popular types of content on Pinterest

Travel & Tourism

Pinterest offers a wealth of inspiration for travelers, from dream destinations to practical packing tips. Products that cater to wanderlust and make travel more convenient are highly sought after on the platform.

Pinterest is a popular platform for trip planning and finding destination inspiration

Health & Fitness

Pinterest is ideal for promoting health and fitness products. From workout gear to meal plans, users who are looking for ways to improve their wellness are constantly browsing for fresh ideas and recommendations.

A healthy lifestyle can also be an inspiration on Pinterest

More Ways to Promote Your Products on Pinterest

Beyond advertising, Pinterest offers various methods to promote your products. Here are a few strategies:

Optimize Descriptions and Include Keywords

Since Pinterest functions like a search engine, it helps to incorporate keywords within your pin descriptions. This ensures your content shows up during relevant searches, increasing your pins’ discoverability and engagement.

Act on Pinterest Insights

The Pinterest Trends tool lets you see what people are searching for on Pinterest. You can explore by demographic, region, and other handy filters to discover what your audience is excited to try next.

Understanding changing trends allows you to launch relevant ad campaigns on Pinterest before big spikes happen. Your ads show up at the right time, boosting your chances of converting viewers into customers.

Pinterest Trends shows you what content is popular and when people start searching for different trends

Submit Your Content for Shopping Spotlight

Shopping Spotlight lets you highlight your trendy, seasonal content on one of Pinterest’s busiest surfaces. Your products and ideas can appear as Pins on Pinterest’s search landing page, making it easy for users to find and engage with them.

To submit your content for Shopping Spotlight, ensure that your topic is a highly-searched term during the desired period.

Use Automated Posting

If you sell online with Ecwid by Lightspeed, you can use the Outfy app to create content showcasing your products and automatically post it on Pinterest and other social networks. You can create collages, videos, animated gifs, and sale promotions.

Start Promoting Your Business on Pinterest

With its visual and discovery-focused platform, Pinterest can help you reach new audiences and drive sales for your business.

Whether you advertise on the platform or use other promotional strategies, it’s worth investing time and effort into building a strong presence on Pinterest. So why not take advantage of this powerful marketing tool?

With Ecwid by Lightspeed, it’s easier than ever to get started and see actual results. Create your online store and install the Pinterest tag to reach new customers on Pinterest through more effective ads.

Happy pinning!

Turn Pinterest into selling machine
Learn more

• How To Use Pinterest For Ecommerce and Why
• 5 Pinterest Strategies That Can Increase Your Sales
• Pinterest for E-commerce Sellers
• How to Use Pinterest to Understand Your Niche
• How to Boost Your Sales with Pinterest
• How to Advertise on Pinterest
• How to Make Money on Pinterest with Your Free Site
• How to Log Out of Pinterest (Mobile & Desktop) a Quick Guide
• How to Claim a Website on Pinterest
• How to Print Boards and Pins from Pinterest
• How to Exclude Pinterest From a Google Search

The post How to Advertise on Pinterest: Make the Most of the Product Inspiration App first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Offering customer support right where it matters the most—on your website—might be just what you need to turn more shoppers into happy customers. That’s where Facebook Messenger steps in. As one of the world’s favorite messaging apps, it also lets you add live chat to your online store for instant customer support.

Keep reading to learn how to grow your online store using Facebook Messenger and explore proven marketing strategies you can implement with it.

Why Use Facebook Messenger Live Chat on Your Site

Facebook Messenger live chat keeps you connected with your customers, lets you chat smoothly, and gives friendly reminders to shoppers about offers and discounts.

Let’s explore how you can use Facebook Messenger for your online store.

Shoppers Already Use Messenger

The number of Facebook Messenger users is massive — 1,010 million worldwide. If you have a Facebook page (which most of us do), you’re already on Messenger.

If you’re selling in the US, Facebook Messenger is indispensable. A survey of US consumers revealed that Facebook Messenger is their preferred platform for communication.

Messaging Creates a Personal Connection

In our bustling ecommerce world, people still love shopping from small businesses, whether they offer 2-day delivery or not. Why? Because smaller stores provide something special — quick, personal communication. Connecting and chatting with customers where they are builds a personal bond that brings your brand to life.

A store with Facebook Messenger live chat opens up chances for real conversations that bigger marketplaces and brick-and-mortar stores just can’t match. It’s like being your customers’ personal shopping assistant, suggesting items based on their needs, helping them pick the right size, or offering tips on using your product.

Shoppers Love Live Chats

Consumers appreciate live chats for a clear reason: they get help in real time without dealing with complicated menus or waiting for email replies.

Easiest-to-use customer service channels in the US (Source: Statista)

Let’s take a look at some survey data to back up the point:

• 66% of consumers say that they are more likely to purchase from a brand that they can contact via messaging
• 61% of consumers think chatting with an agent is the easiest customer service channel
• 85% of shoppers feel satisfied when they use live chat for customer service.

Linking Facebook Messenger to your store lets you use the app as a live chat, improving your customer service.

Messenger Live Chat Is Easy to Use

There are loads of fancy live chat platforms out there, but if you’re after a simple way to chat with your customers without needing a tech degree, this is the tool for you. Its user-friendly nature makes selling on Messenger a breeze.

Conversations Are Saved in Messenger’s Inbox

Imagine a customer asking you a question in a live chat while you’re offline. With Facebook Messenger live chat, the message waits for you and pops up once you’re back online, so you won’t miss a thing.

Keeping Facebook Messenger live chat on your platform means you stay connected with your clients whenever and wherever they reach out—whether on your website or directly in Facebook’s Messenger app.

Live Chat Assists Shoppers in Making Purchase Decisions

We’ve all been there. You’re browsing an online store and have a question—maybe the sizing is confusing, or you need more details on warranty, service, installation, care, and maintenance. That’s where Messenger comes in. Just click on Facebook Messenger live chat, and voilà! Instant customer service with a real-time chat.

Remember that some purchasing situations call for a bit more privacy and personalized service. Think about pharmaceutical cosmetics, lingerie, security products, gifts, and similar items.

Live chat helps your customers feel more at ease and allows you, as the seller, to connect with them on a more personal level.

While exploring products, customers can easily contact the business

Now, let’s explore how to connect your store to the app and start selling on Facebook Messenger.

How to Add a Facebook Messenger Live Chat to Your Online Store

First things first: if you still don’t have an online store, it’s time to create one. If you’re hunting for an online store that’s as powerful as it is easy to use, Ecwid by Lightspeed is your top choice.

Once your online store is up and running smoothly, connecting it to Facebook Messenger is a breeze.

If you’re using Ecwid, you can easily do this with a variety of apps from the Ecwid App Market. For example, Chaty, Chatway, WhatsApp Chat, and more. Simply search for "Facebook Messenger" in the App Market and pick the app that suits you best.

One awesome thing about these apps is that they let you offer multichannel support all from one spot. You can manage customer inquiries from Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, email, and other messaging platforms in one central hub.

This way, you save time switching between communication channels, ensuring you don’t miss anything and your customers aren’t kept waiting.

How to Use Facebook Messenger for Your Business

To get the most bang for your buck with Facebook Messenger’s live chat, check out the practices below.

Get the "Very Responsive" Badge

The "Very responsive to messages" badge is available to businesses with a response rate of at least 90% and a response time under 15 minutes. Earning that badge can boost customer trust — people love it when a business is quick to respond to their questions.

Automate Your Responses

Facebook Messenger allows you to set up automated responses, which can be a huge time saver. You can create instant replies for common questions or when you are away from your computer. This ensures that your customers receive quick and consistent responses even when you are not available.

This automated message informs customers of when they can expect a response

Automating responses also helps earn that "very responsive" badge, as it ensures that messages are always answered promptly.

This feature is especially useful for small businesses or solo entrepreneurs who may not have the resources to constantly monitor and respond to messages.

Below are the responses that can be automated in Facebook Messenger:

• Instant replies: Automatically send a hello when someone messages you. Customize your message to greet them, share more about your page, or let them know when you’ll get back to them.
• Set away schedule and message: Schedule your page’s status to away during specific hours. Keep customers informed when they can expect a response. (Messages received when your page status is away won’t affect your response rate or time.)

Here’s how to set up automated responses for Messenger.

Set Up Messenger Greetings

You can set a custom greeting to welcome anyone starting a conversation with your page. This friendly greeting pops up before any messages are sent and can share helpful info you’d like people to know before they reach out.

Here’s how to set up an automated custom greeting.

Use Saved Replies

Saved replies let you write, save, and reuse messages with ease. They’re super handy for addressing common questions like your business hours, email, or phone number.

You can create a saved reply from any chat in Messenger. Simply click "Insert saved reply" and choose "Add new."

Try Inbox Suggestions in Meta Business Suite

Meta Business Suite is your go-to tool for handling everything Meta-related. That includes Inbox, where you can view and manage all your messages in one spot, whether they’re from Messenger, Instagram DM, or comments on Facebook and Instagram.

Plus, Inbox has a nifty tool called suggestions that can help you save time and stay organized. For instance, when you’re chatting with a potential customer, Meta might suggest a reply based on your conversation’s context. You can take this action from your Inbox.

Or, if you find yourself answering the same questions in messages often, Meta might suggest creating a handy FAQ based on your chat history. You can edit the suggested FAQs before saving them.

Learn more about Inbox suggestions in Meta Business Suite.

Start Selling with Facebook Messenger

Now you’re all set on how to sell on Messenger—exciting, right? The rest is in your hands! To offer top-notch customer service to your store visitors, consider adding Facebook Messenger live chat to your marketing tools and see your ecommerce game take off.

Get Live Chat with Facebook Messenger
Learn more

• Sell on Facebook: Blow Up Your Sales With Social Selling
• How Does Facebook Work for Small Businesses?
• How to Receive Payments on a Facebook Business Page
• How to Grow a Facebook Business Page for Free
• What to Post on Facebook: 20 Post Ideas for Your Business Page
• A Step-By-Step Guide to Using Facebook Business Manager
• 7 Strategies to Boost Sales With Facebook Marketing
• How to Sell Products Using Facebook Live Shopping
• Make your Products More Discoverable on Facebook & Instagram
• What Is Facebook Pay, and Should Your Company Use It?
• A Beginner’s Guide to Selling on Facebook Marketplace
• Sell on Facebook Messenger
• Sell Products in Facebook Shops

The post How to Deliver Exceptional Customer Support via Facebook Messenger first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.

Running an ecommerce brand has plenty of perks, but it’s not without its challenges. One big hurdle is relying on shipping companies—unless, of course, you have your own courier service.

Usually, an ecommerce business owner doesn’t feel the strain of this partnership, but when big moments come up, like a global sales campaign, it’s important to make sure your shipping partner has your back.

As we approach the end of 2024, every major shipping company is experiencing the holiday rush. To ensure your packages arrive on time, they’re kindly reminding sellers to ship their goods by specific dates.

To help ease your stress and ensure your customers’ purchases arrive on time, we’ve put together a list of deadlines from major shipping companies for domestic deliveries.

Make sure to inform your customers about the recommended send-by dates for expected delivery before December 25, and plan your shipping accordingly.

The United States Domestic Delivery Deadlines

USPS

* Dec. 16 for Hawaii and Alaska

** Dec. 20 for Hawaii and Alaska

UPS

FedEx

Canada Domestic Delivery Deadlines

Canada Post

Australia Domestic Delivery Deadlines

Australia Post

Greate Britain Domestic Delivery Deadlines

Royal Mail

Germany Domestic Delivery Deadlines

DPD

Download and Print the List

To easily keep track of shipping deadlines, feel free to download this list to print or save on your device.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines 2024

A handy round-up of deadlines from major shipping companies for domestic deliveries.

Download

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Remember to keep your customers in the loop about these deadlines: pin a post on social media, add a "Holiday Shipping" section to your homepage, or send a newsletter.

Happy holidays!

Start Selling Online with Ecwid
Learn more

• Ecommerce Shipping Basics for Online Sellers
• How to Ship a Package: A Complete Guide
• How to Calculate Shipping Costs for Your Online Store
• Top 10 Ways to Save Money on Shipping
• End-Year Shipping Deadlines
• How Business Owners Can Save With Flat-Rate Shipping
• 6 Free Shipping Strategies and Their Alternatives
• International Shipping: Picking a Provider & Shipping Around the Globe
• The 6 Cheapest Ways To Ship A Package with USPS
• How Much Does It Cost to Ship a Package?
• Your Guide To International Shipping Address Formats
• How Measure a Box for Shipping
• Cheap Shipping Boxes and Where to Find Them
• How to Ship Internationally
• How to Negotiate Shipping Rates
• Things You Can Ship with USPS Padded Envelopes to Save Money

The post 2024 Holiday Shipping Deadlines first appeared on Ecwid | E-Commerce Shopping Cart.