Hi,
I am a support engineer at Ecwid (http://www.ecwid.com).
Sorry to hear you didn’t like the plugin. May I ask why? What was the problem with the plugin?
David S
(@affordablewebsitesdenvercom)
My experience has been that Ecwid itself is an awesome, incredible blessing to WordPress web developers looking for easy and efficient eCommerce solutions. The plugin itself, however, seems unnecessary or redundant as it doesn’t add much functionality that is not already present in Ecwid itself.
Thank you for the feedback.
Ecwid is multi-platform solution, i.e. you can place the same integration codes on several site/blogs and your storefront will appear there, so you’re right that you can add your store to a WP site even without plugin.
On the other hand, the plugin adds some useful features. Here are the most important:
1) SEO
Ecwid uses Google AJAX crawling specification to make the stores indexable by search engines. The specification implies specific server responses to Google crawler requests, which is why a special code should be placed on server. If you use our plugin for WordPress (it includes that code), everything already works, no additional measures are needed – if you have a paid Ecwid account, your store products will automatically get to search results. More details: http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/15853308/SEO
2) Single Sign on
This Ecwid API allows your customers to sign in to your site and fully use your store without having to sign into Ecwid. I.e. if a customer is logged in to your site, he/she is logged in to your store automatically, even if he/she didn’t have an account in your store before. This API is helpful for sites with an existing user base, who wants to make checkout process more transparent and easy for their customers. Our WordPress plugin has a built-in implementation of Single Sign on API.
http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/43883623/Single%20Sign-On%20API
3) User-friendly backend interface.
Our plugin allows configuring product catalog layout right from your WP admin backend without editing the widgets integration codes. It also provides ability to add sidebar widgets (search/minicart/categories) by drag’n’dropping them to the sections of your site under the ‘Widget’ section of your WP backend.
That’s why we usually recommend installing our plugin rather than using manual integration.
David S
(@affordablewebsitesdenvercom)
Great responses.
Personally, I love Ecwid and recommend it to everyone asking for eCommerce. Unlike Woo Commerce and Shopify, I don’t have to spend hours trying to decipher code or edit images, and can train clients in how to make minor changes or updates very quickly and with minimal wasted time.
I wish Ecwid had more resources for developers, such as affiliate programs. Everything can be integrated into Ecwid, from event calendars with PayPal paywalls to room reservations with payment set up to ordering from menus. They’re all just simple javascript/html forms plugged into Ecwid.
I’ve actually considered teaching local workshops on Ecwid set up so local merchants can see how easy it would be for them to set up eCommerce or at least be able to make some changes after it’s set up.
I’ll re-examine the plugin, but as I’ve said, I love Ecwid and hope you guys stay in business for a long time to come and can expand your scope to cover more areas of marketing and parntering.
Thank you for you kind words.
A few notes:
1) Ecwid has affiliate and partner programs so please feel free to join:
http://www.ecwid.com/affiliate-program.html
http://www.ecwid.com/partners-program.html
2) Ecwid provides APIs that can be used in various third party integrations:
http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/25232810/API
By the way, there is already a lot of ready third party apps extending Ecwid functionality in different ways:
http://www.ecwid.com/connect/
