Payment Processing Tips for the Online Clothing Store
The world is changing due to improvement in technology, which has dramatically eased payment processing for the online clothing store. Many customers can now buy online from clothing store websites — the reason why your online store is critical. It’s the only point where customers relinquish their credit card to pay for the acquired goods and services.
It’s prudent to be entirely in charge of your check out page to increase sales for your business. Other than popularly known PayPal, there are several online payment methods. Unlike long ago when you used to shop manually, with a single click nowadays, you can buy the attire you want online without having to travel. Here are general payment processing recommendations for any eCommerce online clothing store.
General Recommendations for eCommerce Online Clothing Store
Online clothing store should be able to take its clients through significant processes such as payment options, hosting, marketing tools, reports, and designs. It would help if you began by examining how much you can sell.
Customization is another vital tool for eCommerce online clothing store. To increase the level of customization offer attractive templates because clients prefer the great user experience along with trendy design. The site speed is also usable for UX.
And last, but not least are various payment gateways available for your customers’ convenience. To implement them successfully, you need to follow certain security standards, compatibility with the platform you use and payment methods related to the country where you sell goods. Below you can read about the most essential payment methods for the next years and security standards to make your customers’ payments safe and prove the trustworthiness of your business.
eCommerce Security Features in 2019
Any online clothing store requires reliable security features. Without trusted security features cause payment fraud and hacking of your online clothing store. Apart from financial fraud, you risk exposing your customers’ data. However, using credible security features will build trust within your clients and reduce any payment fraud. Here are examples of trusted security features that you can use to improve the confidence of customers on your website.
SSL Certificate
SSL certificate is an important security feature which protects sensitive information from being transferred via online clothing stores. It also boosts the ranking of your online clothing store due to Google added SSL certificates. It is hard to determine the original SSL certificate, but there are online comparison tools which can help you get the right certificate for your need.
Business Validation SSL enables your visitors to check Company’s business name and verification of your business number. While Extended Validation SSL certificate is equipped with Green Bar, which has your verified company name, the right SSL certificate doesn’t and has never failed. Get the right SSL certificate and avoid fake ones.
Two-Factor Authentication
Weak passwords predispose your online clothing store to the highest risk of hacking. In Two-Factor authentication, you combine two of the three possible factors. These potential factors are; what the user knows (e.g., a PIN code), what the user has (e.g., a credit card) and what the user is (e.g., a fingerprint). So online clothing store uses the Two-Factor authentication (what the user has and what the user knows) to transact online.
The second authentication occurs when you link your account with your mobile phone or USB fob. When you combine it with password and username, you get a robust layer of security. Two-Factor authentication makes it hard for scammers to access your online clothing store.
Firewall Usage
Firewall is used to protect the traffic that goes throughout your network. Firewall thoroughly examines the traffic to block any unauthorized access to online data from the organization. Other than protection Firewall has additional features which can neutralize any scammer’s ability to use stolen personal details to hack your online clothing store.
A firewall has the power to sieve internet transmissions to allow the only traffic that belongs to the organization. Firewall is an outstanding security feature which has significantly evolved to curb hacking.
Privacy and Cookie Policy
Any online clothing store requires privacy because of the sensitivity of the data at hand. So the rights and privacy of any site must be respected. If any personal information is collected, it’s only supposed to be used for the intended purpose. You should never be afraid to enter personal data in a reliable site.
Cookies are data files placed on your device when you are surfing. They cannot affect your device because they are standard across all sites. The purpose of the cookies is to provide information to the bearer of the website making it efficient. They also help monitor the number of people who visit your site. With cookies, you define traffic flow which helps make vital decisions in your business.
Various Payment Methods
Online clothing stores were the fastest to embrace new online methods of payment. With the latest technology, money is transferred automatically to your client’s bank account without delay unlike long ago. Here are various payment features used by different clothing stores.
The process begins when you provide checking account details such as routing numbers to a business. With the particulars, the attendant pulls out funds from your bank account electronically. You can provide these details by typing it online. You can also write your check on paper, scan it and have it converted into electronic checks. Some companies have check reading machines to process your payment.
You proceed to upload the check information for processing. The amount reflects later in the service provider’s account within a day or two. You use the same procedure for a mailed check. Remember to give back the check.
Online Clothing Stores That Accept Checks Online
The following online stores allow you to pay directly from your account electronically. You begin by placing your order online and then send a paper check to the company for processing. Once all the requirement have been approved, your attire is shipped to you. Here is a list of the clothing stores that accept online checks in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, North and South America.
The process is simple. A customer can perform paying with a check by simply choosing PayPal payment.
He or she will be redirected to their user account. PayPal allows the user to link check account to the PayPal. This is the most widespread payment gateway for the online store. However, a customer can pay by scanning the check and sending it directly via email or use another payment gateway to link check account to it.
How to Facilitate PayPal Payment
Shopping online is quick and hustle free. It’s secure from unauthorized users. Almost everybody can send and receive money through a PayPal account if you have an email account.
Step 1. Once you open the site type in the search pack to get a list of matching attires from the retailers.
Step 2. After selecting the attire, add it to the card and choose PayPal as your payment mode. To confirm whether the site is secure ensure that it starts with “https.”
Step 3. Finally, log in your account and choose to pay from your credit card or bank account linked to your PayPal account. When you complete the process, you receive a receipt in your email that you can print for the future reference.
Online Clothing Stores That Accept PayPal
Here are examples of the online clothing store that you can link, order and pay via PayPal.
There are lots of online clothing stores which accept credit card. The process of credit card payment for the customer looks the following: If you are shopping for sneakers, for instance, key in “add cart” in your shopping cart. Select the type of attire you want to buy and click check out button; after that review your cart to rest assured that you added the right shape, size, and colors of your choice.
To complete the payment enter your shipping address.
Enter the credit card information; security code, number and the date of expiry.
To finalize the purchase process enter the billing address for your credit card. The transaction can’t go through unless you enter the correct billing address. As you can see, the payment process should be simple and smooth. That will lead the customer to place the order and stay satisfied with the store.
Now, most of the stores have a debit/credit card payment option. Also, check payment and PayPal payment are the most common payment methods for any kind of online store.
WEB4PRO’s Key Results of 2018
First of all, we want to thank all our clients and site visitors for their activity and support over the past year. We strive every day to provide value and assistance in growing your brands online.
The motivation behind our goals did not change when December changed to January. We still aim to provide high-quality and efficient technical solutions for our clients’ business growth.
Below, you can read about the key results of our work together in 2018.
WEB4PRO Brand Growth
Last year, we took several important steps to establish our brand and share its values. One of these steps was creating a better user experience on our website. We simplified navigation and added more useful information to several pages, making it easier for visitors to find what they need.
We believe that a website is a tool that shrinks distances between continents, countries, cities, and people. Websites get people the help they need and give them access to the products and services that make them happier and make their businesses more successful. Websites can improve someone’s life or even save millions of lives. High-quality sites are a means for sustainable brands to communicate their values and help make the world a better place. We consider your business to be among these positive brands, and we are happy to be helping you achieve your goals.
They say that if you want to change the world, you should start with yourself first. We took that advice to heart and started by improving our website.
Website UX Improvements
Adding additional sections—such as How to, Privacy and Cookie Policies (GDPR Compliance), Playbook, Dedicated team—has made it easier for users to find all the insights and solutions they need. Our main goal was to provide a comfortable user experience for people browsing our site. Please feel free to send us feedback if you find features that you think need improvement. There’s nothing more valuable to us than your fair opinion.
New Useful Articles
Expert content is our priority. On our site, you can find 96 articles, technical guides, and tips for keeping your business the best it can be. Our blog provides quick solutions to issues and tasks that business owners and developers commonly face.
The more awesome websites appear on the market, the more brands there are sharing their values and supporting social-responsibility programs across the world. As a result, there are more opportunities for people to access the goods and services they need to live their lives to the fullest. We want to be a part of this movement. The first contribution we can make is what we have been dedicated to since 2013: we can help create advanced and smart solutions for responsible brands. Beyond that, we share our knowledge with others by posting useful content.
The quality of content on a site is one of the key factors that determine whether or not it appears at the top of Google search results. Here are some articles and complete guides that are ranked at the TOP of Google search results:
Our company is GDPR compliant. Guaranteeing security for our clients, partners, and employees are of the utmost importance to us. We want to give the people we work with peace of mind.
We have taken various measures to ensure data protection at our company:
We added the necessary security features to our site
We reviewed and updated our Privacy Policy
We informed all employees and clients about the GDPR
If you’d like to explore the main provisions of the law, we wrote an article you can read about it.
When the GDPR came into force in spring 2018, we prepared all the documentation we needed and made security changes to ensure that we were compliant. You can check the full documentation in our Privacy Policy section.
Contribution to the Magento® Community
We researched how to boost our skills and improve work processes to provide you with the best solutions possible.
As emphasized above, security is a priority for our company, as well as our clients’ companies. Data protection is a vital need for website users. Magento takes care of all security tasks, and that’s why we can confidently choose and recommend this platform. It allows businesses to expand, and it gives them the flexibility to modify or improve their websites in the future. Contributing to the Magento community is one of the steps we take to provide value to businesses and software engineers. This is how we did it.
The Magento Marketplace
In 2018, a few of our extensions for Magento Stores made it into the Magento Marketplace. This was possible thanks to our clients’ feedback and our software engineers’ hard work. If you need an extension for Magento 1.x, check the Marketplace or find ours in Our Products. Our extensions are free to use, and they all include comprehensive user guides.
Technical Solutions
Our blog includes more than 20 technical case studies, detailing problems solved by our software engineers. Thanks to the collaboration of our clients and team, we are growing as professionals and providing more value and expert solutions. If you need help, please feel free to use these solutions, share them with your colleagues, or consult our team. Our shared goal is co-creation, and we want to engineer powerful and effective products for eCommerce.
Magento Community Insider Status
This year ended with WEB4PRO establishing official associate relations with Magento Company. Now we are an official Magento Community Insider, as part of the Community Insider Program. You can find us in the Community Insider Directory.
Meet Magento UK 2018
In October 2018, our team traveled to the UK to attend one of the biggest Meet Magento conferences. By learning from technology and market experts, we gained a lot of new information and met some great people. Now all of us are inspired to help more brands that create useful products and services for the world. We are committed to projects that drive this kind of progress. As always, our team is at your service and ready to tackle the most challenging tasks. Your mission is always possible.
Competency Provement
Our goal is to connect brands with their clients by helping them share values and making their goods accessible around the globe. That’s why our team is dedicated to contributing to the development of the eCommerce system.
Sharing Experiences
We wrote an article called How to Choose the Best E-Commerce Platforms for the Clutch.co blog, which helps business owners choose the best eCommerce platform for their businesses. This article compares the five most popular platforms for small and mid-sized businesses, as well as five other platforms for enterprise needs. The information in our article helps owners of eCommerce businesses make informed decisions about different platforms based on costs, features, and flexibility.
Our CEO, Marat Mingazov, gave an interview on Magento Development Trends in Ukraine for Cloudways to share his experience in eCommerce, Magento development, and business in Ukraine. As a company, we stand for transparency and business agility, and we were thrilled to have the chance to tell the world more about ourselves.
Clutch.co Acknowledgement
Reliable sources are acknowledging our expertise. Clutch is a great research & review platform that shares fair reviews and knowledge in each professional field. This year we were included in Clutch’s list of the Top 500 B2B Service Providers in Ukraine and Poland in 2018, and we held the 27th position among 625 Magento Agencies. This is all thanks to our clients’ honest reviews.
There’s always another year on the horizon, and we’ve started 2019 by setting some new goals. One of our goals is creating a strong eCommerce community where people can learn, network, and grow their businesses.
We should mention one final source of inspiration for us. There’s something—and someone—driving us to move forward and work hard every day. Something is a desire to create and care about useful projects. The someone is YOU! You are our hero. A hero is a person who has a good idea and a strong belief in its success. Heroes are people who struggle for a better future and work hard for progress in the world, people whose work is powered by a positive mission and bold values. Heroes support those who need help. They care about the world and the environment. But sometimes they need support—a team of followers who can multiply their strengths and help them create amazing things. We are ready to be your team.
Let’s co-create!
If you’d like to see more, take a look at our presentation on SlideShare:
How to Add Product in Magento and Edit It from the Admin Panel
Products or services are the items you sell in your store. For a user, it is important to get not only clear but detailed information about the product, shipping, and delivery. This guide will help you to get through the questions on how to work with products from the admin and programmatically.
How to Add New Product in Magento Admin Panel
Step 1: Log-in to the Magento Admin panel.
Step 2: Click “Catalog” option on the top menu. A drop-down list will appear.
Step 3: Click “Products” in the drop-down list. A new window will be displayed.
Step 4: Click the “Add Product” button on the top-right of the page, also, you can immediately choose a type for your product. You will be directed to a new window.
Step 5: Here, you will notice a header with “New Product” with 2 buttons “Add attribute,” “Save,” and many fields, you must fill them. Initially the field “Attribute Type” shows “Default” in the text box next to it. And “Product Type” field shows “Simple Product.”
Step 7: Now to modify the options in the text box of the field “Product Type,” click the “drop-down arrow” at the end of the text box to view the multiple drop-down options like Simple Product, Grouped Product, Configurable Product, Virtual Product, Bundle Product, and Downloadable Product. Select the one you wish to add. For instance, say “Simple Product” selected.
Step 8: Click “Continue” button. A new product page with default attribute opens up.
You’ll find a header “General” below which different fields like Name, Description, Short Description, SKU, Weight, Set Product as New From Date, Set Product as New To Date, Status, URL Key, Visibility, Country of Manufacture, In Feed, and Featured Product with their empty fields will appear.
Step 10: Now, enter the name of the product in the “Name” field. Say XYZ.
Step 11: Click “Save and Continue Edit” button on the top-right corner of the page to save the details automatically. Now continue entering the details in rest of the fields.
Step 12: Select the option “Enabled” in the drop-down of the field “Status.”
Step 13: Ensure whether the visibility field is filled in with “Visibility, Search” option.
Step 14: Now click the “Search Engine Optimization” on the LHS of the panel.
Step 15: Add Meta titles, descriptions, and keywords in the necessary fields respectively.
Step 16: Click “Images And Videos ” option on the LHS of the panel to add images for the product.
Step 17: Click “Advanced Inventory” option on the LHS of the panel. A new page will be opened.
Step 18: Modify the “Qty” with the number of products in-stock, say 200 or 300 and set the “Availability” option at the bottom of the page as “in-stock.”
Step 20: Click “Prices” on the LHS of the main panel; set the necessary price-related details in the relevant fields.
Step 21: Use this section in Magento to add configurable product. The new page contains advanced settings.
That’s all you are done with adding a product to your website! All it takes just a few minutes to add a compelling product to the Magento store to raise the performance of your business. Next, we will consider how to do the same task programmatically.
How to Add Product to Cart in Magento Programmatically?
Add Product to cart by observing an event checkout_cart_product_add_after
That’s how in Magento you add item to cart programmatically. Next useful skill is to learn how to create products from the admin.
How to Create Simple Products in Magento 2
Step 1: Choose the Product Type.
On the Admin sidebar, click Products. Then under Inventory, select Catalog.
In the upper-right corner on the Add Product menu, select Simple Product.
Step 2: Choose the Product Template (Optional).
To choose the product template, do one of the following:
In the Search box, enter the name of the template.
In the list, choose the template that you will use. The form is updated to reflect the template.
Step 3: Complete the Required Fields.
In the Product Details section do the following:
Enter the Product Name.
You can either use the default SKU that is based on the product name or enter another.
Enter the product Price.
Because the product is not yet ready to publish, set the Product Online switch to the “Off” position.
Click Save, and continue with the next step. You can save the product settings after complete all the required fields complete.
Step 4: Complete the Remaining Product Details.
Set Tax Class to one of the following:
None
Taxable Goods
If you’re ready to add a product image, do one of the following:
Drag an image from your desktop, and drop it on the camera tile in the Images and Videos.
In the Images box, click the camera tile, and navigate to the image file on your computer.
Then, select the image, and click Open. A placeholder appears until a product image is uploaded.
Enter the Quantity of the product that is currently in stock.
Enter the product Weight.
To assign the product to a Category, do one of the following:
Start typing to find a match. Then, choose the Category.
Click Show List to see the category tree. Then, drill down and click on each category that you want to assign to the product.
Click New Category. Enter the Category Name and choose the Parent Category to determine its position in the menu structure. Then, click Create Category.
Enter the product Description directly into the text box, and format as needed. Then, click Submit. You can also use the WYSIWYG Editor, for additional control.
Step 5: Publish the Product.
If you are ready to publish the product in the catalog, set the Product Online switch to the “On” position. When complete, on the Save menu, select Save & Close.
Step 6: View the Product in Your Store.
In the upper-right corner on the Admin menu, select Customer View
Things to remember:
Simple products can be included in a configurable, bundle, and grouped product types.
A simple product can have custom options with a variety of input controls, which makes it possible to sell many product variations from a single SKU.
How to Import Products in Magento 1.x from CSV?
Step 1: Go to the Magento administrator area and choose System -> Import/Export -> Dataflow – Profiles -> Import All Products. Select the required settings in Profile Wizard tab:
Step 2: Then choose the Upload File tab and browse for the .csv file on your computer.
Save changes:
Step 3: Once you have uploaded it, click Import All Products, then Run Profile, select the .csv file you have just uploaded from the drop-down menu and click Run Profile in Popup:
Step 4: When the import is completed, you will get an export success message.
What Is Magento Bundle Product?
This type of Magento products is somewhat a set of configurable products. It is a stable complex product designed to let customers build the end product required. The configuration options are virtually unlimited.
How to Create Bundle Product in Magento 2?
Step 1: Select the Product Type by selecting Catalog -> Products.
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Next, create Bundle Product.
Step 2. Choose the attribute set as a template.
Fill out the required fields:
Product Name;
SKU (default or change the Dynamic SKU to No so that you can assign a unique SKU);
Dynamic Price (to do the same as with SKU, change Dynamic Price to No, and write your price);
Choose the Store view where the product should appear;
Tap Save and continue.
You can also assign a Tax class. If the bundle has Fixed price you have 2 options:
None
Taxable Goods
The Quantity is not available as the value is different for each bundled product.
Dynamic weight can be changed according to the options provided for the customer.
If you choose the Dynamic option, the price may change according to the selected options.
If you choose Fixed weight, you need to set the weight.
Next, you want to create a Category.
Tap New Category or choose the one that it is already set.
Write the Category Name and assign it to the Parent Category, next click on Create Category.
Add product description and a picture.
Step 3. Set the Bundle Items. In the Bundle Items section, choose how to Ship Bundle Items: Separately or Together. Then click on the Add option.
There you will find the Input Type and choose the one among Drop-down, Radio buttons, Checkbox, or Multiple Select.
Then click Add Products to Option and mark all the products that you want to include.
Type the Quantity of each product on the Default Quantity section.
Then press Save.
Step 7. Check the results by clicking to the Admin Icon and choose the Customer View.
Here is the result of the product bundle feature in Magento 2. It is very useful for the stores that want to sell different products together in one kit. In general, we wanted to help you learn how to create products and manage them from the admin panel. If you want to know how to do it, follow the extended instruction below.
Necessary Features of eCommerce Clothing Online Store
Online clothing stores are steadily gaining popularity. As of 2018, eCommerce revenue from fashion in the U.S. alone rose to over $100 billion per year. This increase in annual revenue shows no signs of slowing down. Put simply; to enter the field, it’s important to know the must-have features for a successful online clothing store.
In this article, we’ll cover all the essential elements for your eCommerce clothing site. We’ll look at how to bring in more visitors, boost conversions, and strengthen your reputation as a trustworthy brand.
One feature of a successful site is simple navigation. Visitors need to be able to see what you have to offer and move easily from interest to purchase. You’ll want the site clean and without unnecessary complications.
Ensure that choices are simple with easily recognizable call-to-action buttons. Top categories should be visible on the homepage, alongside featured products and sales. Special offers and catalogs or newsletters should be offered here as well.
Once a visitor clicks on a category, they should be directed to a page that features a listing of all the top selling items in that range. It’s best to offer search features and filters for style and pricing so a customer can find what they want without spending hours searching. Below you can see the examples from Cox&Cox and Abercrombie&Fitch that simplified users’ browsing experience:
Finally, make sure to provide a listing at the bottom of each page (i.e., footer), including contact information, the sitemap, and links to other details that may interest the visitors.
Overall, keep things streamlined and make it simple for visitors to find any products or information they’d like to see.
High-Resolution Photo and Video
The first thing that a customer sees when they visit your site is the image. And this is more important with fashion than other sites. It’s the look that sells that clothing. So it’s essential to use the highest resolution photos you can include on the site without slowing down the load time. Look at Tiger of Sweden example.
The tactfully-placed video is a great opportunity to show off a line and pique interest in a product or range. Long story short, a photo will sell your products better than a thousand words of content, and it leaves the site looking cleaner and more appealing.
Social Media Integration
Social media is a great way to showcase your products. It generates more traffic and brings in new leads. But, for a fashion store, not all social media channels are created equal. Since the visual appeal of fashion products is the most powerful selling point, a photo-driven social media like Instagram is the ideal channel for reaching new customers.
One great example of Instagram used expertly for an online fashion store is Topshop. In their Instagram account, each product and post is labeled with the hashtag: #TOPSHOPSTYLE. So, anyone who wants to check out new products or share hot looks can enter this hashtag and instantly find their entire range of apparel.
A well-crafted Instagram account and hashtag can multiply your profits in a fraction of the time needed for other methods. Plus, social media accounts won’t cost a dime. You can’t beat free advertising based on your customers’ preferences.
One way to expand interest is to provide an option to view other similar products. For example, a visitor likes the look of a certain garment, but it isn’t exactly what they’re after. They could spend valuable time scouring the site for something else that fits their needs. But, if you feature a slideshow of related items beneath a given product, they can find something similar after just a few minutes of looking.
Sometimes, it’s the whole outfit that sells the look. ASOS has made use of this with their “Buy the Look” feature and “You Might Also Like” where in the first case, you can see what was used in the outfit and if you want something similar, the second option will display other related products.
Instead of just buying the featured top, a visitor can add the rest of the outfit to their cart. The customers are made happy and you get a chance to boost sales.
Advanced Payment Options
The key to getting conversions is to make it easy for customers to buy. And, different customers will prefer different forms of payment. So, be sure your website is set up so that customers can pay the way they want. PayPal is a given these days. It’s become one of the easiest online payment methods.
But you don’t want to stop there. Authorize.Net and Google Checkout are also great options to include. But let’s explore some other important payment options.
Accepting Checks Online
With so much going digital, it could be easy to forget about the importance of checks. But some shoppers are more traditional. Checks have been around for years, and they’re a trusted form of payment. If a customer is just beginning to move into online shopping, they often feel more comfortable when they can use a tried and true way to pay. Set up your site so that it can accept checks, and you keep contact with an important portion of your demographic.
PayPal allows your customers to link their checking account to it, so they can pay online by check. There is one simple step: you need to select PayPal at checkout, log in, then pay.
Split Payment
Sometimes we are interested in a product but just can’t swing the full price with just one payment method. There are two choices. They can either wait until they can manage the purchase with a single payment methodor you let them split the payment. Most purchases, particularly in the world of fashion, are impulse buys, at least somewhat. With waiting time, the interest might fade. With split payments, a buyer can pay part with one payment method and part with another.
For example, they may pay $50 with PayPal and $50 with a credit card to fund a full $100 purchase. This lets them buy right now, meaning less lost sales and higher conversions. At Abercrombie, you can use two cards and select the amount of money, you want to pay from one and another debit or credit card.
Credit Card Payment
Even with all the digital payment methods included, you’ll still want to make sure your site can process credit and debit cards. These payment options are just as trustworthy as checks, if not more so. Plus, they are nearly universal. Credit or debit cards are standard for anyone with a bank account. Make sure to include processing for these methods to keep from losing sales.
Detailed Shipping Information
Shipping is a major consideration for eCommerce sites. High shipping rates or low delivery times mean fewer conversions. If your customer has questions about how much shipping will cost or how long it will take, this is another barrier to the purchase.
Clearly mark shipping options, timing, and prices on the checkout page. Detailed information leads to more conversions and less abandoned carts. It is important to make clear and simple checkout with all the kinds of shipping available, so that customer can choose the one at his/her preference. Also, don’t forget to include the “Edit” shipping method button and options for filling out the billing information. Simplicity and clean design is the key to success.
Fast delivery is essential. A fashion site is banking on impulse purchases. Visitors buy because they want they want the product now. If you make express shipping standard, customers will be excited to receive their product quickly. Another great option is to provide expedited shipping on purchases over a certain amount. This encourages customers to buy a few more things just to make sure they can receive their order without delay. Plus, it boosts the perceived value, showing your consumers that you appreciate their business.
Free Shipping
Free shipping is one of the best tips for a fashion eCommerce site. When you advertise no shipping costs, visitors will be more comfortable adding to their order, knowing that they won’t be facing hidden costs. In such a competitive industry, the better value you provide, the more likely you are to generate more traffic and increase customer loyalty.
How to Work with Magento Admin Panel: Login and Setup
If you just started working with Magento, you might be wondering about how to change the basic functionality of your store right from the admin panel. We’ve got you covered with our simple, but comprehensive guide. Below you can check the most common changes in Magento functionality that you can do manually with simple steps or programmatically by using our guide.
How to Login to Magento Admin Panel
Firstly, you need to login to your Magento store’s admin.
Step 1: Go to your Magento website. Add /admin or custom Magento admin URL to the URL and reload the page.
Step 2: Type in your username and password that you set up during the installation process.
Step 3: You are now logged into your Magento 2 Admin Panel.
Sometimes you need to change your data and reset the password for your Magento admin. We’ll show you 2 ways how to do it for both Magento 1.x and Magento 2.x versions.
How to Change Magento Admin Password
For Magento 1.x
You need to modify the Magento administrator password directly in the database using phpMyAdmin or the MySql client. You can execute the following MySQL query:
UPDATE `admin_user` SET `password` = md5('NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE `username` = 'ADMIN_USERNAME';
admin_user – this is a database table from the Magento database;
NEW_PASSWORD – the desired password which you want to be set;
‘ADMIN_USERNAME’ – your Magento administrative username.
For Magento 2.x
The first option is to change the Magento administrator password through e-mail. To do this, follow these steps:
Go to the Magento Admin Panel Login.
Click Forgot your password.
Type the e-mail address associated with the account.
Click Retrieve Password. Magento sends a message to the e-mail address associated with the administrator account.
In the message, click the link to reset the administrator password.
To edit an existing administrator, you can use the same command as for creating a new administrator in CLI:
UPDATE admin_user SET `password` = CONCAT(SHA2('xxxxxxxxYOUR_NEW_PASSWORD', 256), ':xxxxxxxx:1') WHERE `username` = 'YOUR_ADMIN_USERNAME';
Where admin_user – database table (it can contain table prefix – check it): YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD – your new password YOUR_ADMIN_USERNAME – your admin login name Xxxxxxxx – character sequence is a cryptographic salt. It is saved in an app\etc\env.php file:
Step 2: In the Configuration page, you will see a list of default website, then click on Edit under Action column.
When the page is opened, scroll down to the Transaction Emails section and click on it.
Step 3: In Transactional Emails, you will see a list of logo settings for your email including:
Logo Image – different types of file are allowed (jpg, jpeg, png). Here you can upload your desired email logo with a high-resolution display.
How to Change Header in Magento 2
A header can be changed by adding new blocks to the container ‘header.container ’ or its child containers or removing blocks and containers from them. Example for adding block
Magento Email Templates for Your Email Marketing Campaign
Emails always seem to be a simple thing to create, right? You just need to write a few words, add some link to your site and, send it out. Email services will let you come up with your own email by using their default designs. But, what would you do if you want to improve your emails and make them have some dynamic content that will enable them to remain consistent on other channels?
The answer is to use a template that is specially designed, and this is where the email templates come in. In the world of business, marketing is always an important thing and one of the strategies often used is the sending of customized emails. This can either be from the business to the consumer or from a business to another business entity, commonly known as B2B email marketing.
For that reason, therefore, let us explain more about Magento® email templates.
What is Email Marketing?
From what we’ve talked about above, you can conclude that email marketing is simply the use of emails to promote your business. This is usually done by customizing or personalizing a message and making it available for your potential consumers. This way, you will be increasing the chances of your business being noticed by a large number of people thus increasing the chances of getting more customers too.
Why Do You Need Email Marketing?
Emails always play a huge role in our lives, because they help us to get access to any website or platform and read some specific content.
When it comes to business, email marketing presents an excellent opportunity especially when you are trying to reach your potential consumers regardless of the audience. When you introduce the use of emails as one of your business marketing strategies, you will notice that it improves the visibility and reach of your business, thus giving you the ability to engage with the leads and convert them consistently.
Email marketing can also give you the freedom to customize your messages according to the actions of your customers.
You are able to categorize your target audience and see into it that the messages with the greatest impact reach the right leads in good time. Other advantages of using email marketing include the fact that it is a cost-effective method and is also among the easiest strategies to use when it comes to performance and the results you get.
Do You Need Email Marketing Templates?
An email template is basically an email that has already been written or designed and can be used to send emails for your business to both the potential and retained customers.
When working with an email template, all you need to do is change what is already there with the content of your choice, for instance, the details of your product, the logo of your business and also the signature.
If you use Magento as a platform for your eCommerce store, platform-oriented email templates will give you the following advantages:
Time-Saving
When it comes to promoting your business, it will take you some time to come up with your own design and write the content before you can finalize on it and send it out. Well, this process might take a lot of your time since there is also some testing that needs to be done after editing. But, if you go ahead and use email templates, you perform email preparation faster. This will allow you to think of other ways of improving your business.
Brand Consistency
When you use email templates for your marketing campaigns, people will be able to notice a particular design pattern in your emails. This will make them remember your business each time they see your emails. This helps you in maintaining brand awareness hence the need to always include your websites, channels, and logo in the content.
Enhances Communication
Of course, there will always be some competition when you join the world of business. This is why most people strive to come up with great marketing strategies, one of them being branding and keeping it consistent. This is what the consumers usually depends on regardless of if they are going to respond to the offer or not. They will always look for a trustworthy company. Additionally, you can also add some personal touch to the template you are using when personalizing your messages. This can make the customers understand you better.
Increases Your Revenue
When the communication improves, the relationship between the business and the customers also improves. This increases your chances to acquire more web traffic.
People always make mistakes in almost everything and using email templates is no exception. Below are some common mistakes one can make when using email templates.
Non-Responsiveness
Not everyone will open the emails on the computer, some will use tablets and others will even use their cell phones. This, therefore, means that people should be able to open emails across all the devices regardless of the email template design used. Whether you decide to create an email template from scratch or use something like bootstrap email template, make sure they are able to fit the screens perfectly for easy navigation. Anyway, why waste all that time trying to come up with a new design when you can simply use a responsive email template like bootstrap.
Twisted Logic in Content
Well, you can’t really get your message across when you keep on shifting the logic in your message. Remember to always keep it short and precise. This will give a more clear message then when you start telling a long story and end up confusing everyone.
Too Many Pictures Used
Using too many images in an email will make it quite bulky thus they will take much time to load on various devices. This is why most people usually disable the images option when using their mobile phones.
Unavailability of Unsubscribtion
This is a crucial point to note yet some people still miss it. Without the unsubscribe button, the consumers might go straight ahead and start marking your emails as SPAM. This might affect the reputation you’ve worked so hard to build when it comes to deliverability. Make sure to always include this option in your email template.
No Call-To-Action
Don’t leave your customers hanging. Make sure you clearly indicate why they are receiving your emails. Remember to ensure that you have a call to action statement in your emails. This will also make a lot of people to engage with your business.
No A/B Testing
For you to get more customers, you need to come up with great content that will encourage them to click or open up the messages. The A/B test or email template testing will help to find out which option is the best to use. This way, you are guaranteed to get a good number of clicks.
If you are looking to find great creative designs when it comes to templates, consider taking a look at this site. At an affordable price, you can always find nice designs that suit your needs. WEB4PRO has own email templates there, so you can check the portfolio and choose the one for your email marketing campaign.
Whether you want WordPress themes or web templates, this place is where you should be looking at. Even from the name itself, you can already tell it is a great place template. They offer nicely designed templates at a competitive price too.
Ivycommerce
This is also among the best places to purchase email templates from. If you are looking to find great Magento email templates, you can start here. They do offer responsive and customizable email templates.
Christmas Marketing Ideas: How to Prepare Your Site This Holiday?
Christmas is the biggest shopping season worldwide. For over a century, companies have been boosting sales by stepping into the festive spirit and offering deals that excite and entice their customers. The holiday is tailor-made for this purpose. We give Christmas gifts to show love to those we care about. This means more purchases and a perfect opportunity to reach interested customers.
On average, Christmas spending is more than all other holidays put together, and it can constitute nearly 20% of annual profits. According to Statista, last year alone, Christmas spending amounted to almost $700 billion. This makes Christmas marketing crucial for a successful year. In this post, we’ll explore Christmas Marketing Ideas and protips for preparing your eCommerce website for the season.
The Essential Features for eCommerce Store This Christmas
This part is the most important for merchants because it is related directly to their store performance. When you get prepared for the holiday sales, you may find your store run slowly while lots of customers browsing and buying products at your store. Below is the list of what can be done to avoid such mistakes:
Check your store performance and speed. You need to check website speed via Pingdom to make sure that it is running fast and pages’ loading speed is less than 3 seconds; so that customers can interact with your store freely. Also, check whether you have caching configured at the server’s side and on Magento® (or other CMS) side.
Test the checkout page and shopping cart for speed and performance. You don’t want your website visitors to abandon the cart. Check all the checkout process and the speed of it. It should be fast, and the fields should be understandable for a user to fill them out.
Create a separate landing page with a counter-timer and Christmas theme. This additional webpage will help you to attract clients during the holiday season and let them learn more about your company and deals.
Place pop-ups, use promo codes and set up discounts from the admin panel at your store. You can use the full promotion functionality for your Christmas sales campaign and gain both potential and current customers’ attention.
Now let’s move on to the actual Christmas marketing campaign ideas for this year.
When setting up any marketing campaign, start by setting goals. The basic goal for any business is to increase profits. To do this, you need to know who to reach and what they’ll want. Then break it down and get more precise. Set clear goals that have a time frame and can be measured. Keep realistic, and focus efforts to support the overall goal within this time frame. Rather saying you want more sales in general, shoot for higher profits over December and November compared to last year.
Next, look into execution. Here’s where the marketing campaign comes into play. You might increase sales by using an influencer or becoming more active on social media. Consider company holiday newsletter ideas to reach more customers and share your great deals and discounts. Plus, since this season has high competition, you’ll want to do something surprising and different.
You can also run mini-campaigns for loads of smaller holidays. Small Business Saturday and Free Shipping Day are also great for deals and discounts. If you sell globally, consider holidays in other selling regions. Niche holidays mean niche customers and increased reach. Plus, by acknowledging other holidays, you keep from alienating those who don’t celebrate Christmas.
Finally, make your campaign unique by adding value in addition to the discounts or deals. You could extend warranties, offer free returns and postage, and provide complimentary stocking fillers or coupons that customers can use year-round. Off the sales for a couple of weeks after Christmas to clear old inventory, make space for the new product range, and reach even more customers.
Anyone with an eCommerce site understands the importance of keywords. Plus, if you’ve been at this for a while, the top performing terms will be pretty clear. You can boost traffic by adding seasonal terms to the focus keywords. Anything that has Christmas in it is going to peak for a couple of months, so optimize your site for these terms.
Look into Google’s Keyword Planner. It will show how different searches relate to each product and service. It also offers other related terms. This lets you optimize the website around even more buyer intent keywords. Use these terms for advertisement too, orienting Adwords and Pay-Per-Click campaigns around them. Also, consider what problems the product solves, framing ads and communication around how the product improves the life of the buyer.
Match Promotions with Your Content & Social Strategy
When brainstorming marketing promotion ideas, fit to the company. Your brand and business are unique. You have put work into developing a USP and reaching a specific demographic. Tailor the promotions to offer what your demographic wants.
Regarding content, consider what searches your target audience will make as Christmas rolls in and create blog posts around these topics. Christmas is about sharing, so these blogs are an opportunity to share tips and details with your clients. These blogs can be featured on social media as well as the site. Remember to keep them natural and fit them with the company theme.
Play with some Christmas meanings and tradition and create an attractive advertisement as, for example, UPS did. Their hashtag – #WishesDelivered, gained popularity on Twitter, as well as their short, but meaningful promo that pays attention to their great Christmas delivery services.
Update Your Website to Cater to the Holiday Mood
An effective Christmas marketing campaign also means tweaking the site to fit the mood and theme of the season. Use Christmas imagery on the landing page and make the promotions visible and visually appealing. Put your discounts and deals right up front and easy to read, showing visitors how they can save money with great holiday deals. Use the same imagery on social media channels.
You can also feature gift guides and bundled packages on your landing page. Gift guides are simple to create and perform.
They both generate interest and provide suggestions to spark new ideas. Include them on social media sites as well and you’ll boost conversions dramatically.
Run a Holiday-Focused Email Campaign
Email campaigns are awesome for reaching consumers, especially on the holidays. For holiday eCommerce email ideas, consider using Christmas themes emails to expand brand recognition, showcase unique products, and offer holiday deals. Add links that your customers can use to reach the holiday gift guides, and you make conversions even easier.
Personalize the message personalized to speak directly to your customers. A nice touch is to put your own signature on the email. A Christmas banner is another great addition. The personal touch lets customers know they’re valued and boosts engagement.
Here are some platforms to find holiday email templates:
ThemeForest offers more than 44,000 WordPress themes and Website templates. They are inexpensive, beginning from as low as $2. Plus, they are fit for every type of service or product and every holiday season. It’s a massive library of top-quality themes. ThemeForest is connected with the Envato Market, a community of designers offering thousands of digital assets for all design needs.
WEB4PRO offers many great Christmas email templates to refine your email marketing campaign. Check here all the templates and find the right one for you. Below are the examples of our Christmas email templates:
TemplateMonster is another place to find themes for WordPress, Shopify, Magento, and many other eCommerce platforms. It is a user-friendly site with more than 25,000 themes. More than 2 million sites use TemplateMonster themes. They offer a 100% satisfaction policy and 14-day money back guarantee. Plus they offer 24/7 support and a personal consultant to help you find the template that fits your needs perfectly. The themes are a bit pricier than ThemeForest, but they are high-quality digital solutions.
Showcase Your Holiday Offerings on Facebook
Social media is tailor-made for reaching customers and generating interest. Facebook is ideal to get consumers engaging with content. Put great blogs on the business Facebook site and remember to use creative holiday taglines. That way, users are kept in the loop on the best deals. Use photos and seasonal imagery to fit the festive theme, but try not to overdo it and keep the theme compatible with the brand. Remember to focus on unique, emotionally engaging messages.
Create Funny Holiday Video
Videos are a great way to optimize your website and increase rankings. A holiday video reaches more users and helps them to find deals they’ll want. To keep it catchy and unique, consider a touch of comedy in the video. This keeps things light and boosts customer interest. If you do it right, customers will remember it, visiting your site again later and spend longer browsing.
Christmas Sales Ideas
The options for are great Christmas sales are endless. Consider giving percentage discounts, bundled products, or flash sales. VIP discounts for valued consumers, coupon packages that come with seasonal purchases, the options go on. Emphasize creativity and match the deals to your demographic and niche. Here are some ways to boost holiday conversions:
Use Scarcity as a Strategy
Scarcity and urgency are ideal for getting a buyer to bridge the gap between interest and conversion. Use limited time offerings like a two-day or hour-long sale. Advertise the deal ahead of time, and make sure customers know that it’ll end when stock runs out. “Limited time offer! While supplies last!” This may not be a novel approach, but it works as well now as it did when it was first conceived.
Remember that bestsellers will move fast during the season, and stock up on the hottest products before the deal begins. Include an inventory counter on your site, so buyers can watch the inventory dwindle. This encourages customers to buy before the stock runs out. Plus, you can reinforce this by giving a clear cutoff date for the last purchase.
Offer a Gift with Purchase
Free is a word that garners more attention from the customer than any other. Give something away, and you give customers a bargain, adding value, even if it’s only perceived value. When you bundle items, you can offer less popular products for free along with more popular ones. Even if you only add a bit of value, that’s massive in sales terms. You could also offer free coupons that can be redeemed all year long. This takes advantage of the buying frenzy to boost traffic throughout the year.
A great tactic for eCommerce sales is to offer free shipping. If a customer has to pay shipping costs, they are sure to stop and reconsider the purchase. Especially when so many of your competitors are making sure that customers can get their products shipped to them free of cost. This is especially important within the last few days before Christmas. If you offer free worldwide or overnight shipping so the gift arrives before the holiday, customers often overlook a bit of a price hike in the product itself.
What eCommerce Businesses Can Learn from Top Websites’ User Experience
Holidays are a busy time for eCommerce companies. In an increasingly crowded online retail field with consumers spending more of their money online, it’s more important than ever for companies to distinguish themselves as a unique site for their targeted clients.
User experience, or UX, is the overall experience of a person using a product, including ease of navigation, interface, and design. Good UX translates to the difference between an irritating online shopping experience and a smooth, no-hassle one that will bring visitors back for future purchasing needs.
A new consumer survey on website UX of 612 website users in the United States examined website browsing habits and collected user opinions about their experience on top websites.
Among the takeaways are two particularly important lessons:
UX makes a massive difference in whether users will return to a website and use it again. Nearly a quarter of respondents – 24% point ease of navigation as their main motivation to return to a site and use it again.
If the website lack of the useful content, forget about lesson one. It doesn’t matter if the user experience is pleasant, if the website is vacuous glitz, browsers will abandon ship and not return. Useful content is the other reason people will return to a website, named by 48% of respondents as their main motivation.
With that in mind, here is a deeper dive into the Clutch data and what it says about what eCommerce businesses can learn from the UX provided by top websites.
Top Websites Establish Usability Patterns
Amazon is the most popular eCommerce website, named by 10% of users who were asked which website they visited most in the past month. While this trails well behind social media giants such as Facebook or Instagram, this reflects the fact that the highest percentage of users – 29% – say that the main reason to use Internet pages is to communicate with other people.
Conversely, making a purchase was named as the main reason people go online by a relatively modest 12% of respondents. But when web browsers do go online to shop, 43% of them visit Amazon.
If you model your site based on Amazon’s usability and basic functions, most users will know from the start how to navigate your site. They will immediately recognize the layout, and intuitively understand how to maneuver through your content.
Amazon topped the survey’s ranking of websites offering the best user experience, named by 21% of respondents. It ranked far above other e-commerce sites, including 4% for eBay and 1% for Craigslist.
According to the survey, 78% of respondents say that among websites they visit monthly, Amazon offers exceptional user experience, providing customers with pages that are easy to use, has a clear interface, and an appealing design. By contrast, 42% of respondents say that about eBay, and 29% say that about Craigslist.
Here are a few ways you can follow Amazon’s lead on your eCommerce website:
Put Content Front and Center
The survey finds that almost half of website users- 48% – say useful content is their main motivation to return to a website. Website design should exist to support text and images representing a company’s offerings.
Businesses should avoid flashy, trendy web design features. They may distract potential customers from products they’re looking to purchase.
Rahul Kondi, a senior UX designer, agrees that user experience design teams at top websites prioritize content now more than ever before.
Smaller eCommerce shops should work with web designers to make sure content is the focus of their site.
Keep Design Simple
The goods for sale on Amazon are generally available on many eCommerce sites. Amazon’s greatest user experience strength is taking a large amount of content and making it simple, while still presenting it in a way that appeals to people browsing the site.
Amazon doesn’t have many trendy design features like chatbots or pop-ups. The design is uncomplicated and keeps the focus on content, so visitors don’t get distracted by challenging navigation.
Craigslist is famously void of design, focusing instead on presenting as many products or services as possible to the people browsing the site.
By keeping it simple, you avoid distracting your audience with design and lead them to the content they’re looking for.
Limit Your Imitations
Modeling your UX on popular eCommerce sites like Amazon should by no means stifle innovation within your own design or development team. Do not be afraid to try out well-reasoned design changes. Just be sure to keep user expectations in mind when testing a new design.
If you are changing your website’s UX, ground your proposed changes in research that shows benefits for users and the business.
A winning plan of action could involve blending the basic elements of Amazon’s functionality with your unique flair and design elements. Presenting the content in a unique and easily usable way is how businesses can stand out.
Work Quickly to Fix UX Mistakes – or Avoid Them Altogether
Bells and whistles may get attention, but it may be negative attention, mainly if they distract users or slow down your site.
Web users have clear dislikes when it comes to browsing, and at the top of the list is unreliability. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) say that unreliability, including broken links, 404 errors and crashes – would make them stop using the site permanently.
Not far behind in causing frustration – and potentially lost sales – is slow page load time. More than half of users – 52% say they would abandon a site permanently if it loads too slowly.
This is particularly important on checkout pages, which are more involved than homepages and are critical for conversion. Losing a transaction at the last minute because of a glitch on the page is more than lost revenue – it is potentially a customer lost for good because of the wasted time and aggravation. Avoid slow load times by having your designers and developers work together. Keep the web design as simple as possible, and avoid stacking up elements that increase the time it takes to load a page.
Often, a simple fix in the interface can make a big difference in keeping users happy. You don’t need a major redesign to ensure a good experience on your website. Make the small changes you need to keep the site fast and reliable.
Down with Pop-Ups
In the same vein, don’t bombard users with pop-ups. A majority of respondents (51%) say pop-up forms would cause them to stop using a site permanently. Pop-ups are also notably absent on sites like Amazon, eBay, and Craigslist.
A pop-up that smacks users in the face as soon as they land on a page can be particularly off-putting and may lead a new user to make a hasty exit.
Forcing a user to deal with a pop-up as they try to leave a site is not much better. Exit-intent pop-ups create a barrier to peoples’ intent – which leads to frustration.
A more efficient and less irritating way to make use of pop-ups is to offer them as an option to showcase additional information, such as the biography of a staff member or further details and specifications about a product.
Even when pop-ups succeed in gathering customer information, however, they risk alienating a visitor for good. It’s not much of a win to pick up email addresses from customers who already had a frustrating experience with your website.
Avoid causing your visitors to distress. Most of them don’t enjoy pop-ups, and they aren’t worth the risk of damage to your brand.
Making Your Site Fast and Reliable on Mobile
Mobile version needs to be a top priority for eCommerce sites looking to grow their business. According to the survey, almost all website users browse primarily on a mobile device. More stages of the buyer’s journey take place on mobile, so it’s critical for eCommerce businesses to have a high-quality, intuitive version of a site on mobile.
This is particularly true for eCommerce sites hoping to make inroads in emerging markets where reliable internet access is not guaranteed. Because you don’t know if a user will have the connectivity or device to support downloading a mobile app, it’s important to optimize your website for mobile to reach this wider audience.
To gain users’ attention, it is critical to design your site to work simply, intuitively and efficiently on the market. It’s not enough to try to include all of your content in a small space. Start by recognizing the nuances between user intent on mobile and desktop browsers, and you’ll be on your way to a good mobile web UX.
Summary
As the survey results make clear, a good website UX matters to potential customers.
In many cases, significantly improving your UX is not a hard reach. Keep these points in mind both for the holiday season and into the New Year:
Amazon is the top dog in eCommerce for good reasons. The survey respondents say the two things that keep them coming back to a site are content and good UX, and Amazon offers them both in a symbiotic way, by taking an enormous amount of content and laying it out for customers in a way that is simple, easy to digest and not distracting.
Following the example of Amazon and other top sites not only allows you to incorporate best practices, but this also provides you with a website where first-time users will feel comfortable and intuitively understand how to navigate.
Stay away from design features that will slow down your load times without offering much in the way of improved content.
Test your site regularly to make sure your pages are reliable and don’t lead to broken links, error messages and crashes. If they do, people will leave your site in droves.
Don’t slap visitors in the face with pop-ups. They slow down the number of time users must spend on your site, inevitably irritating your target customers. It’s usually not worth the benefits, given half your visitors may not come back.
Don’t be afraid to break out your own ideas on ways to improve your UX in ways your customers will appreciate.
Make the site your own, with touches that reflect your ethos and target audience – make sure they don’t slow down your visitors or page load times.
Ignore mobile web at your peril. It’s where you will find new users.
Best eCommerce Tools to Operate Your Business Successfully
It’s vital that you want a successful business, especially if you decided to go online. For this reason, you might be wondering what tools you can use to ensure that your business is operated correctly. Below, we’ve described must-have tools that are useful for marketing, analytics, and other business operations.
Top eCommerce Website Tools
In the beginning, you’re looking for a platform to launch your website. Below, we want to provide you with the list of market leaders as a base for your future store.
Magento®
Magento has been developed to suit any client and any goal. It is fully scalable and customizable, so it suits any business. There are two packages for customers:
The first is the Community package, which is a free alternative for Magento’s services. For smaller companies, this is an opportunity to create your eCommerce website at a lower cost, but with a full functionality list.
The second Magento package is the Commerce edition, which costs significantly more; however, it also grants you access to all of the platform’s extensions and additional B2B services. This package is better for those with larger businesses.
OpenCart
This platform prides itself on being easy to use for clients. It’s another free solution for you to build your eCommerce business with. OpenCart has built-in SEO to help you market your business successfully.
If you’re interested in using OpenCart’s services, you can try out their demo to determine whether the service is for you.
Shopify is known for being an alternative to some other options on the market. Even if you don’t have any experience in design, you can use Shopify’s services. That’s because when you use Shopify, you have access to themes that provide your eCommerce site with a unique look.
You can also expect to have unlimited bandwidth, which is why you won’t have a website that lags. With unlimited room for product inventory, you can also ensure that your store works to its full potential.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms. WooCommerce is free when it comes to startup costs and you can expect to pay under $7 for hosting fees. Throughout your store’s operation, you may have to pay processing fees when credit cards are used.
The most important tools ensure that your business operates successfully including research capabilities. eCommerce research tools make it easier for you to collect and analyze data within your store.
Customers use Wiser because they appreciate the tool’s omnichannel coverage, efficiency, and customer support. Both online and in-store data can be automated with Wiser to ensure that your eCommerce store can operate as seamlessly as possible.
Wiser can collect and analyze data across your store(s) and in doing so, it can provide you with insights about this data so that you can plan your next strategic steps.
My Best Segments is known for providing customers with powerful insights based on a number of factors: financial, media, and shopping trends. Because of this, you can have an accurate image of the demographic you’re trying to reach.
Once you have this image, you can target this audience more efficiently.
Think With Google can provide you with anything you need to have a deeper insight of your target audience. Google does this with its value-led approach and by analyzing ads that are seen.
Think With Google is an omnichannel solution; wherein, you can use it for your marketing, data, design, and research needs.
The main advantage of using Heatmap is that you don’t have to install an extension or open another tab if you want to look over your analytics. All of your data is analyzed based on your site’s content.
When Heatmap looks over your page, it determines where users hang the hat on the particular part of the page so you can target your audience.
Useful eCommerce Business Tools
Now that you’ve read all about research tools at your disposal, you’re ready to learn about the best eCommerce business tools. Among these tools, you’ll find that they all help you to know how to scale your eCommerce business.
According to their site, companies that use Kin experience higher efficiency among their workers and, as a result, higher efficiency within their company. Kin focuses on the following four components to ensure that your eCommerce business performs better: time-off, data, onboarding, and reviews.
The accumulation of these components creates an atmosphere; wherein, your employees and customers feel appreciated.
By using Sellbrite, you have the opportunity to sell your products across multiple platforms. From Amazon to Walmart, you can expand your reach by using Sellbrite’s multi-channel services.
You can also list all of your products more easily to ensure that nothing is left out.
Signifyd is unique because it provides your business with a seamlessness that’s hard to beat. It removes the friction from your eCommerce site. This tool has a Magento integration, which is one of its most appealing features.
By using Signifyd, you can automate your stock and you can handle more orders than you would be able to otherwise.
TaxJar reduces the need for spreadsheets and handles all of your tax needs. You can connect this extension with different platforms to keep up with your sales. Platforms like Amazon and Paypal are examples of places you can connect with this program.
This is a useful eCommerce tool because it benefits team collaboration. It does so in a number of ways; including, sharing Gmail inboxes to optimize them for your eCommerce business.
Veeqo allows you to seamlessly control and manage your inventory, deal with orders, organize warehouse workflow, connect stores and integrate POS system to get the most of your business. The admin panel is intuitive and gives you the opportunity to go over the business processes and without complications operate your stores, stocks, orders, and reports.
Most Effective eCommerce Marketing Tools
Marketing is one of the best ways to increase your conversions and to generate more potential leads. To achieve these goals you need to have effective marketing tools for your eCommerce website.
MailChimp improves your site’s overall marketing by providing you with unique campaigns. With it, you create personalized emails to ensure that your customers receive targeted messages. It also helps you to analyze data.
ReferralCandy benefits your business and increases your efficiency by creating a referral program. You can use this program to provide customers with rewards if they decide to share their experience with your business. This improves your marketing strategy because when people are rewarding for suggesting your services, they’re more likely to discuss your business with an audience.
The best eCommerce analytics tools are essential if you want to understand the data that represents your business. This data can be used to target audiences and, thereby, help you to work with it efficiently providing a personalized experience.
SEMRush has over three million users that take advantage of the tool’s SEO features, strategy analysis, and overall analysis based on the content you publish. Analytics allow you to improve your content for the audience you’re trying to reach, analyze your customers and market, collect keywords and strengthen your brand.
Google Analytics allows you to learn more about your audience. It has lots of filters which you can use to make a deep analysis of your customers and traffic.
Targeted content and products ensure that your clients feel appreciated and they’re more likely to appreciate your eCommerce business.
How to Check Magento Version and Perform the Update?
If you work in eCommerce and found out that Magento is a great platform for your business, we are glad to hear it. It might happen that you never worked with it before and want to know how to handle your eCommerce store operations. Also, you want to learn how to solve simple issues and check some details about your store. We’ve got you covered with the how-to guides that we’ve collected by each category. Here we will answer the following questions:
Let’s move on and find out the answers with our simple step by step guide.
What Is the Latest Version of Magento?
First that you should know is that Magento comes in 3 packages: Magento Open Source (formerly Community), Magento Commerce (formerly Enterprise) and Magento Cloud (PaaS and cloud-based). The most known packages are Magento Community and Magento Commerce.
Magento Open Source is an open source platform that will be suitable for small and middle-size businesses. As for the 1.x version, the latest is 1.9.4.0. You can find all the supportive information on the Magento devdocs. Take into account that Magento supports all the previous 1.x versions until June 2020. More details you can read in our article.
As for Magento Commerce (Enterprise), the latest 1.x version is 1.14. You can find out more about its support here.
The latest version of Magento Open Source is 2.2.7. It was added on November 28, 2018. However, the newest 2.3 is available in beta version.
This release includes 30 enhancements to product security, more than 150 core code fixes including all relevant attributes implemented for the Google Tag Manager, support of UPS API endpoints for Magento UPS module, displaying the correct options when clicking on View Details for a product with configurable options, and other fixes in catalog, cart, checkout, bundle products, and additional functionality.
The latest version of Magento Commerce is 2.2.7. It was added on November 28, 2018.
Magento 2.2.7 contains over 30 security enhancements and 150 core code fixes. This release includes improvements for the Google Tag Manager, wishlists, an ability to update product prices and currencies, proper reset of the information, and other important functionality fixes.
If you own Magento store and you want to check its current version, you can follow our simple guide below.
How to Check Your Magento Version
You can get the major version (for example 2.2) by accessing /magento_version on your Magento 2 website.
One more simple method for checking your store version is to use one of these online tools:
Step 2. Scroll up to the Magento Admin Panel’s footer, and at the right corner, there will be your current store version.
The next question that may arise: which Magento package used for my store? We’ve got you covered with the answer.
How to Check Magento Community or Enterprise?
You can get this information for any Magento2 install from Magento’s official endpoint, by opening this URL in your browser:http://www.yoursite.com/magento_version
How to Check Magento Version Command Line?
It’s simple. Go to Magento root folder & run below command: php bin/magento –version
Now you know everything about your current Magento version and edition. Maybe you want to switch to the next Magento version and you don’t know how looks the process of upgrade. We want to provide you with our developer’s guide.
How to Update Magento Versions?
How to Update Magento 2 to Latest Version?
Magento 2 can be simply upgraded if new actual version is specified in composer.json in both fields version and [‘require’][‘magento/product-community-edition’] or [‘require’][‘magento/product-enterprise-edition’] and then to execute the command:
composer update.
This command will download new core files, but it will fail if system requirements aren’t satisfied. Composer checks PHP version, that is installed for CLI mode and all required PHP libraries and won’t upgrade Magento if PHP version is incompatible or there is no required PHP library. Also, this command will ask keys, that should be generated on marketplace.magento.com side and it won’t download Magento EE if it hasn’t been purchased by account, that keys assigned to.
After download new version these commands should be executed:
Often execute permissions should be set to file bin/magento after upgrade.
Upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 1
Step 1. You need to go to https://magento.com/tech-resources/download and select the tab “Release Archive” and found the latest version of Magento 1 and download it;
Step 2. Unarchive the files, open in your file manager (Krusader for example) files latest Magento and you exist site.
Step 3. You need to copy folders from Latest Magento version folder to your site, see the image. Red lines its required folder to update, blue lines, you can copy it or not, it is not critical for the update.
How to Upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 2
Upgrade from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is the complex process. It requires not only the upgrade of some features, but Magento 1 and Magento 2 core is entirely different.
That’s why to perform Magento upgrade; you need data migration tool. We’ve described the whole process from preconditions to the actual migration in our article: How to Migrate Magento 1 to Magento 2 with Data Migration Tool. Read the step by step guide to understand what actions should be done to perform the upgrade.
We hope that all the above solutions will help you to work with Magento more effectively and solve all the small issues by yourself. However, if you still need help with the development and support, our team is always ready to give you a hand.
