Shift4Shop eCommerce Blog | eCommerce Features (3)

Whether you run a business part-time, full-time, or just contribute to one, it’s best to always consider scalability.

Failing to do so means guaranteeing preventable future work, that — without momentum — could take even longer than it would have initially.

No one wants to lose time and money to things that are better off done right in the first place.

Any company that’s been able to successfully scale was able to do so because its core business practices were designed with growth in mind.

This[...]

Since eCommerce is a constantly evolving field, eCommerce software needs to keep evolving as well. To that end, we're happy to announce 3dcart Version 9, the latest upgrade to the 3dcart shopping cart platform and our first major software release for 2019.

This new update includes enhancements to many existing features, updates to current payment gateways, and several new features and payment processor integrations to further expand the options available to 3dcart merchants.

Version 9 also[...]

E-commerce business is growing faster than ever. It might surprise you how some e-commerce websites are barely surviving while others continue to make huge profits every day.

The best examples are e-commerce giants Amazon and eBay. According to Guardian, “Amazon posted a record profit of $2.5bn in the second quarter of 2018”. “While as eBay mentioned that its revenue increased 9% year-over-year (YoY) to $2.64 billion” Yahoo Finance reports.

Well, there is no special secret behind their[...]

Constant growth and improvement are vital in eCommerce, and that's no exaggeration. The world of eCommerce has evolved so much and so quickly, that while selling online has become easier in some respects, it's become harder in others.

There are millions of online stores today, of all sizes, meaning customers can afford to be extremely picky. You often only get one chance to win these customers over, so you need every advantage you can get. Even established customers can be lost to a competitor[...]

Not all ecommerce platforms are the same, so the solution you choose for your online t-shirt business can and will have an impact on your company's ultimate success.

Part of your challenge is recognizing which ecommerce platform features could have the greatest impact on sales conversions and profit.

With this in mind, here are five sales-boosting ecommerce features you will want for your online t-shirt shop.

Software as a service (SaaS) ecommerce solutions allow businesses to control the features and functions that most readily impact sales and profit, while delegating server maintenance, security, backups, and similar tasks.

In effect, choosing between a SaaS ecommerce solution and a self-hosted one is the act of deciding what matters most to your business. It is focusing on the things that will move your company forward toward its goals. It might even be a manifestation of your business philosophy

Imagine visiting Molly Moon's Ice Cream in Seattle, Washington. You made the trip because Food & Wine magazine said Molly Moon's is one of the best ice cream parlours in the entire United States. You're even going to take the magazine's advice and order a double scoop of the Stumptown Coffee ice cream.

"Do you want regular or decaf?" the ice cream scooper asks.

"And what roast? We have Hair Bender, Cantillo Family, Trapper Creek, French Roast, and Holler Mountain."

"And did you want the sweet[...]

Ecommerce Automation - it’s a phrase that is generally brought up in online market discussions, and is a critical component to a company’s success. However, do you know what this term means, and more importantly, what it means for your business?  People love the term ‘automated,’ because it means that something is going to happen automatically without some sort of manual work being done. It is supposed to save time, and ultimately, money.

Let’s take for example a young aspiring entrepreneur,[...]

The design and functionality of your ecommerce website have a major impact on your online sales. If customers cannot easily find the products they’re searching for, there are a plethora of other online stores that they can opt for. Plus, once consumers have decided that they must fulfill a need, patience for a poorly designed ecommerce website will be nonexistent.

If you have a great ecommerce website design, shoppers might not even notice; however, this is actually a good thing. A successful[...]

3dcart is pleased to announce version 8.2, the latest upgrade to our industry-leading eCommerce platform. This upgrade includes a variety of improvements and new features that make it even easier for online sellers to build a powerful online store and manage their business. We've improved several integrations, added new functionality into the software, and redesigned the admin panel for smoother online store management.

This new upgrade to the 3dcart software will provide online sellers with[...]

An ecommerce-enabled website is the foundation of every online seller's business. A key component in how well that website performs and how much it costs to maintain is where the site resides.

At present, there are four ways a website can be hosted, including on-premises with a business' own server, in the cloud, with a hosting service, or through a software as a service (SaaS) provider.

Let's define each of these approaches and consider some of their advantages and disadvantages.

Inventory management is more crucial than ever, especially as the world shifts more and more towards online retail.

Managing your inventory isn’t easy. It can involve way too many excel spreadsheets, endless math, and tons of errors that can lead to a loss in sales.

An inventory management system, or WMS (warehouse management system), is a handy tool that can solve issues that might otherwise cost you sales.

Inventory management gives you the opportunity to make your business more efficient[...]

Choosing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) enterprise ecommerce platform may be one of the best decisions your company makes this year.

Retail ecommerce sales grew 10.1 percent in previous years while the retail industry as a whole grew about 1.4 percent, according to data collected by professional services firm, PwC.

Essentially, ecommerce is growing more than seven times as fast of the rest of the industry. There are many factors contributing to this growth, including convenience, improvement in

Gift registries are very popular. They're a huge convenience for anyone planning a wedding, baby shower, anniversary party, or other event.

Gift registries simplify things for their guests as well— it can be tough to pick out the perfect gift, and registries eliminate the need to guess what the event hosts want or need.

Adding a gift registry to your online store can provide a boost to your sales, even if you sell products that aren't usually associated with weddings or similar events.

Remember[...]

Customers love to save time and effort, especially on tasks they often find frustrating.

For this reason, gift wrapping has been a popular service offered by retailers for over a hundred years.

Some people feel that wrapping is part of the fun of giving, but a large portion of gift shoppers can't stand wrapping gifts themselves. They find it too time-consuming and too difficult to do well, and also cite running out of materials and having no room at home as reasons they don't like to wrap gifts[...]

If you run an online store, you're familiar with the fact that customers have varying needs. To provide the best shopping experience possible, it's important to anticipate these needs and have systems in place to support them. If your customers begin requesting a feature you don't have, you should look into it right away and determine what it would cost for you to implement it— if anything— and weigh that against the potential cost of getting a new customer. Remember, customers who feel they're[...]

Customers love wish lists. They're a license to window-shop, without the restraints of budget or time. Online shoppers build millions of wish lists every day, across countless eCommerce websites, and nothing beats the satisfaction of coming back to finally buy something added to a wish list long ago.

At first, you may underestimate the power wish lists actually have. But did you know that wish lists are very helpful to merchants, too? If you run an online store, you can use customer wish lists[...]

The AMP Project was started by Google with the goal of enhancing the Internet with attractive, mobile-ready pages that load instantaneously. In the name of high performance and blazing-fast loading speeds, 3dcart Version 8 introduces AMP to product pages on 3dcart stores. Plus, Google favors AMP-ready pages, especially when searching on a mobile device, meaning better rankings for your products!

One of the greatest benefits of shopping online is having tons of information at your fingertips. Consumers can access product specifications, compare pricing, and gather enough details to make knowledgeable purchase decisions. By far, the most commonly sought-out information is found through reviews left by other customers. In fact, an overwhelming majority of customers read online reviews (over 90%) and 88% rely on customer reviews to help them decide on a purchase. As you can see from these[...]

One of the most exciting new features of 3dcart Version 8 is the 3dcart Buy Button, an embeddable widget that lets you quickly add eCommerce to your existing blog or website. With only a few clicks, you can generate a block of code that can be placed anywhere on any site that gives you access to edit HTML and add JavaScript, including many popular platforms like Wordpress, Squarespace, Tumblr, Weebly, Blogger, Virb, and more.