Category: Online shop & ecommerce
In our latest release video, we showcase the exciting new features introduced to ePages Now shops over the past months. Highlights include AI-generated product descriptions, product reviews with the RateCompass app, and several enhancements to the editor. Plus, get a sneak peek at upcoming features that will soon be available for your shop. Watch the video and get inspired!
ePages online shops are constantly being expanded with new features, extensions and integrations that bring many advantages for you as a retailer: These features simplify working with your shop, offer you new design options, increase user-friendliness for your customers and more.
In this article, we have summarised the most important new features of the last months for you. We hope you enjoy trying them out!
Please note that the availability of these new features depends on your shop package and the provider with whom you have booked your shop.
AI features for products, FAQs, design enhancements and more: In a new video format, Efe von Thenen, Chief Marketing Officer at ePages, presents all the new features of the ePages platform and gives an exciting preview of upcoming features such as the mobile app for merchants. A summary of some of the key features:
Social Shopping: Seamlessly synchronise your shop with Instagram and Facebook. Tag products in your posts and simplify the buying process through social channels.
AI-powered shopping ads: To help you get started with shopping ads, you can use our Performance-Max integration from Google. With just a few clicks, you can create effective ads that are automatically powered using AI.
New design templates: Whether you run a cosy café, a sports club or a wellness spa, you can now find a look that perfectly suits your business.
FAQs: The new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) content element makes questions and answers easy for your customers to understand. By answering your customers’ questions in advance, you support the search function in the shop and reduce personal customer enquiries.
Customisable products: Particularly popular is the new product personalisation feature. This allows your customers to add their own personal touch via a text box. You can easily adjust the maximum length of the word or text in the administration area.
New product labelling: Want to showcase your new products? Simply mark products as “NEW” in the “Product Label” section and the label will automatically be activated for the first product image and all pages.
Want to see all new features? Watch the full video on YouTube:
Last year marked a disruptive shift in the digital industry: AI tools such as ChatGPT, which were made available to the mass market, multiplied at a rapid pace and became a helpful tool for retailers to create digital content and sell their products online. However, this is creating new challenges for smaller companies and startups: It is simply not enough to stand in the shop and pack parcels, even the smallest retailer needs to take time to learn about market developments and understand new tools and processes.
Together with Efe von Thenen, CMO of ePages, we take a look at the future and the present: How can business founders start selling online and compete with the larger players in the market? How can SMBs run their business profitably in the digital world in 2024 leveraging from AI and other trends?
With generative AI tools like ChatGPT being introduced in 2023, we have learned a lot about how merchants can use AI to produce content for their day-to-day digital business. How do you see AI influencing ecommerce operations this year?
Efe von Thenen: AI is going to streamline various business aspects. The rise of embedded AI experiences in products, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, will transform ecommerce applications. This includes facilitating content creation, automating translations and deploying more efficient ad campaigns. This will boost business operations and enhance consumer engagement significantly.
Looking ahead, what do you think will be the biggest trend in ecommerce for 2024?
Efe von Thenen: The biggest trend, I believe, will be the deeper integration of AI into everyday business operations. The democratization of AI tools, like ChatGPT last year, is a game-changer, especially for smaller businesses. It’s leveling the playing field, enabling them to compete more effectively against bigger players. We have already started to provide ePages customers with deeper AI integrations for product descriptions, automatic meta descriptions and automatic translations. This will continue to be our focus in the coming year, to help merchants in their day-to-day business with powerful and automated tools.
What impact do you foresee AI having on these consumer-brand relationships in the ecommerce industry?
Efe von Thenen: AI’s impact on the ecommerce industry will be evident in the evolving relationship between consumers and brands. Shopping journeys will become more personalized and intuitive, altering the ecommerce experience. This will make interactions more engaging and tailored, fundamentally changing how consumers relate to brands.
Talking beyond AI: There have been other factors in 2023 that massively influenced how SMBs interact with their customers and build their brand. Can you tell us about the significant learnings for the ecommerce industry?
Efe von Thenen: Absolutely. Besides AI, the ecommerce industry in 2023 learned the importance of sustainability as a key success factor, especially for niche players and ‘love brands’. Despite economic headwinds and competition from giants like Temu, niche players and ‘love brands’ really stood out. They resonated with consumers, particularly Gen-Z, who favored sustainability over brand recognition, indicating a shift towards more responsible consumerism. Brands like Picture Organic Clothing and Jack Wolfskin, known for sustainable outdoor apparel and repair services, exemplify this trend. Similarly, smaller ‘love brands’ like mioboards.com, despite limited marketing resources, successfully leveraged this this eco-conscious approach to differentiate themselves and build customer loyalty.
Talking about all these disruptive changes in the market, that have been sped up by AI: How can retailers be supported with new topics and trends to stay ahead in the game?
Efe von Thenen: At ePages we understand that starting an online business can be characterised by a lot of different tasks and obstacles, especially among smaller companies. All-in-one ecommerce solutions like ePages equip retailers with all the important verticals of an online business at their fingertips, bundled with a low threshold offering and maximum support that anyone can use to easily start selling products online. The intuitive administration and pre-installed integrations for Payment, Shipping, Marketing and more ensure that merchants don’t require prior technical knowledge.
To provide an all-around support and facilitate the start, we have partnered with our strategic payment partner Mollie to launch campaigns like “Start & Grow”. Building up on this, we are excited to announce that we will be joining this year’s E-Commerce Berlin EXPO with our SMB alliance. We joined forces with our partner and shipping service provider Sendcloud, payment service provider Mollie and Händlerbund for legal questions as the SMB Alliance to provide personalised advice to retailers and support anyone to get started in ecommerce.
October marks the beginning of the most important sales period for retailers, with highlights such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday generating huge demand from shoppers. To help you perform at your best during this time, this article highlights new features in ePages Now, including enhanced social media functionality, improved content management and new design options.
Digitization is advancing in leaps and bounds, incorporating more aspects of everyday life. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in e-commerce is particularly undeniable. But fear not, even small online retailers can benefit from AI technology. We present seven free AI tools that can assist you with content creation and optimization.
During the slower summer months, you as an online retailer have the opportunity to fine-tune the shopping experience and usability of your store. As part of our ongoing improvements, we are proud to introduce a number of new features that will make running your online store even easier and more effective.
With the New Year have you resolved to really get started with your online business? Do you want to offer your customers an even better shopping experience? Then you can look forward to many enhancements for online shops based on ePages Now that give your shop design and marketing a boost with new functions and integrations. Find the latest features in this blog article.
At the end of the year, many online shops ramp up their marketing to maximise sales. At the end of November, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are among the most popular shopping days of the year, offering enormous potential to increase revenue. With new marketing tools for ePages Now as well as practical enhancements for even better user-friendliness and processing, you are prepared for the year-end business. In this article, we report on all new features and give an outlook for the beginning of the year. Please note that the availability of features and apps may vary depending on your reseller and shop package.
New usability features make it even easier for your customers to navigate through your shop and get inspired. Read more about all the new features and payments for ePages Now in this article.
The ePages Now software is constantly being expanded with new functions that you can access conveniently via your shop administration in the browser. Would you like to optimise your design, integrate shop ratings and simplify your work processes? Discover the newest features and connections to sell successfully in 2022.
Have you already thought about offering your products and services offline? There are many ways to expand your local business to get in personal contact with customers and offer a live shopping experience. Through services such as events or advice sessions, you benefit not only from direct feedback, but also from an opportunity to sell your products on the spot. In support of doing business through local presence, a point-of-sale (POS) solution is needed to accept payments offline and without manual effort. Zettle by PayPal offers many ways to sell goods and accept offline payments and synchronise stock with your online business. In this article, we will explain how our Zettle integration can save you time optimising offline and online sales.
