Tag: Accelerated Mobile Pages

What are the Latest Ecommerce Trends for Magento Stores?

Magento is one of the most well-known platforms for developing online stores. This results in making it a little bit simpler for both small and large business owners to manage a profitable online store. Since many shops have been moving to e-commerce in recent years due to its many advantages, eCommerce platforms have seen rapid growth. The Magento is the one that offers the best help for a business. Without empowering the Magento stores it is not easy to adjust according to the market.

As Magento is an open-source platform with much growth potential for online stores, the majority of merchants use it to create their eCommerce websites. A great shopping experience for customers is also made possible by it for sellers. You must be familiar with the leading developments in Magento development. Some of the latest trends for Magento stores are below:

Latest Trends for Magento Stores

PWA (Progressive Web Apps)

A progressive web application (PWA) is an online application that makes use of cutting-edge web technology. It has design principles to provide a steady, speedy, and interesting user experience.

With an experience similar to an app, PWA integration improves the usability of Magento websites. With full-screen mode, cutting-edge features, and offline mode, Magento PWA loads more quickly and is more interactive. Additionally, PWA features like push notifications and installability can significantly reduce marketing expenses.

Push Notifications

Push alerts can give your Magento business incredible conversion and sales potential. Moreover, push notifications have the potential to improve user engagement, raise brand awareness, and decrease the rate at which users abandon their shopping carts. In comparison to email marketing, push notifications to have a much higher opening rate.

You may let customers know about your deals, sales, and top-selling products with the aid of Magento push notifications. Based on your customers’ preferences, locations, and interests, you may also send them customized push alerts. Your opportunities to increase website traffic and close more transactions will be maximized.

Search With Voice

The eCommerce sector has been undergoing revolutionary change due to voice search technology. The ease with which shoppers can find and purchase goods or services increases with this feature. Further, voice search technology has completely changed the way people shop online.

It is time to incorporate voice search into your Magento e-commerce store if it is not already present. To have one of Google’s highlighted snippets appear on your website, you must voice search-optimize your content. Due to the lengthier nature of voice search inquiries compared to text queries, use a conversational tone and long-tail keywords in your content and product descriptions.

AR and VR

Other cutting-edge methods that shoppers favor while purchasing from an online business include augmented reality and virtual reality. They can quickly test things virtually by picturing them from all angles. Additionally, it aids in their ability to make an informed purchase, which is crucial for establishing a company’s credibility.

Image Search

Visual search is a common way for individuals to quickly look for anything online in the current digital era. The majority of the time, people utilize it to look up places or landmarks. However, online buying and selling are also starting to catch on. Customers can simply find commodities and products that seem similar to each other to buy by using this technology.

Marketplace For Magento Platform

A website that sells goods or services from numerous vendors in return for a commission is known as a multi-vendor marketplace. To track their items, each seller has a separate account. Unique business opportunities may be available in the multi-vendor market. Since you won’t need to invest in inventory, your financial risks will be reduced in the beginning. You can invest your time and money in marketing and business expansion to see benefits faster.

Second, a multi-vendor market enables you to quickly and successfully expand your supply. Furthermore, the vendors who provide goods on your marketplace might be a huge help to you in promoting your business.

Use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Websites called AMPs use a very specific HTML framework. This makes it easier for data to be transferred between browsers, which improves the user experience. Or to put it another way, it makes page loading almost instantaneous. 

AMP promotes Faster load times and a lower bounce rate. AMP is based on the idea that mobile users want quicker outcomes. Pages that have been optimized for mobile devices should thus load quickly. Since these AMP pages are faster so these characteristics collectively improve the possibility of clicks.

In The End

In this article, we have been discussing the various trends to Improve the Magento Online store. Apart from this, we assist with custom developments as per the business demands. In case you have any issues or concerns related to our module then kindly let us know the same on support@knowband.com. Moreover, if you want to add any functionality to the module and we will assist you with the same as custom development. 

Upgrade Preparation Checklist for Knowband PrestaShop addons

Installing a module asks for rewriting the translations?

Problem/Motivation
While upgrading a module, the user often faces language translation issues in PrestaShop. To improve the user experience at their store and make it easy for the customers to understand the checkout instructions and flow, merchants translate the module files but on upgrading the module the changes get lost. After upgrading the module the module will show the default content only.

We receive many such queries related to language translation and translation file import problems when customers upgrade the module.

Proposed Resolution

If you have modified the default translations on your store initially for a better translation, after updating or upgrading the module, the translation changes will get lost.

Thus, to keep things as usual and minimize the efforts, you need to make a few changes before upgrading the module. Please follow the below steps for taking the backup:

  1. Download the below-mentioned file at your end:
    /modules/{module_name}/translations/{iso_code}.php
    Where, {module_name} => Name of the module folder which you want to update and {iso_code} => ISO Code of the language which you want to take backup.
  2. After taking the backup of the above file, you can update the module on your store.
  3. Then you have to replace the below-mentioned file: /modules/{module_name}/translations/{iso_code}.php with the backup file.

After taking the backup and updating the translation file, you can compare the new version with the older version to figure out the changes.

Now, you only have to add or translate the sections that are new in the upgraded version.

Extend Support Plan for the PrestaShop modules if Expiring

Are you already using KnowBand’s PrestaShop modules?

Knowband offers three month’s free module support. If your free support plan is expired, and you need any help from our technical team to configure the module then follow the steps mentioned below to extend the support period:

  1. Log in to your PrestaShop account
  2. Go to the Downloads under the My Orders tab
  3. Here you will find an option to extend the support period. Click on the desired time period for the support. You can extend the support for 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months.

Voila, you have successfully upgraded your Knowband module support plan.

KnowBand has a lot to offer- eCommerce trends and innovation

As an eCommerce owner, it is of prime importance that you keep up with changing technology trends.

After the Covid-19 outbreak, a lot has changed and there will be transitions in the upcoming days as well. Several retail businesses are now having their online stores and offering home delivery services.

Marketplaces are seeing a new uplift in the eCommerce industry, with that the small businesses are getting great opportunities by multi-channel selling.

KnowBand is helping people fulfilling their eCommerce requirements for a decade. We have eCommerce plugins for almost each and every feature that you want to add to your store, from home page decoration to an optimized checkout page and from marketplace integration to creating a marketplace on your own.

Also, we help businesses to create mobile responsive websites with PWA and AMP builders.

In addition, our mobile app builder plugin is among the best seller plugins. Here is the portfolio for reference!

Read these blogs to know more about KnowBand’s eCommerce services:

PrestaShop Website Development Services- PrestaShop Partner Agency

Create an eCommerce Website- We Develop What You Dream!

OpenCart Extensions to prepare your store for Father’s Day

With Father’s Day just around the corner, website owners would be looking to prepare their store accordingly to capture high sales on the occasion. If you have an eCommerce website on the OpenCart platform and are also looking to boost Father’s Day sales, you can consider using the below-mentioned 8 OpenCart extensions.

1. Spin and Win

OpenCart Spin and Win module displays a gamified popup to your visitors as soon as they enter your website. Coming with multiple occasional themes, it lets you personalize the popup for the Father’s Day occasion as well.

Users get to spin the wheel and earn some exciting rewards but they need to provide their name and email address before they could spin it. This helps you grow your email subscribers and boosts user engagement.

Besides, by offering rewards which are usually the discount code, customers can be encouraged to shop by using the coupon code on the checkout. This increases your conversion rate.

You can make certain customizations to the popup and adjust the display settings as per your requirements.

2. Gift Card Manager

OpenCart Gift Card Manager adds a gift card section on your website and offers multiple pre-existing gift card templates for various occasions like Halloween, Christmas, New Year, etc. Similarly, you can create gift cards for Father’s Day too and boost sales.

Many online shoppers who find shopping a tedious task would find it comfortable to quickly purchase a gift card rather than spending hours in deciding what to gift.

You can create gift cards of different price values so that customers can purchase a gift card according to their budget. The module offers various customization features and also lets you track gift card orders.

3. Countdown Sales Timer

OpenCart Countdown Sales Timer extension places a timer on the header of your website through which your store visitors are informed about the upcoming sale. You can make use of this module to highlight Father’s Day sale as well.

A countdown timer keeps reminding customers how much time is left before the sale begins and creates an urgency to purchase. The look and feel of the timer can be customized and you can display it on multiple web pages.

4. Abandoned Cart

OpenCart Abandoned Cart extension helps you track the abandoned carts on your store and recover lost sales. The module provides you with an opportunity to convert the abandoned cart users into customers.

With many customers coming to your store on Father’s Day sale, you will surely witness a few abandoned carts. Failing to convert them could result in a loss in sales.

Thanks to the Abandoned Cart extension using which you can create an abandoned cart alert (setting a duration after which the cart is automatically marked abandoned) and remind those users about the pending items in their cart and even persuade them to complete the purchase by offering a discount code inside the email.

5. Price Alert

Many online shoppers would be hoping to see a price drop on some products during Father’s Day sale. With OpenCart Price Alert extension, you can ask customers to subscribe to price alert so that they are immediately informed and do not miss out on the opportunity to grab the product whenever the product price drops below.

This module helps you drive those users to your website and boost sales. So if you are looking to bring down the product price a bit on this Father’s Day, this extension would be of great help.

6. One Page Checkout

Customers crave convenience, and convenience at the checkout page is vital else it may lead to cart abandonment. Consumers do not like websites that offer a troublesome checkout experience. This is why it would be ideal to change your default checkout process with One Page Checkout for the coming Father’s Day.

OpenCart One Page Checkout extension simplifies your checkout process by converting the multi-step checkout process into a single page checkout. It offers various features such as Guest Checkout, Social Login, Multiple Layouts, Multiple Payment methods and Shipping support. Besides, it provides you with certain customization options to make your checkout smooth and user-friendly.

7. Accelerated Mobile Pages

Most of the consumers prefer mobile devices to shop online and your store is no exception. You will witness a majority of the traffic coming from hand-held devices on this Father’s Day. If your website takes time to load on mobiles, it can severely affect your conversions. This is where AMP proves beneficial.

OpenCart Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) extension converts the normal mobile pages of your website into AMP pages. It offers faster loading of web pages and reduces bounce rate by a significant margin.

The module aims to enhance the browsing/shopping experience of your mobile users and can make an impact on your sales.

8. Preferred Delivery Time

OpenCart Preferred Delivery is a perfect extension for the users who want to receive the product on a specific day.

There will be many customers who would want to receive their order specifically on Father’s Day. For such customers, you can place a preferred delivery tab on the checkout page where they can specify the desired date and time slot on which they want their product to get delivered. This ensures customers that their product reaches them at the right time.

For any kind of query or assistance with the above-mentioned modules, you can contact us at support@knowband.com and our support team will try to resolve your concerns to the earliest.

OpenCart AMP (Accelerated Mobile Page) Extension

“OpenCart AMP Extension reduces the page load time of your website in mobile devices and offers faster loading to enhance the experience of your mobile users”

According to a report by Invesp, more than 2 billion people use their mobile devices for online shopping, globally. Also, as per Statista, 53.9% of all U.S retail e-commerce is expected to be generated via m-commerce, by 2021.

Mobile Commerce or M-commerce looks promising to be a dominating e-commerce force in the upcoming years. With the increase in the number of mobile users, e-retailers have started looking out for ways to optimize their e-commerce website for mobile and one such way is the implementation of Google AMP.

What is Google AMP?

Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP is an initiative by Google that is designed to offer faster loading of web pages on mobile devices.

Data from KISSmetrics reveals that if a website takes more than 3 seconds to load, 40% of people are likely to abandon the page, resulting in an increased bounce rate. This is where AMP comes in handy.

AMP for OpenCart

An AMP-enabled web page or website is the topmost priority for a customer when they are looking for any info on the search results.

OpenCart AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) Extension optimizes your website and converts your website pages into flexible mobile pages when browsed via a mobile device, and delivers content quickly. It gets rid of all the clunky elements from your website and displays only the relevant content. OpenCart Accelerated Mobile Pages is a powerful mobile optimization tool that helps you index your mobile pages faster.

Features of OpenCart AMP Extension

1. Home Page AMP

OpenCart Google AMP module helps you implement the AMP functionality on the Homepage of your website.

You can display a custom text on the Home Page and select whether you want to display it on the top or bottom.

Display Featured Products, Bestsellers, New Arrivals on your Home page.

Choose a minimum number of featured products, best sellers, new arrivals that you want to display.

Display featured products, best sellers, new arrivals in a carousel mode.

 

You can also add videos from YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion and display them on your Home Page. Videos can be set to autoplay.

OpenCart AMP extension allows you to display Instagram or Twitter feed on the Home Page.

2. Category Page AMP

Implement Google AMP on your category page and allow quick navigation to your users through the listed categories.

Create a custom text for the category page and select the display position.

3. Product Page AMP

Implement AMP on your product pages with the help of the OpenCart AMP module.

Create a custom text for the product page and select the display position.

Display product reviews and related products.

4. CMS Page AMP

Implement AMP on CMS (Content Management System) pages and optimize the website content for mobile users.

5. Customize the Look and Feel for the Mobile Devices

Try out different color options and make your AMP-enabled website appealing in front of mobile users. Google AMP OpenCart consists of a “look and feel” tab, from where you can customize the website appearance accordingly.

6. Add your Social Media Pages

You can add your social media pages to your AMP-enabled website. With the OpenCart AMP extension, you can add your Facebook page, LinkedIn Page, Instagram account, Twitter account, Pinterest account, and Tumblr account, etc.

7. Enable Google Analytics, Google AdSense, and Facebook Pixel

You can link your Google Analytics ID to track the performance of AMP pages. Similarly, you can link the Google AdSense and Facebook pixel id.

Apart from these features, you can

Upload your website logo and adjust its width and height

Upload a banner for featured products, best sellers, and new arrivals.

Create your cookie consent message

Select the number of products to be displayed on a single page.

AMP for OpenCart FAQ

  • Does the AMP extension support the Journal theme?

Ans: Yes, the module does not get affected by the Journal theme. The UI of the AMP pages will remain the same as configured. (Independent of the site theme).

  • Does the AMP Extension require coding?

Ans: No, it does not require any coding to set up. 

  • Can customers change the home page design and add products on the home page?

Ans: Yes, with the Accelerated Mobile Pages, the home page design can be customized. Admin can change the banners, colors, look and feel and add featured images of the home page. 

  • Does the app support multiple languages?

Ans: Yes, the OpenCart AMP extension is multi-lingual and works well with all the languages.

  • Can I add Social media profiles to the home page of Accelerated Mobile Page?

Ans: It is very easy to embed Twitter and Instagram profiles on the AMP extension. Check out the admin demo for the same.

  • Is KnowBand Opencart AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) compatible with the Marketplace website?

Ans: Yes, the extension is compatible with any website including the marketplaces.

You can purchase the OpenCart AMP Extension from:

OpenCart Marketplace 

KnowBand Store 

Final word

Since AMP provides instant loading, the bounce rate of your website decreases. OpenCart AMP extension helps you gain excellent conversions from mobile devices which otherwise could have been lost due to the poor page load speed. By speeding up the website load time, AMP will push your site above in the mobile search engine rankings. It will enhance the user experience and increase your website visibility.

Try out the OpenCart AMP Extension today! If you have any queries regarding this extension, feel free to ask in the comments below or you can raise a ticket at support@knowband.com

Also read:

Benefits of Google AMP for E-Commerce

Benefits of Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for eCommerce

Benefits of Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for eCommerce

The world has witnessed an enormous increase in mobile users count in the last few years. According to Statista, the number of mobile phone users, worldwide, is expected to cross the 5 billion mark by 2020, which makes an estimate of 65% of the total world population (7.8 Billion by March 2020) having access to mobile phones. Talking about Internet users, 56.1% of the world’s population has access to the Internet, as of April 2019. (Source: Wikipedia)

With such a vast majority of people having access to mobile devices and the Internet, it leaves no question why Google gives high priority to faster loading of web pages on mobile phones.

Research says that 40% of mobile users abandon the website or the web page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Considering the importance of page load speed, Google launched Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP that loads pages lightning fast in mobile devices. Google showed the AMP versions of web pages in mobile search results for the first time in February 2016.

What exactly are Accelerated Mobile Pages?

AMP is an open-source initiative by Google that primarily focuses on the faster loading of web pages on mobile to provide an enhanced and smooth browsing experience to mobile users without interrupting the desktop view. Whether you are an e-commerce company, a publisher or an advertiser, AMP is the need today to improve the experience of mobile users on the web.

AMP-enabled pages show a lightning symbol right next to the page URL.

Google AMP for eCommerce

Since a majority of online shoppers use mobile phones to shop, page load speed, therefore, holds extreme value. As per the stats collected by Statista, mobile commerce accounted for 63.5% of the total sales worldwide in 2018. M-commerce already surpassed eCommerce in 2016 and the sales count is expected to reach nearly 73% by 2021.

The percentage reflects the change in the trend of online shopping and how m-commerce is continuously dominating eCommerce year-over-year. The introduction of Accelerated Mobile Pages has helped eCommerce businesses scale-up their conversions by improving their performance and visibility on mobile searches.

Let’s now try to understand the benefits of Google AMP for eCommerce

Benefits of Accelerated Mobile Pages for eCommerce

1. Increases the Page Load Speed

Accelerated Mobile Pages improve the web page load speed or say reduces the page load time of your website. It avoids clunky elements that might slow down your site speed and enables quick browsing facility across mobile devices.

Your website might be amazing but if there’s a lag in loading or if it is not mobile-friendly, users will leave it straight away. Better the site speed, better the conversion rate.

2. Reduces Bounce Rate

Since AMP offers quick loading, it puts an end to the troublesome experience that users face due to slow page loading. The increased load speed leads to reduced bounce rate, higher user engagement and the boosts the average site time.

3. Increase in Mobile Search Engine Rankings

The swift loading offered by Google AMP improves the mobile rankings in the Search Engine Result Pages(SERPs). Your web pages might not be ranking well on the search engine when browsing from a desktop, enabling AMP on your e-commerce website can improve the chances of ranking those pages at a better position when browsing via mobile devices, though it is not guaranteed as rankings depend on so many factors.

4. Accelerated Mobile Pages improve Website’s Performance

Accelerated Mobile Pages create a rich and mobile-friendly version of your eCommerce website and bring in high click-through rates and the AMP pages can be adjusted for multiple browsers. Besides, you do not need to make an XML sitemap for the AMP pages. Google automatically creates the sitemaps for your AMP pages.

5. AMP can be implemented across various pages on your Website

You can implement Google AMP on multiple pages on your eCommerce website and make it easier for your mobile visitors to surf your store’s content without any trouble.

Accelerated Mobile Pages Module by Knowband

The AMP module by Knowband accelerates the web page loading on mobile devices and allows you to enable AMPs for multiple pages on your website like Home Page, Category Page, Product Page, CMS pages. Knowband currently offers this module to Prestashop and OpenCart platforms. Do check out-

Accelerated Mobile Pages(AMP)- Prestashop addon

Accelerated Mobile Pages(AMP)- OpenCart extension

Key features

The AMP module offers some remarkable features:

1. Generate AMP on your

Home Page

Category Page

Product Page

CMS Pages

2. Display a YouTube video, Instagram and Twitter posts, etc. on your AMP-enabled website.

3. The AMP extension allows the store admin to customize the look and feel of their e-commerce website on hand-held devices.

Apart from this, you get many other features to enhance the experience of your mobile users.

Note: For the AMP module to work, your website must have an HTTPS protocol. AMP will not function with the HTTP version.

Final word

AMP is powerful. You should definitely consider implementing it on your eCommerce website. With so much to offer, it can be a powerful tool to take your eCommerce business to new heights.

If your website is already AMP-enabled, do let me know what changes it brought to your online business.

Also read:

What is Google’s AMP and how it will impact eCommerce businesses?

AMP Extension for OpenCart

What is Google AMP and how will it impact eCommerce Businesses?

The ever-changing market and consumer behavior have compelled the eCommerce store owners to stay on their toes. With the aim of easing out the pressure of the online business units, Google keeps on updating its policies and schemes from time-to-time. The quest to stand out in the competitive market will be easier if the eCommerce store owners stay abreast of Google’s update. Google AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages is one of the updates of Google that is expected to take the online market by storm

Google AMP project was launched in the year 2016 but was restricted to a few segments. However, the project now provides an option to the eCommerce companies to build their sites in the AMP format.

What is Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)?

Google AMP is an initiative by Google for publishers to make web pages load faster on mobile devices. With M-commerce in trend, AMP proves to be very beneficial to take mobile shopping to the next level.

Around 40 to 50% of the sites are abandoned because of the slow load time, especially in the handheld devices. Catering to this prominent problem of the mobile site owners, this project of Google makes the mobile pages load faster.

The remarkable load time is achieved in two ways. First of all the developers are required to create their pages in accordance with the guidelines prescribed by Google. There is a narrow set of web technology that is required to be used during the web page creation. This technology forbids most of the JavaScript which ultimately reduces the load time of the pages. Secondly, the web pages are served from Google’s server when the page is visited through Google Search.

Effect of AMP on eCommerce business

The whole purpose of Google AMP is to make the web pages load faster, ensure customer retention and boost conversions by simplifying the shopping experience of mobile users. There has been a major shift in online shopping from desktops to mobile devices. Even the famous eCommerce platform like Prestashop offers Prestashop Mobile App Builder modules to help the owners have their own shopping applications. Thus, a project that resolves the problem of slow mobile experience of the customers will definitely give an edge to the businesses.

Impact of Google AMP on online marketing

Having discussed the effect of the Accelerated Mobile Pages on eCommerce, it is inevitable to note that it will have a huge impact on online marketing. Listed below are some of the effects of the same. Take a look.

AMP-enabled web pages will rank higher in SERPs. As per a report shared by Google recently, 9 out of 10 online customers are more likely to shop if they find the mobile experience informative. This is the biggest reason the AMP-enabled article will prove a boon for online marketers. The AMP contents will rank higher in the SERP. Since the number of internet users who seek advice and tips on their mobile phones has increased in the recent past, the articles that are ranking in the first 3 positions of Google’s SERP will reap results for their respective stores.

AMP is open source

Google AMP allows people to incorporate the changes as per their needs. Hence, the marketers can now formulate their content with close reference to the consumer behavior of their niche audience. The contents will get more readers and so the traffic of the mobile sites will increase ultimately.

A boon for SEM

The paid ads with AMP-enabled pages will stand out from your competitors. Ads in AMP use Https and will be more engaging and innovative. Hence, it is likely to have a positive impact on both the organic and inorganic results.

Reduced load time

Loading time is the major factor leading to an increase in the bounce and exit rates. With Google AMP, the quick load speed will have the readers stay longer on your page, hence reducing the bounce rate. In addition to that, a low bounce rate helps to validate the search engines that whether your web page is in accordance with what the visitors are looking for. Along with a number of benefits, it has certain cons for online marketers as well. Some of them are listed below.

  • The AMP contents are currently simple articles. These web pages would not provide any subscription or a form-filling option to the users.
  • Even though ranking the pages on Google SERP will become easier, the budget invested in content marketing will definitely increase.
  • Adding to the troubles, Google will not accept the content in AMP cache unless the content is free of all the errors.

Final Say

While the mobile app can improve your business, Google AMP can take your business to new heights. Google AMP accelerates content marketing, and the Android app builders should gear up for the changes that the search engine is expected to see.

If you have an e-commerce store on PrestaShop or OpenCart platform, you can try out our PrestaShop AMP addon and OpenCart AMP extension.

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