Though discovering an appropriate ecommerce platform for your small business is important, it will also be time-consuming. There are such a lot of in style options on the market – Shopify, Bigcommerce, and Wix, to call a couple of!
Nonetheless, there are additionally rising platforms price contemplating for his or her distinctive affords, and this evaluation does exactly that.
We’re zoning in on one such ecommerce answer designed to swimsuit companies of all sizes: ikas.
On this ikas evaluation, I will talk about the options, professionals, cons, and costs of this platform after which present a step-by-step information for utilizing it.
That’s a ton of knowledge to get by, so let’s make a begin on this ikas evaluation!
ikas Assessment: My Backside Line Upfront
In case you haven’t bought time to learn by my complete ikas evaluation, right here’s a fast abstract:
Users can create online stores within minutes without any technical knowledge or expertise with ikas. You can sell physical and digital products on your ikas store and manage omnichannel selling on various marketplaces, including Amazon (all from the convenience of a single dashboard).
It’s worth noting that your marketplace inventory automatically updates when you make a sale on your ecommerce website.
ikas offers a free 7-day trial and three price plans after that. Each plan includes a generous number of features, including free customer support, 16 contemporary website themes, an SSL certificate, unlimited product uploads, site traffic, and web space.
Themes are customizable and can be modified using the ikas drag-and-drop theme editor. ikas also offers a range of marketing and automation features on each price plan.
Abandoned cart reminders and marketing promotions (e.g., 3 for the price of 2) are available on all plans.
What is ikas?
Founded in 2017, ikas has offices in Berlin and Aalen, Germany, as well as Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey. It’s primarily aimed at European and Turkish eCommerce entrepreneurs and companies, and at the time of writing, 6,000 businesses use it to fuel their websites.
Its website has testimonials from a few of its distinguished prospects, together with OzNatur ,LSTNR clothes, and Hofkueche.
ikas’s website tells us that you may “simply construct your eCommerce web site in three simple steps” and enhance gross sales utilizing its advertising and marketing automation options. We’ll discover this in additional element beneath.
Each side of your e-commerce website is managed from a single dashboard, and also you don’t want any technical information to make use of the platform.
Promoting merchandise out of your ikas e-commerce retailer is seamless, and omnichannel promoting is simply as simple – this consists of bodily shops and on-line marketplaces comparable to Amazon and Zalando.
You may promote bodily and digital merchandise utilizing ikas, and it’s additionally price highlighting that ikas is powered by AWS servers throughout Europe.
Every value plan features a free SSL certificates, PCI-secure funds, and limitless product, site visitors, and net area.
ikas Options
Now we’ve lined the fundamentals, let’s flip our consideration to ikas’s core options:
- Web site Themes: There are 16 image-led, up to date, and attractively designed themes to select from.
- One-Web page Checkout: Every ikas theme affords a one-page checkout, i.e., prospects can full purchases from the comfort of 1 web page. This consists of including their identify, deal with, transport methodology, and cost.
- Theme Editor: You may customise these themes utilizing ikas’s drag-and-drop template editor. Extra particularly, you possibly can edit photos, textual content, movies, and different content material to fit your model. It’s also possible to Search engine optimisation-optimize themes (i.e., add meta tags, titles, and descriptions).
- ikas App Retailer: Accessible by way of your ikas dashboard, Integrations are cut up into the next classes:
- Success and Logistics: integrates with SendCloud
- Accounting: integrates with Zero and PDF Invoices
- Market: integrates with Printful
- Worldwide Commerce: ikas integrates with UPS, OPLOG, Navlungo, and Sendcloud. This allows you to present prospects with localized product costs, web site translation, and currencies. It’s also possible to provide customers the next cost choices: Stripe, PayPal, and Klarna.
- Digital Advertising Integrations: With only a few clicks, you possibly can combine your ikas retailer with Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Supervisor, and Common Analytics. It’s also possible to add your TikTok Pixel and Fb Pixels to your retailer. Plus, you have got entry to conversion APIs.
- Dashboard: From the comfort of your dashboard, you possibly can handle all of your Amazon and Zalando orders, in addition to your eCommerce web site and bodily shops. Each sale you make is routinely logged on the dashboard. So, if you happen to make a sale by way of your ikas eCommerce website, your Amazon and Zalando stock is routinely up to date.
- Stories: Out of your dashboard, you possibly can create 36 completely different reviews, together with conversion reviews over varied intervals, merchandise steadily purchased collectively, best-selling product classes, and extra.
- Limitless Product Uploads: You may add and promote as many merchandise as you need. Merely add merchandise by way of your dashboard and import merchandise by way of a CSV or XLSX file. You may add merchandise as a single product add or as variant merchandise (i.e., a number of merchandise with completely different attributes comparable to coloration and dimension).
- Advertising and Automation: The cart reminder characteristic routinely generates focused SMS and electronic mail campaigns if prospects abandon their carts. These campaigns can embrace low cost codes and encourage customers to return to their carts to finish their purchases. There are additionally ikas’s cross-selling and up-selling choices, which let you provide discounted and non-discounted merchandise in your checkout web page.
- Superior Product Search: Amongst different search settings, you possibly can create filters to assist prospects discover merchandise simply in your on-line retailer. It’s also possible to set key phrases for merchandise you want to spotlight when prospects search.
- Want Lists: You may permit prospects to create want lists of merchandise for future looking and doable buy.
- Search engine optimisation Optimization by way of Meta Title and Description Size Checker: See in case your meta tags, meta product titles, and meta descriptions are the perfect size (50 to 60 characters for a tag and 120-158 for an outline). Merely sort in your proposed meta title and outline, and the software will present it in purple if it’s too quick and inexperienced if it’s a suitable size. It’s also possible to see what your meta titles and descriptions seem like on Google Desktop View and Google Cell View.
- Limitless Website Visitors: ikas doesn’t impose bandwidth restrictions, permitting you to drive as a lot site visitors as you need to your website (together with on busy eCommerce holidays comparable to Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
- Limitless Internet Area: There aren’t any limitations on the quantity or dimension of the web site information you possibly can retailer on ikas’s knowledge facilities.
ikas Pricing
Other than its free seven-day trial, ikas affords three pricing plans. All costs are in euros, together with VAT, and may be paid utilizing Stripe or PayPal:
- Starter: €25/mo paid yearly or €35/mo month-to-month
- Hero: €69/mo paid yearly or €99/mo month-to-month (that is the preferred plan)
- All-in-One: €199/mo paid yearly or €299/mo month-to-month
All plans provide the next:
- A “lightning-fast” e-commerce storefront
- Free buyer help
- FreeSSL certificates
- Search engine optimisation optimization
- Gross sales reviews
- Limitless product uploads/gross sales, website guests, and net area
- 16 web site themes to select from
- One-page checkouts
- Cart reminder campaigns
- Want lists
- Product evaluations
- Entry to digital advertising and marketing and on-line market integrations
- Returns administration
- You may promote bodily and digital merchandise worldwide
- You may set transport zones based mostly on postcodes
- Promote and handle in-store merchandise
- You may create pricing and transport affords
- Entry to stock administration
Nonetheless, the next options are per plan:
Starter Plan
Entry all of the above and:
- 5 worker accounts
- 3 inventory places (shops and warehouses)
Hero Plan
All of the above and:
- 10 worker accounts
- A number of on-line retailers
- Ship automated deserted cart reminders (these can embrace low cost codes) by way of electronic mail, SMS, and Whatsapp messages (Whatsapp is optionally available)
- Product evaluations – (prospects can embrace photographs)
- Non-obligatory cross-selling and upselling options
- Social login (prospects can log into your web site with their Google and Fb accounts)
- You may provide customizable merchandise (i.e., prospects can customise these merchandise with their model’s texts and graphics)
- Prolonged marketing campaign administration
- You may provide prospects the choice to ‘Click on and acquire.’
- You may provide native supply out of your retailer throughout opening hours.
- Amongst different issues, you possibly can ship SMS notifications to prospects about their order standing.
- Handle as much as six inventory places (your warehouses and shops)
All-in-One Plan
You profit from all the above options, plus:
- 15 worker accounts
- AI-fuelled product suggestions
- Cart reminders by way of WhatsApp
- 10 inventory places
- Superior cross-selling and upselling
- Prolonged product evaluations
- Superior product search
- Prolonged gross sales reviews
- Multicurrency on-line shops
- B2B capabilities and instruments
Lastly, ikas Premium can also be an possibility. Costs aren’t out there for this plan; as a substitute, it’s a must to full a kind along with your particulars, and the ikas workforce will name you to barter a customized plan.
It affords every thing within the ‘All-in-One’ plan, a devoted Buyer Account Supervisor, and the next perks:
- Search end result choices: Create customized itemizing preparations for search outcomes in response to your preferences.
- Product bundles: Use AI to advocate product bundles that generate the next buy worth
- Superior cross-selling: Recommend further merchandise to prospects who’ve already accomplished a purchase order
- Superior reviews: Generate superior conversion and stock reviews utilizing greater than 30 knowledge factors, together with site visitors sources, orders, addresses, gross sales channels, campaigns, and extra.
- Superior integrations: These can be found by way of the ikas App Retailer. Superior integrations embrace Etsy, MailChimp, and Klaviyo.
ikas Professionals and Cons
No ikas evaluation can be full with out a fast pro-cons listing:
Professionals 👍
- You may promote bodily and digital merchandise and, on some plans, in-store merchandise.
- You get plenty of options to your cash, even on the Starter plan
- There are not any limits to what number of merchandise you possibly can promote
- Omnichannel promoting is straightforward
- ikas’s templates (albeit a small listing) are customizable, code-free, and enticing.
- There’s a 7-day free trial.
- You profit from limitless net area and web site site visitors.
Cons 👎
- ikas’s web site is mild on info and self-help sources.
- There’s a little bit of a studying curve
Critiques and Assist
As beforehand acknowledged, ikas affords free help throughout all its plans, accessible by way of telephone, and electronic mail. As well as, ikas customers obtain a free one-hour onboarding session with a member of the ikas buyer care workforce.
Nonetheless, self-help sources are virtually non-existent; no video tutorials or guides exist. That mentioned, there’s a weblog with posts organized into classes, together with Digital Commerce, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, and Social Media.
Plus, every characteristic web page affords an FAQ part, which helps deal with widespread questions.
As for person evaluations, I headed to a variety of evaluation platforms to see what persons are saying about ikas:
G2 reviewers give ikas an general ranking of 4.4 out of 5 stars. Customers reward that there aren’t any hidden charges, ikas’s pace, and its multilingual capabilities.
Nonetheless, reviewers had been much less optimistic concerning the restricted variety of integrations and ikas’s costs.
Elsewhere, Capterra customers give ikas a convincing 4.8 stars out of 5, liking its 12 months, 8am-10pm buyer help, ease of use, and ikas’s big selection of options.
The negatives primarily revolve across the restricted selection of templates and “lack of web site administration customization.”
Half Time Abstract
Ding-ding! We’re midway by my ikas evaluation.
To summarize, ikas is an effective contender for anybody on the lookout for an alternate eCommerce platform to a few of the greater gamers like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix.
Its lowest-paid plan affords a superb vary of options and a seven-day free trial.
That mentioned, template choices and integrations are restricted. Additionally, as there’s a scarcity of self-help sources, newbies might discover ikas’s studying curve steeper than competing platforms like Wix or Shopify.
Nonetheless, though ikas’s templates lack in quantity, the 16 out there are enticing, code-free, and simply customizable, permitting you to create a ravishing storefront.
As well as, its dashboard is comparatively simple to navigate, and I like that you may handle your eCommerce retailer, market, and in-person gross sales in a single place.
ikas Person Information
Shifting on to the second half of my ikas evaluation. I made a decision to strive ikas to see if its assertion that you may arrange “your very personal on-line retailer” in “simply three easy steps” was correct.
These three steps are as follows:
- Design your eCommerce web site
- Add merchandise to your web site
- Full your eCommerce web site
Clearly, you want to carry out a number of further actions inside every step, not least organising an account first!
ikas’s pricing web page additionally states, “Organising an ikas store often takes 1 to three days. The required length is dependent upon the variety of merchandise and the chosen bundle.”
With that in thoughts, let’s have a look:
Organising an Account
This half was simple. From ikas’s house web page, click on the “Begin Free Trial” button and kind in your:
- First identify
- Final identify
- Retailer identify
- E mail deal with
- Cellphone quantity
- Create a password
After which, click on the purple “Create My Trial Retailer” button. ikas then asks a couple of extra supplementary questions on the kind of retailer you need to create (however you possibly can skip these for now).
Then it’s straight to the ikas dashboard (as pictured beneath):
The left-side menu lets you entry all facets of organising and managing your retailer. Alternatively, you possibly can click on the purple retailer icon on the backside of the left-side menu simply above the “settings” icon.
Now, you want to full the remaining 4 steps pictured above (the final being – make a sale!). So, with that mentioned, let’s discover how to try this:
Add First Product/Import
Click on the “Import” button in your dashboard. You’re then taken to a web page the place you possibly can import merchandise by way of CSV and XLSX information.
Alternatively, you possibly can add merchandise by clicking the “Add a Product button.” This populates two choices: ‘Easy Product’ (i.e., you possibly can add a product as a single merchandise) or ‘Variant Product’ (i.e., you possibly can add a number of merchandise with completely different attributes, comparable to dimension and coloration).
In every occasion, you’re taken to a web page the place you possibly can add the mandatory product info, together with product title and kind, value, picture and/or video, description, Search engine optimisation, and extra.
As soon as completed, you possibly can transfer on to the following step.
Select Your Theme and Edit Your Web site
- Out of your dashboard’s homepage, choose the “Select Your Theme and Edit” bar.
- You’ll be taken to a theme customization web page. Right here, ikas reveals a theme which may fit your retailer. In case you don’t prefer it, click on the “Add Theme” button to see the entire listing of themes ikas affords.
- Choose a theme you want. You’ll then be requested to provide the theme a reputation. Click on “save,” and the theme can be put in and saved in your dashboard, from which you can begin customizing it.
- From the dashboard, click on the “Customise the Theme” button.
- You’re then taken to the editor. From the left-side toolbar, you possibly can choose varied customization choices, together with enhancing the next:
- Add textual content
- Footers
- Headers
- Product slider
- E mail deal with
- Banner
…And extra.
- You’ll additionally see an Search engine optimisation button on the high proper of the left-side menu. Click on that so as to add Search engine optimisation titles and descriptions. With every motion you carry out, keep in mind to click on the purple “Save” button within the high left-hand nook.
When you’ve edited your themes and are pleased with them, you possibly can return to your dashboard homepage.
To entry your themes at any time, click on in your retailer icon within the left-hand menu of your dashboard after which click on on “My Themes”.
Configure Fee Settings
- Click on the “Configure Fee Settings” bar out of your dashboard’s homepage.
- Then, click on the “Add Fee Technique” button.
- You may then add the cost strategies you want to provide prospects. You may select from the next:
- PayPal
- Stripe
- Fee on supply (money)
- Pay on supply (bank card)
- EFT
- Mollie
- United Fee TR
- Payriff AZ
- Paratika TR
- Sipay TR
- Klarna
- Apcopay MALTA
- Param
Please replace the picture, wedon’t have adyen anymore
In every occasion, click on on the cost methodology(s) you intend to supply. You’re then taken to a web page to attach your account along with your most popular cost gateway along with your ikas account (as illustrated within the screenshot beneath). On this occasion, we chosen Stripe:
Different Settings Value Noting
Along with the core steps listed above, you’ll seemingly must do a couple of different issues to get your retailer up and working.
Though these steps aren’t included in ikas’s fast information in your dashboard’s homepage, you’ll nonetheless seemingly want to finish the next:
Buyer Settings
- Out of your dashboard’s homepage, choose the “Select Your Theme and Edit” bar.
- From the left-side menu, click on “Buyer Settings.”
- From right here, you possibly can edit your checkout web page settings. For instance, you possibly can specify what prospects need to fill out in your checkout web page and make particular fields obligatory, comparable to inputting a contact cellular quantity or their postcode.
On this web page, you can too provide prospects the selection to:
- Have their order present packaged
- Add a coupon code
- Checkout as a visitor
- Settle for your phrases and situations
Arrange Transport Settings
- Once more, choose the “Select Your Theme and Edit” bar out of your dashboard’s homepage.
- From the left-side menu, click on “Transport Settings.” Right here, you possibly can add your inventory places. It’s also possible to customise your “Transport Guidelines”. This consists of:
- Which nations you’ll ship from
- Which supply strategies you’ll provide (both customary transport or quick supply
- Transport guidelines (For instance, routinely providing free supply after a buyer spends over a set quantity. Or setting paid supply if the client spends lower than the restrict you’ve set)
When you’ve created your transport guidelines, they’re seen on the primary transport web page of your dashboard.
It’s also possible to handle buyer returns by configuring your “Return Settings”. Click on “Edit Refund Settings” to create guidelines for accepting returns.
Automations
- Once more, choose the “Select Your Theme and Edit” bar out of your dashboard’s homepage.
- From the left-side menu, click on on “Automations.” From right here, you possibly can arrange your:
- Deserted cart settings: To re-engage with customers by way of electronic mail after they go away their checkout earlier than finishing the cost/
- Again-in-stock alerts: Notify prospects by electronic mail when their desired product is again in inventory.
- Product evaluations: E mail prospects post-purchase to ask them to guage your merchandise
- Cash switch reminders: E mail prospects to remind them to settle their unpaid orders
Notifications
- You guessed it: out of your dashboard’s homepage, choose the “Select Your Theme and Edit” bar.
- Then, from the left-side menu, choose “Notifications.”
- From right here, you possibly can customise all of your electronic mail settings and notifications:
Beginning with E mail Settings:
- Click on on “Edit E mail Settings,” there, you possibly can add the e-mail addresses to which order and return requests are despatched. It’s also possible to choose your language desire (English, Turkish, or German).
- Click on “Save” as soon as completed.
Returning to the “Notifications” web page (illustrated above), you possibly can customise emails with your personal branding and content material when sending prospects notifications regarding:
- Orders
- Cargo
- Refunds
- Clients
- Automations
(Inside every of the above classes, you’ll see a listing of all the assorted emails you possibly can ship to prospects)
For instance, below orders, there are ten several types of emails you possibly can customise and ship to prospects, together with:
- Order canceled
- Order created
- Order delivered
- Fee authorized
…And so forth.
With Transport notifications, there are three electronic mail drafts you possibly can customise:
- Order prepared for cargo
- Order fulfilled
- Order monitoring info
With refund notifications, there are 4 electronic mail drafts you possibly can customise:
- Order refunded
- Order refund request
- Order refund request authorized
- Order refund request rejected
With buyer notifications, there are two electronic mail drafts you possibly can customise:
- Reset password
- The client’s welcome message after they create an account
With automations, there are 4 electronic mail drafts you possibly can customise:
- Deserted checkout
- Buyer evaluation
- Product again in inventory reminder
- Cash switch reminder
All you want to do is click on on the edit icon for the e-mail sort you’re concerned about. You’ll be taken to the customization web page for that electronic mail.
From right here, you possibly can customise the emails, as proven within the instance beneath:
When you’ve completed customizing your electronic mail, click on the purple “Save” button on the high proper nook of the display screen.
Handle Settings
- Out of your dashboard’s homepage, click on the “Settings” icon on the backside of the left-hand menu.
- This takes you to what’s basically your retailer’s again workplace. From this web page, you possibly can edit the next:
- Service provider Settings: You may edit settings your retailer’s settings, together with your deal with, most popular forex, and time zone, and outline order quantity and forex formatting guidelines.
- Inventory Areas: You may outline a number of inventory places. Your value plan, nonetheless, limits you to the variety of places it permits.
- Tax Settings: You may outline country-based tax charges and specify whether or not product pages embrace or exclude taxes.
- Filters and Search: Amongst different settings, customise the filters prospects see in your on-line retailer’s search perform.
- Employees Members: Whenever you add new employees members to your retailer, you possibly can assign completely different permissions to those accounts.
- Retailer Exercise Historical past: View and filter the actions carried out by employees members or functions.
- Transport Template: Customise your transport label’s info and paper dimension.
- Languages and Translations: You may add a brand new language to your retailer and carry out bulk or particular person translations for mentioned language.
- Buyer Attributes: Customise the fields utilized in your registration kind to assemble extra buyer info.
- E mail Area Settings: Use your personal area to extend electronic mail deliverability.
- Retailer Switch Settings: Import your prospects and merchandise from different platforms like Wix.
Managing Orders
All order administration may be completed from the left-side toolbar in your dashboard’s homepage. Simply click on “Orders.”
From right here, you possibly can submit orders, acquire funds, and test the standing of your orders.
Underneath the “Orders” tab, you will see a sub-menu itemizing the next choices:
- Drafts
- Deserted Cart
- Tags: Create order tags that will help you handle orders; for instance, mark orders as pressing
Managing Clients
- From the left-sidebar in your dashboard’s homepage, click on “Clients.”
- Right here, you possibly can handle your entire prospects’ info, together with their identify, deal with, electronic mail contact particulars, telephone quantity, and order historical past. Clients will routinely seem right here after they have ordered out of your retailer.
- It’s also possible to add prospects by both clicking:
- Import: (Add prospects by way of a CSV or XLSX file)
- Add New Buyer: (Manually add the aforementioned buyer particulars for particular person prospects).
As well as, you possibly can add and handle buyer teams. These are nice for focusing on particular prospects with tailor-made advertising and marketing campaigns, sending bulk emails, and working extra granular reviews:
- Underneath the “Clients” tab on the left-side menu, click on “Buyer Teams.”
- Click on on the purple “Add Buyer Group” button. You may then carry out one among two actions:
- Manually add prospects to a bunch.
- Create a dynamic buyer group by routinely grouping prospects who meet particular standards (e.g., their most popular language, their spending restrict, and so forth).
Weblog
Final however not least, you can too add a weblog to your eCommerce retailer.
- Out of your dashboard’s homepage, choose the “Select Your Theme and Edit” bar.
- Click on the “Weblog” button on the backside of the left-side bar.
- Choose the purple “New Weblog submit” button. From right here, you’re taken to a web page the place you possibly can add your submit’s content material and your:
- Weblog title
- A brief description of the weblog submit
- Picture
- Creator identify
- Class
- Tag
- Language
- Search engine optimisation titles and descriptions
- As soon as completed, click on “Save.”
Extensions
So as to add the extensions talked about above (Google Analytics et al.), click on “Extensions” within the left-side menu of your dashboard. You may add any or all the extensions to your retailer.
Set up Apps and Gross sales Channels
From the left facet toolbar of your dashboard’s homepage, click on “App Retailer.” You’ll see the apps we referred to earlier that ikas integrates with. Every has an “set up” button.
Alternatively, to combine with different gross sales channels, return to the left toolbar of your dashboard’s homepage and click on on the + subsequent to “Gross sales Channels.” You may then add the next:
- POS (level of sale) to your bodily retailer
- B2B Wholesale (On-line) Retailer: Set distinctive costs for purchasers or buyer teams and permit solely approved customers to see your merchandise or costs.
ikas Assessment: My Last Ideas
That brings us to the top of my ikas evaluation! Hopefully, my ikas evaluation has offered loads of meals for considered ikasIkas’s choices, costs, options, and, importantly, the way it works.
Though ikasIkas is much less well-known, it affords subscribers many options, even on its most cost-effective plan.
As well as, the dashboard is straightforward to navigate, and ikas’s themes are enticing and easy to customise with no coding expertise wanted.
The customers typically reward the platform on evaluation websites, and it’s definitely constructive that there are not any hidden charges.
So, can you actually arrange your personal on-line ikas retailer in “simply three easy steps?” In principle, sure.
However in follow, as our information has simply demonstrated, you’ll seemingly need to undergo a number of extra hoops to stand up and working.
The place it falls is its lack of understanding, notably since there are not any directions or movies that stroll you thru your retailer setup, which can be a deal breaker for newbies.
Alternatively, you do get a one-to-one hour-long onboarding session once you join.
As with all our evaluations, I like to recommend utilizing the 7-day free trial earlier than committing your hard-earned money. That is the easiest way to see whether or not this platform is true for your small business.
Are you contemplating becoming a member of the 6,000+ companies already utilizing ikas? Tell us what you suppose within the feedback beneath!