What’s in store for eCommerce owners – a quick overview of current webshop trends

Say what you want about these predictions (we had our share of them), but there is no shortage of really interesting moments happening around our industry.

Just look at the skyrocketing Bitcoin and ETHereum prices, chat-bots popping out of every window, IoT devices leaking personal data from the fridge and transmitting your cheese supply to Langley. As the spring is coming, we need to take a sober look into these topics and sum up the 4 most interesting, but real, trends:

1. Virtual currencies are entering mainstream

Petra wrote on integrating Bitcoin into your eCommerce (WooCommerce) workflow right when the currency passed it’s all time high of 1200 USD. Ethereum prices are also blasting through the roof and more interesting – large players like R3 consortium are entering the field of these blockchain-based coins. On a side note, Apple Pay is finally available in WooCommerce through Stripe integration, but only in 10 major markets.

2. Chatbots are starting up conversations with customers

Conversational User eXperience is something that gained traction during 2016. and we saw first use cases on WooConf in Austin (Uber + FB messenger). Once again, Petra wrote a 2017 primer for using chatbots in your social media efforts and eCommerce cases. Enter the Matrix if you’re interested in details on these little robotic helpers.

3. Big data and business analytics are the new norms.

Big data tools are finally available to the masses. Honestly, if you look at the newly published Google Data Studio, you will see that the market for business intelligence is stable and strong. Microsoft has Power BI, amazon AWS has QuickSight and Google has tools to analyze all sorts of analytics data with aforementioned Big Data Studio. I wrote a guide on how to use another new kid on the block (Slemma) with WooCommerce data. Read more if you need to crunch some sales numbers.

4. High-quality content is still underused

The majority of store owners are copy/pasting content from marketing brochures into their eCommerce sites. While this approach is the “default one” (and better to not having any content), you should really consider using professional services while working on your eCommerce copywriting. Petra wrote up a ton of advice regarding branded copywriting and Bruno’s Lens curator series can give you a glimpse into online video or animation world. Couzing up with high-quality content will give you a real advantage over other store owners and yes, I know this topic has been “done to death”, but if you look at some of the cool microsites or eCommerce examples, you’ll see that the opportunity is lying just around the comma.