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Hi there, hope you're having a great Friday!
This is Colm and Simon from CommerceGurus, with a handpicked weekly roundup of eCommerce articles.
This TechCrunch article explores Google’s move toward AI-powered search and why it could be one of the biggest changes to online commerce since the rise of mobile.
As AI search experiences become more capable of answering questions, comparing products, and recommending purchases directly, eCommerce stores may see fewer clicks from traditional search results.
For stores that have invested heavily in traditional SEO, this doesn’t mean those efforts were wasted. Many of the same things that helped pages rank - detailed product descriptions, helpful buying guides, FAQs, reviews, and strong topical authority - are also what AI systems use to understand and recommend products.
The difference is that success may increasingly depend on whether your brand or products are mentioned in AI-generated answers, not just where they appear in Google’s rankings.
Read about why Google Search As You Know It Is Over
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BrikPanel is a new WooCommerce admin plugin that gives store owners a much more modern way to manage their business.
It combines analytics, inventory management, bulk product editing, live visitor tracking, conversion reporting, and customer insights into a single interface that looks and feels far closer to Shopify's admin than traditional WooCommerce.
The plugin is positioning itself as a self-hosted option, offering features such as real-time analytics, inventory management, conversion tracking, customer reporting, and bulk editing directly inside WooCommerce.
BrikPanel looks like an ambitious project worth keeping an eye on.
Check out BrikPanel for WooCommerce
In this video, Christian "Craylor" Makoa reviews the latest WordPress hosting benchmarks from Review Signal, which tested hosting providers across uptime, dynamic page performance, and static page performance.
The goal was to separate marketing claims from reality and identify which hosts consistently deliver strong performance under real-world conditions.
One of the more interesting findings was that some traditionally criticised hosts, including Bluehost and GoDaddy, performed well enough to earn Top Tier awards alongside more established managed WordPress providers.
Watch A Real World Hosting Performance Test
I missed Emma Young's talk, live at WordCamp Europe - there were simply too many interesting hallway conversations happening at the same time! I caught up with it later on replay and would highly recommend giving it a watch.
Emma, who works at Hostinger, argues that AI search is much bigger than an SEO issue.
As tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI-powered Google results become more influential, customers are discovering brands across multiple platforms long before they ever visit a website.
AI systems pull information from LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and other sources, meaning your marketing, support, content, and social media efforts are all contributing to the same overall signal.
One part of the talk I particularly liked was Emma's list of quick wins.
She encourages businesses to become the recognised expert on a specific topic, create the most comprehensive answer on the web for the questions customers ask most often, and ensure their messaging is consistent across websites, social channels, and other profiles.
Learn from AI Search: Why Your Whole Company Should Care
catalog.cool is a beautifully designed directory of consumer brands, products, and founders.
Each brand profile includes rich background information, making it easy to go down a rabbit hole of discovering new companies and understanding who owns what.
For eCommerce founders and marketers, it's a fascinating resource for competitor research, brand positioning inspiration, and spotting trends across different industries.
Explore catalog.cool
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Have a great week and best of luck with your projects!
Simon and Colm from CommerceGurus
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