|
View the web version
Hi there, hope you're having a great Friday!
This is Colm and Simon from CommerceGurus, with a handpicked weekly roundup of eCommerce articles.
WooCommerce 9.9 is scheduled for release on June 2, 2025, and introduces several useful enhancements aimed at improving store management and performance. These include:
- Blueprints: A new feature allowing users to export and import core WooCommerce settings.
- Dashboard Performance: The WooCommerce status widget now loads asynchronously, significantly improving load times on uncached visits, especially beneficial for high-volume stores.
- Hide Shipping Rates Option: Introduces a built-in setting to hide all shipping rates when free shipping is available, eliminating the need for custom code or third-party plugins.
- Selective Product Exports: Users can now export specific products and their variations directly from the product list using product IDs, streamlining tasks like targeted bulk editing.
- Automatic Database Updates: Database updates and migrations now run automatically in the background, reducing friction in the update process.
Check out the full list of updates coming in WooCommerce 9.9
Shopify store owners, we want to hear from you!
We're looking for Shopify merchants to test our new Shopify apps and provide valuable feedback. In exchange for your insights, you'll receive a free lifetime license.
Submit your interest
|
This excellent short video from Baymard discusses the importance of high quality product images in eCommerce.
It emphasizes that users primarily rely on zooming in to assess fine details of products, and poor image quality can lead to frustration and product abandonment.
Their research has shown that low-quality images can actually be more detrimental than having no images at all. Customers are disappointed when larger images do not provide clarity.
I especially appreciate the excellent examples it included, such as zooming in on earrings, an ingredients list, and the wood grain on a piece of furniture — all of which help potential customers make informed buying decisions.
Check out the Case for Better Product Images
New research from SparkToro shows Google Search grew 21.64% in 2024, surpassing 5 trillion searches for the year.
Despite concerns about AI reducing search usage, Google's AI Overviews appear to boost engagement, though they’ve caused a 70% drop in organic clicks and a 12% drop in paid ad clicks.
ChatGPT handles about 1 billion messages daily, but only 30% resemble search queries - roughly 37.5 million a day, which is 373 times fewer than Google.
Other AI tools like Perplexity, Claude, and Copilot have minimal market share.
The data makes it clear: AI use is rising, but for website owners Google should remain the top priority for search traffic and visibility.
Check out the New Research from SparkToro
The video explores how background images, especially those placed above the fold can negatively impact website performance by delaying the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
Unlike regular HTML images, which can use srcset for responsive loading based on device size, CSS background images lack this flexibility and are typically loaded later, contributing to slower perceived load times.
To address this, the video demonstrates how to replace a CSS background image with an HTML image widget using Elementor.
It includes configuring the image for responsiveness by setting it to full viewport height and applying object-fit styling for proper scaling.
After implementing this change, the performance score improved from 73 to 93, and LCP time decreased from 4.7 to 2.3 seconds — highlighting the real-world impact of this adjustment.
Learn How to Improve LCP By Switching Backgrounds to Regular Images
Remove.bg is an online tool that automatically removes backgrounds from images using AI.
It’s designed for quick, hassle-free editing - users can upload an image and instantly get a transparent background version.
Take a look at Remove.bg
Our WordPress Products:
Our Shopify Apps:
That's it for this edition. Simply reply to this email if you have any questions or suggestions, we read every message.
You can also take a look at our entire back catalog of newsletters.
Have a great week and best of luck with your projects!
Colm and Simon from CommerceGurus
|