The web is ever evolving, and for e-commerce site owners, keeping abreast of anyย current WordPress trends is vital for ensuring both short- and long-term success. Adapting to any changes means youโre in a good position to increase sales. However, discovering where WordPress e-commerce is headedย often means a slog through industry websites, with no guarantee youโll find what youโre looking for.
In this post, weโll outline six significant e-commerce trends thatย will have the largest impact on WordPress throughout 2017. Youโll learn how they can help your business grow, and how you can beginย putting these trends to work for you.
Letโs get started!
1. The Spread of HTTPS
Googleโs resolution this year seems to be tightening up security; and now, with Google beginning toย specifically markย insecure sites, itโs no surprise that many website owners are scrambling to understand theย HTTPS standard. Before we continue, letโs break down the meaning of HTTP/HTTPS:
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). An application protocol that passes information between the web server and client, but does so insecurely. This means a third-party (hackers, for example) can swoop in and intercept the transmissions.
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). This is similar to HTTP, although dataย is encrypted โ which makes dataย interception near impossible.
To find out whether the website youโre visiting uses HTTPS, simply look at your browserโs addressย bar โ look forย a padlock symbol and https:// at the front of the URL:
Not every site needs to use HTTPS, especially if youโre not collecting sensitive data. However, for e-commerce sites, HTTPS is an absolute must. While it used to be a complex process to secure your site in this way, the advent of Letโs Encrypt makes it easy for e-commerce sites to get on board. In fact, weโve previously shown you how to do it!
2. An Emphasis on Mobile-First Design
With nearly 60% of online searches coming from mobile devices, e-commerce site ownersย can no longer bury their heads in the sand when it comes to the need for a responsive and mobile-friendly website. Simply put, a mobile-first means designing a website primarily with small screens in mind. It enables your siteโs visitors to access all of the functionality of your desktop site, wrapped up in a suitable interface.
Mobile-first design isnโt a new concept, but with the increasing importance of Accelerated Mobile Pages, itโs coming sharply into focus for 2017. To begin, head to Googleโs Mobile-Friendly Testย to get a basic idea of where your site currently stands. Simply add your siteโs address, click Run Test, and youโll receive results onย how your site fares:
Google also provides some WordPress-specificย suggestionsย to help improve your site, although you can also use Googleโs PageSpeed Insights to glean some additional information.
Speaking of which, you should alsoย take your siteโs current loading time into consideration. As many mobile users will be dependent upon mobile data, improving site load time should be high on your list of to-dos.
While there are plenty of ways to optimize your current themeย for mobile screens, manyย WordPress themes now cater to them specifically. Those with an Elegant Themes subscription can take advantage ofย Divi, but there are also other options such as Savoy, Shopkeeper, and Flatsome.
The bottom line: responsive and mobile-first themes are the way to go, and getting onboard now will pay off in the long run.
3. A New Priority On Transparency and Trust
Regardless of how secure your e-commerce site is, asking customers to hand over sensitive information is always fraught with danger. Not even big name brands are safe from data breaches, so itโs no wonder that shoppers are more wary now than ever before. If your site appears to be untrustworthy, racking up sales will be difficult.
Weโve already mentioned the benefit of HTTPS and SSL, but another way to provide comfort and boost trust is to increase yourย transparency. Itโs notย a new concept, but it isย on the rise. Businesses of any size can leverage the benefits, and itโs relatively easy to get cracking here.
Firstly, encourage your customers to leave product reviews, and directly reach out to them. Ask them to be completely honest, and even offer a discount for those who follow through โ even for unfavorableย reviews. The gains will be twofold:
- It will show customers you care about their satisfaction.
- It will motivate them to actuallyย feedback about their experience.
Of course, you may end up withย some less-than-ideal ratings and reviews. However, this is the perfect chance to build trust between yourself and your customer. Those who take the time to review your product will likely appreciate the chance to air their views. Valuing their opinion โ even byย responding to criticism โ means youโre validating your customerโs feelings, while simultaneously working to make it right. Itโs a complete win-win.
One final tip to build trust is by usingย โsocial proofโย elements, such as testimonials. These add a real-world viewpoint on your services, and can ease a new customerโs worries โ potentially making them more willing to buy from you.
Setting up testimonial sectionsย in Divi is easy, but for non-Divi users, there are a plethora of plugins availableย to help you get started.
4. A Focus On Customer Convenience
With concepts such asย same-day delivery andย a one-click checkout, big box retailers are certainly taking convenience in 2017 to a whole new level. While you may not be able to offer everything that the big boys do, thereโs still plentyย you can do to create a convenient experience for your siteโs customers.
Ultimately,ย customer convenience is the processย of removing obstacles from your customerโs path. Given that sites are arguably now becoming more streamlined with the rise of mobile-first websites, focus is now turning back to your online shopperโs buying experience.
To get in the right frame of mind, you need to ask two questions: Whatโs currently keeping customersย from clicking that Buy Now button, and what can you do to eradicate those obstacles? Fortunately, there are a few ideas you can implement:
- Offer a live chat option. Giving customers the opportunity to actively converse with members of your sales team enables them to ask questions and get answers within a matter of minutes.
- Accept a wide variety of payments. Providing customers with the ability to pay in a variety of ways makes things convenient, and increases your chance of a sale.
- Have an easily-accessible and in-depth FAQs page. Your customers donโt want to spend time looking for answers to their urgent questions, and indecision on their part can ultimately lead to the loss of a sale. To combat this, include an easy-to-locate FAQ page on your site.
Of course, these tips arenโt theย only ones to increase customer convenience, but implementing them willย go a long way to meet you customerโs needs โ whether they realize it or not.
5. An Increase in Customer Personalization
With companies such as Google and Facebook using targeted ads to their full advantage, consumers are now expecting an experience tailored to their individual needs more than ever. This is an important element of any e-commerce site, but it can be tricky to get the formula right. However, a site thatโs tailored to your visitorsโ preferences is more likely to result in a sale.
Fortunately, there are a number ofย things you can do to make your customer feel more at home. Firstly, consider your visitor metrics. There are a myriad ofย WordPress analytics pluginsย that can track yourย siteโs visitors, which will help you to implement ways to personalize the customerโs experience.
For example, navigational cues offer suggestions to customers based on their mouseย movements. Theyย could beย personalized email messages to customers when they abandoned their cart for example, or exit-intent pop-ups when the back button is triggered. Third-party solutions such as Gleamโs Capture, OptinMonsterย can help you get on board, as canย or our own Bloom plugin.

Visitors of Gleamย will see this exit-intent popup beforeย leaving.
Of course, navigational cues are not the only way to personalize your customerโs experience. For example, you could provide predictive recommendations, or offer personalized subject lines in emails. Itโs a โrabbit holeโ thatโs hard to get out ofย once youโre down there. Thatโs because it can the difference betweenย success and failure โ so taking the time to get it right is paramount.
The public launch of Facebook Live in 2016 created quite a buzz, and it enabled businesses toย engage with their customers on a more personal level, using a modern and fresh format. Of course, the relationship you have with your customers can impact your sales, and 2017 looks to be the year you get closer to your buyers.
To begin leveraging this trend, firstly consider your overall strategy. You may think yours is perfect already, but thereโs always room for improvement. Ultimately, it should be an aspect of your marketing that you constantly reassess.
Next, consider how social media is integrated onto your website. Plugins such as SumoMe or Monarch will ensure visitors have anย easy way to share your content:
However, simply adding sharing icons to your site wonโt be enough. Youโll need to go the extra mile toย build customer relationships, and offering incentives is a tried and tested tactic. For example, sending a โwelcomeโ discount code to new followers, or rewarding those who share your content.
Finally, tacticsย such as cross promotion can help improveย traffic and keep customers up to date on your business no matter what network theyโre using. For this, youโll want to look to plugins such as Juicer and Tint. Both are stellar solutions for cross promotion, and theyย make integrations a breeze.
Conclusion
With WordPressโ developmentย pushing ever forward, it can be difficult to keep track ofย whatโs hot and on trend. However, for many e-commerce site owners, staying ahead of the packย canย beย the difference between success and failure. Of course, no one can (or even should) implementย them all, so selecting those that will offer you the best chance of a modern-looking (and current) site in 2017 will be key.
In this article, weโve covered six important trends thatย are making their impact in WordPress e-commerce. Letโs recapย them quickly:
- The spread of HTTP.
- An emphasis on mobile-first design.
- A new priority on transparency and trust.
- A focus on customer convenience.
- An increase in customer personalization.
- A continued attention on social engagement.
Whatย trends do you think will have an impact on e-commerce sites in 2017? Let us know in the comments section below!
Article thumbnail image by penguiin / shutterstock.com.
Great! Thanks for sharinf
You’re welcome, Mat! ๐
Good job. They are really important things in ecommerces. Maybe I would add a new bullet about try to increase the customer lifetime value (CLV), because it is easier to retain old customers that to get new ones.
Carlos
Thanks Carlos! You make a good point โ focusing on keeping customers coming back is very important.
Ohhh!! Good job
Thanks! ๐
Great post as usual, John. I agree and have already seen most of these trends starting to set in. I would like to issue one piece of advice though. You mentioned that HTTPS isn’t necessary for everyone, but I would argue that it is highly advised for everyone. Google doesn’t like sites that don’t have SSL, and their browsers will be warning people soon when the site isn’t served over HTTPS. I think the best practice to implement is to go ahead and use SSL for every site, regardless of what data you’re collecting.
Hi, Jacob. ๐ Thanks for sharing your insights. We alluded to Google (and WordPressโ) crackdown on non-HTTPS sites in that section. We still believe that not every single website needs HTTPS right now, but youโre right โ as the weeks and months go by, itโs going to be hard to survive without HTTPS.
Finally, I can read your blog on mobile. Great job.
Thanks. ๐
I am wondering what font style is used here? Can anyone tell? Thank you.
Hi Andy! Could you clarify which text you’re referring to?
I am referring to the paragraph/body text font style. :). It’s clean and nice.
Ok, thanks for the clarification. The font used for the article is called Poppins. ๐
Quite a useful and valuable post. A number of important items/issues for me to think about as I begin building an E-commerce site. Thank you.
Youโre welcome. ๐ Good luck with your site!
Great post, John! Thanks for the research and easy to digest insights.
You’re welcome, Terry, and thanks for commenting. ๐
I help businesses with their ecommerce and I do ecommerce myself. This article is right on correct about important aspects for doing ecommerce. One that is missing is the trend towards integrating with multiple marketplaces: Google shopping, Amazon and eBay
Hi Sally! Thanks for your insight. ๐
Most useful tips. Thanks
You’re welcome, Diego!
Edit needed:
Recap:
The spread of HTTP. Should read HTTPS, shouldn’t it?
Hi Steven. Thanks for pointing that out!
Https is an URL feature after your server installs an SSL.
Https is an URL feature after your server installs an SSL.
Thanks for the timely post. I’m about to launch my first live e-commerce site, so there are many important items here for me.
Youโre welcome, Kathy! Good luck with your site. ๐