• New Ecommerce Tools: October 24, 2024

    New Ecommerce Tools: October 24, 2024

    We publish a rundown each week of new products from companies offering services to ecommerce merchants. This installment includes tools for generative AI ads, digital marketing, local search, product returns, cross-border shipping, and holiday marketing campaigns. Got an ecommerce product release? Email releases@practicalecommerce.com. New Tools for Merchants Apple expands Business Connect for online businesses. Businesses…

  • Charts: Global Ecommerce Trends Q3 2024

    Charts: Global Ecommerce Trends Q3 2024

    The internet is connecting the world. As of July 2024, 5.45 billion people —  67.1% of the global population — were internet users. Among them, 5.17 billion (63.7%) were active on social media. — Worldwide retail ecommerce growth through 2029 will fluctuate, with the overall trend being positive, according to Statista. The food segment will…

  • 4x Founder Debuts Ecommerce Intel Tool

    4x Founder Debuts Ecommerce Intel Tool

    In late 2020 I interviewed a developer who had launched a Shopify app to send manual text messages to cart abandoners. Eighteen months later we spoke again, this time to discuss his sale of that company and purchase of another, an app for creating upsells in a Shopify checkout. By early 2023 he had sold…

  • Your Data Stack Is Outdated — Here’s How to Future-Proof It

    Your Data Stack Is Outdated — Here’s How to Future-Proof It

    The data landscape is undergoing a tectonic shift. While data warehouses have served as the system of record for decades, today’s plethora of use cases demands a more flexible approach. The answer? Unbundling the data platform. The Case for Unbundling Unbundling means breaking down a product stack into specialized, composable components. Applied to data platforms,…

  • Top WooCommerce Extensions to Grow a Store

    Top WooCommerce Extensions to Grow a Store

    WooCommerce is the open-source plugin from Automattic that transforms a WordPress website into an ecommerce store. WooCommerce‘s many extensions provide additional tools and features. Here is a list of essential extensions for WooCommerce to customize, manage, and grow a store. Some extensions are from WooCommerce directly, and others are from third-party developers. All are free…

  • GitLab Uses AI Agents To Automate Non-Coding Dev Work

    GitLab Uses AI Agents To Automate Non-Coding Dev Work

    Most AI offerings target helping the developer code — but GitLab is taking a different approach with its artificial intelligence agents, using them to automate everything that supports the code base, such as documentation, merge requests, security and compliance tasks. Last week at AWS re:Invent, GitLab and Amazon Web Services announced the integration of GitLab’s…