What’s new in the Magento world and the world of eCommerce? Well we’re bringing you the latest scoop.
Magento 2.1
This month, Magento came out with Enterprise Edition 2.1 which offers new features that simplify the use of eCommerce sites for both retailers and customers. The first feature is staging and preview which allows you to schedule and preview updates to products, categories, descriptions and promotions. Another part of this feature is the new timeline dashboard that enables you to clearly see what is scheduled to happen on the site so you can track the sales process and later analyze the impact you had on it.
The second feature is Elasticsearch which ensures high quality search results and is easier to set up, scale and manage. This search engine supports 33 languages out-of-the-box, and allows you to set your own stop words, synonyms and attribute weighting to deliver better search results.
Another feature are PayPal enhancements for the streamlined checkout. That includes the implementation of PayPal In-context checkout, so cutomers can use PayPal without leaving your site. With this feature, the storing of credit card information can be done in a safe way.
The last key feature are the bussines management tools. They are made intuitive and easy to use in order to simplify the process for the retailers. With the drag-and-drop tools, retailers can customize and save admin views for a quick access to products, customers and other information.
eCommerce
Pinterest is launching a way to search for products with your smartphone camera. In the next few months, Pinterest is going to be rolling out an improved visual search button feature – that will allow you to automatically perform a visual search for all the items in the frame of your camera. This feature could be used to find the furniture you see on a TV show or in a restaurant, the clothes you see on a celebrity, or a person on the street (but in that case, don’t forget to turn the flash of) it can even work on car parts, the possibilities are endless.
When launched, this feature could drive Pinterest closer to its competitors. This visual tool eliminates a lot of steps a potential customer would usually go through. It coincides with the shift to micro moments instead of a long research process, and marketers turning to map making instead of storytelling. Pinterest is monetising on the fact that people live on-the-go and don’t necessarily research every item they buy. A new “shopping cart” feature, accessible across all platforms where the users have active accounts, will also play its part in enhancing the overall commerce experience.
In other news, Amazon just announced they are expanding the Dash button program. If you’re not familiar with them, Dash buttons are small devices that allow customers to place orders on specific products. Every button is specific to a different company. Now you’ll be able to get up to 150 different buttons from the likes of Lavazza, Play-Doh, Red Bull, Schwarzkopf and many more, meaning you’ll never have to leave your house to go shopping again.
Finally, at the end of this news cycle, we leave you with a question. Which of these features are you most excited for?
