WooCommerce 9.8 puts real attention on the part of a store that quietly loses the most revenue: finding the product.
Smarter product filtering
Filter blocks got faster and more flexible, with better handling of attributes, price ranges and stock status inside block themes. Filters now feel closer to what shoppers expect from large retailers, without a third-party search plugin on small and mid-size catalogues.
Live search
Results appear as the shopper types, instead of after a full page reload. On mobile especially, this removes a step where a lot of intent is lost.
What to do with it
- Audit your attributes first, filters are only as good as your product data
- Test on a staging copy of the store before updating production
- Watch the search terms report after launch; it is the cheapest merchandising research you will ever get
If your catalogue is over a few thousand products, still benchmark against a dedicated search service. Under that, the built-in tools now cover most of what stores were paying extra for.
