You don't need to follow all the latest trends in order to boost your bottom line from the latest buzz. You don't need to be the Paris Hilton of online commerce to move ahead with the latest waves of development. All you gotta' have is some serious business dedication and an interest in what your competitors, customers and other cool players are doing right now.

The greatest trends of 2007 can be summarized as mobile curiosity (which will be BIG very soon we think), new service discoveries, mergers, customer-oriented service promotions, web site optimizations and alternative payment methods.

some more stuff about of the predictions for what remains of 2007, gathered from various sources and articles over the last few months.

As markets mature and the majority of all people who shop online say they do so because they can find products impossible to locate on the high street, we are likely to see more new product discoveries online than ever before in 2007. Search will also mature and become smarter, and as it does ? product discovery is likely to emerge even stronger. Niche markets, that previously have never seen such enormous opportunities, will stir up a lot of noise for sure.

The age of distributors and distribution will have to dress their game up considerably if they want to outpace the benefits that manufacturers see from selling directly to end customers. The online universe enables a straight, direct channel to consumers that more and more manufacturers are starting to capitalize on.

With the internet maturing, chances are consumers will also start to voice up their new found power ? because, let's face it, never before has the customer been more king. Today they hold power over brands and messaging by taking part in product and service ratings on widely available and hugely popular community sites than they have in a very long time. They can rate a business down or up ? and once they have their foot in the door as your critic or fan, you have to accept their power and learn how to manage it the best you can. You need to adapt your strategies to work with this new trend, for sure.

If we look at strategies for monitoring what consumers say about you online, and how it affects your brand and your messaging, we should also here mention that you probably need to offer your operations more focus in 2007. What does this mean? Basically it means that you need to look at tools and systems for monitoring your activities ? be it advertising, sales or actual promotions (direct or indirect) online. What is your presence like on communities? What are editors saying about you? How are you evaluating your advertising campaigns? Are you benefiting from all the free cross selling and pr opportunities out there? Are you taking part in affiliate programs to help widen your reach and improve your offering relevance?

Almost 1/4 of all online retail revenues are today driven by small business. So, if affiliate programs are not your style or you feel you have gone as far as you can, maybe further consolidation is something to consider (whohaaa!). In fact mergers are set to be big part of the action in the 2007 internet landscape. Mergers between both small and small, and small and big companies. So look around you, there may be opportunities of scale even for you.

Whatever you do in 2007, make sure you bookmark the buzz you hear and pay attention to developments that seem to turn more influential factors in your particular segment of course. All we can do is tell each other what's happening and what's not. All you can do is make sure you don't miss out.

- by a staff writer