WooConf 2016: State Of The Woo With Matt Mullenweg

WooConf 2016 kicked off today with Matt Mullenweg’s first-ever State Of The Woo address. The WordPress founder and CEO of Automattic (which acquired WooCommerce maker WooThemes last year) had a few things to say about what’s going on with WooCommerce and how it has changed since its beginnings. Find out about WooCommerce’s journey with some of the stats listed below.

Beautiful notes by the hand of Jess Boctor, on State of the Woo #WooConf pic.twitter.com/MdE3wl9s1i

— WooCommerce Conf. (@WooConf) April 6, 2016

ECOMMERCE TODAY

• There are 190 million people buying products online
• 28 percent of businesses are online

This means that 62 percent of business aren’t selling anything online yet. “There is so much out there left to do,” said Mullenweg in regards to helping more small business go from in-store retail to ecommerce.

The HISTORY OF WOOCOMMERCE

Today more than 37 percent of all ecommerce sites use WooCommerce, however it hasn’t always been that way. Here’s a timeline presented by Mullenweg of how WooCommerce has changed over the years.

September 2011

WooCommerce 1.0 was founded nearly five years ago. That year the initial platform had zero downloads, one free theme, six official themes, and nine official extensions.

September 2012

In 2012 WooCommerce grew to 310,000 downloads, 24 official themes, 145 official extensions, 30-plus third-party themes, and 30-plus third-party extensions.

November 2013

WooCommerce 2.0 experienced 2 million downloads and 250-plus extensions in 2013. The employee count at this time was at 36 people.

November 2014

In 2014 WooCommerce 2.2 received 5 million downloads, had 350-plus extensions, and 380,000 site installations. The first ever WooConf was also held this year.

WooCommerce Today

WooCommerce 2.5 was launched this year under Automattic’s new leadership, with improvements in refunds, UX, REST API, and speed. The latest edition has received 13.8 million downloads, one million plus site installations, and 400-plus extensions. The Woo Team has grown to 76 people across 18 countries. There are also 433 contributors and an even larger developer community of more than 100,000.

With origins in South Africa, the WooCommerce Woo Team has expanded worldwide.

Other highlights and accomplishments WooCommerce has seen to this date include:

• WooCommerce is currently translated in 26 languages at 100 percent
• There are 39 WooCommerce Meetups around the world, including 40 groups with 5,270 members
• WooExperts was lauched–38 people joined the program and 22 of them are currently in attendance at WooConf 2016

The Future of WooCommerce

Here are some tidbits about what’s in store next for WooCommerce…

• WooCommerce 2.6 is slated for release this May
• Storefront 2.0 will be included in the release and contain a better, more modern layout with 100 percent responsiveness
• Plans to change how people do business in booking, memberships, subscriptions, and so on

WooCommerce aspires to change how ecommerce stores do business.

Mullenweg concluded his speech, saying his team is looking quite a bit at the biggest stumbling blocks people have with WooCommerce, hoping to improve the overall interaction between WordPress, WooCommerce, and hosting.

Stay tuned for more WooConf 2016 coverage!