The eCommerce plug-in called WooCommerce celebrates it’s 10 year anniversary this year. Brought to you by WordPress, WooCommerce is one of the most popular downloads used to run an online store. With this plug-in you can sell anything from coffee, to renting your home, to charging for appointments. Let’s take a look at why it powers 25% of eCommerce stores as well as a little history about it.
Security & Open Source
WooCommerce is popular because it is open source. This means that anyone can go in and extend the code, modify or audit it. On top of that it comes from Automattic which is a billion dollar company that has the knowledge and resources to make sure your store is secure.
Free & User-Friendly
WooCommerce as well as WordPress are both free softwares. The software is easy-to-use and it works on all devices to enable any type of online shopping such as mobile, tablet, or computer.
Extensible
On top of that, WooCommerce can use plug-ins to add functionality and uniqueness to your store without needing a technical expert. Themes are also something that can be used in your store so that you can build your brand the way that you see it. There are thousands of plug-ins and themes that are compatible with WooCommerce, allowing you to create a store that is specific to you.
History
In 2010, WooThemes started to look into the idea of introducing eCommerce functionality to their collection of popular themes. After exploring different ideas, WooThemes hired two developers that created JigoShop to create WooCommerce. When WooCommerce 1.0 was released it contained six themes and nine extensions. By 2012 WooCommerce was so successful it powered WooThemes. After 16 months WooCommerce reached 500,000 downloads and then three months later it doubled to 1,000,000. In 2014 WooCommerce had their first Woo-Conf in San Diego which had 300 people in attendance. By 2015 Automattic made the largest acquisition purchase and bought out WooCommerce. Once Automattic became involved WooThemes was retired and just became WooCommerce. In 2019 another great development happened and WooCommerce launched a mobile app for Android and iOS. Today, one in four stores is powered by WooCommerce with 730 official extensions and themes.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the history of WooCommerce and many of the great reasons why it’s the most popular eCommerce plug-in. Contact AweWP for all your WordPress needs from WordPress hosting and support to content edits and site maintenance. As your trusted white label WordPress partner, we provide expert services to WordPress agencies just like you!