When it comes to eCommerce on WordPress, the biggest and best option has for some time been, WooCommerce. The eCommerce plugin has grown significantly year on year and become the most used eCommerce platform on the web. With over 8,416,718 downloads, WooCommerce powers over 29% of all online stores! See some stats regarding eCommerce platform usage.
WordPress and WooCommerce have enjoyed a great symbiotic relationship for years. And now, that looks set to become even stronger!.
Automattic, the company who owns WordPress, has just acquired Woo Commerce.
This can only mean great things for the future of WordPress and making Woo Commerce more integrated into WordPress will help make it even easier to get set up with an online store and start selling. Just as WordPress made it easy for people to get started on blogging, making sites, it now seems they’re in a prime position to make online stores the next streamlined experience for users.
Automattic made the announcement on May 19, 2015.
While Automattic have not released any official figures for the acquisition, re/Code speculates it could be in the region of $30 million.
Sources say Automattic will spend more than $30 million in cash and stock to buy the 55-person company. Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg wouldn’t comment on the price but said the acquisition was the largest his company had made, “by about 6x.”
Matt Mullenweg, a founding developer of WordPress, points to the origins of the purchase on his blog by stating;
It’s not a new idea: at a WordCamp a few years ago, someone stood up and asked me when we were going to make it as easy to create an online store as we’d made it to create a blog. Everyone applauded; there’s long been demand for better ecommerce functionality, but it’s been outside the scope of what Automattic could do well.
Mark & Magnus, co-founder of WooThemes announced the partnership on they’re blog stating;
To our WordPress friends, with many successful competing products and services: the fact that all of our businesses continue to co-exist with room for all and more is what makes the WordPress community so special. We trust the ripples of our new partnership with Automattic will grow into some powerful opportunities for you, as we work together to help WordPress further its staggering 23% market dominance.
It will be interesting to see how the acquisition play out as WordPress will surly look to incorporate WooCommerce in the best possible way, making online stores easier to set up.
Having one of the top website platforms in the world and the world’s most used eCommerce platform come together in a marriage such as this, it will be interesting to watch as they develop together over the next few years and how they can shape and change the online shopping landscape.
Lets keep our eyes and ears open.
