PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Today we are officially announcing the relaunch of Do the Woo as a fully dedicated WooCommerce podcast under the Open Channels network. The show returns with a new mission, a refined focus, and a commitment to becoming the central place where the entire WooCommerce ecosystem can learn, share, and connect. More information about the relaunch is available atdothewoo.com.
WooCommerce has grown into a large, diverse, and fast-moving ecosystem. It powers millions of stores, supports thousands of agencies and product companies, and influences a significant portion of open web commerce. Yet there is currently no consistent, high-quality platform focused solely on WooCommerce — a place where merchants, developers, agencies, and product builders can hear the conversations that matter most to them. WooCommerce often ends up as a secondary topic within broader WordPress discussions, despite its scale and impact.
The relaunch of Do the Woo changes that by giving WooCommerce the dedicated platform it deserves.
Why WooCommerce needs a dedicated podcast
WooCommerce is no longer just a plugin in the WordPress ecosystem: It’s an entire platform, and an ecosystem in its own right. It has its own challenges, its own ecosystem-wide decisions, and its own innovation cycle.
Merchant expectations are rising. Agencies are delivering more complex and higher-volume projects. Product companies are building increasingly sophisticated extensions, often blending on-site functionality with SaaS integrations. And the competitive pressure from other ecommerce platforms has never been higher.
The new Do the Woo podcast will provide:
- A platform built specifically for WooCommerce’s unique problems, opportunities, and innovations.
- A reliable source of insight for professionals who work on Woo projects daily.
- A space where merchants, implementers, and product teams can learn from each other’s experiences.
- A clearer view into the decisions behind WooCommerce core and the direction of the ecosystem as a whole.
What the new Do the Woo will cover
To reflect the breadth of the WooCommerce ecosystem, the show will cover themes relevant to the different groups who shape, build on, and rely on WooCommerce every day.
For merchants and store operators
Merchants shape the direction of everything in the WooCommerce ecosystem. Their needs drive agency decisions, influence product development, and ultimately determine what WooCommerce must support. We will discuss:
- Conversion optimization, checkout improvements, and buyer experience.
- Catalog and order management workflows.
- Analytics, personalization, and automation.
- Multi-channel selling and the operational realities of running WooCommerce stores.
For agencies, implementers, and technical teams
- Agencies and developers turn merchant needs into real-world solutions and define the patterns that become industry standards. Topics will include:
- Architecture, infrastructure, caching, and performance engineering.
- Subscription setups, headless builds, and high-traffic WooCommerce stores.
- Maintainability, technical debt, and sustainable implementation patterns.
- Lessons from delivering WooCommerce projects at scale.
For product builders and extension developers
Product teams provide the functionality that core does not. They push innovation forward and define much of the merchant experience. We will explore:
- Building and scaling WooCommerce products and hybrid SaaS models.
- UI, UX, and long-term maintainability.
- Pricing models, Marketplace strategy, onboarding, and support operations.
- Insights from growing successful WooCommerce product businesses.
For the wider ecosystem and strategic decision-makers
- Some conversations affect the whole community:
- The WooCommerce roadmap and Automattic’s long-term strategy.
- Industry shifts in ecommerce and open source commerce.
- Partnerships, acquisitions, and the economics of the Woo ecosystem.
- How WooCommerce fits into the competitive landscape.
Opening episode: Matt Mullenweg on the future of WooCommerce
We are opening the relaunch with a guest whose influence on WooCommerce, WordPress, and open source commerce is unmatched: Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic.
Matt will join us to talk about the future of WooCommerce, the strategic direction of the platform, and the opportunities ahead for merchants, agencies, and product builders. This is a rare chance to hear directly from the person ultimately responsible for shaping WooCommerce’s long-term vision, making this the perfect way to launch the new era of Do the Woo.
Your hosts
Do the Woo will be co-hosted by James Kemp and Katie Keith, combining perspectives from both sides of the ecosystem. James represents WooCommerce itself, while Katie represents the independent product builder community. This combination gives Do the Woo a well-rounded view of the ecosystem, allowing it to explore WooCommerce from every angle — how decisions are made, how products are built, how agencies implement them, and how merchants experience the final result.
James Kemp
James is the Core Product Manager at Woo and the founder of IconicWP, later acquired by Liquid Web. He has extensive experience building and scaling WooCommerce extensions, leading a successful product business, and now guiding Woo’s direction from within Automattic. His work gives him unique insight into how platform decisions are made, how features evolve, and how WooCommerce is positioning itself for the future.
Katie Keith
Katie is the founder and CEO of Barn2 Plugins, which builds WooCommerce extensions used on tens of thousands of stores. She is passionate about on product strategy, UX, and the practical realities for independent developers, and is known for openly sharing how she runs and grows her business. She also co-hosts WP Product Talk and regularly speaks at WordPress events.
Together, James and Katie will deliver practical, honest conversations that serve the entire WooCommerce community.
Subscribe and follow
The relaunch is coming on January 14, 2026, and new episodes will be available on all major podcast platforms. To get notified when the first episode drops:
Audio only channel on Open Channels FM
We are excited to bring the WooCommerce community a dedicated home — and we look forward to sharing the conversations ahead.
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