WooCommerce Core
WooCommerce 6.5 beta 1 is in the wild, so time to start testing. In addition, WooCommerce Blocks 7.4.0, 7.4.1 and 7.4.2 release notes introduced the new Cart and Checkout Inner Blocks. This allows you to insert Woo blocks into the available areas of the blocks, similar to what you would do with regular blocks. In addition, you can move, edit and optimize using the Inner Blocks. The release also included enhancements and bug fixes.
The Competition for WooCommerce
So, on Twitter I happen to come across this tweet from Carl Hancock via Gravity Forms.
At last count, there are roughly 50,000 form builder plugins for WordPress. Where are all the WooCommerce alternatives for #WordPress?
— Carl Hancock 🚀🇨🇷 (@carlhancock) April 21, 2022
Now this isn’t the first time I have seen a comment similar to this, nor will it be the last time. And just to clarify, I am always for healthy competition.
In the comments that followed this, as of the time I recorded this podcast, a few alternatives were mentioned. Aside from the typical sarcasm and joking via such tweets, someone shared Lemon Squeezy, North Commerce, and the Big Commerce integration. Carl followed up noting these were SaaS solutions, and he was looking more at WordPress first solutions.
Then others were added like SimplePay. Which of course is at the other end of the spectrum, that being smaller plugins that do a specific function that WooCommerce offers.
Also, as some commenters noted, there are also plenty of WordPress plugins that can take the place of WooCommerce in some specific way, such as Paid Memberships Pro.
But still nothing, so far, has met its robustness.
And of course, I found an offshoot of someone who had retweeted Carl’s tweet saying WooCommerce and WordPress just cannot be looked at for serious eCommerce sites, with the emphasis being on WordPress and the obvious labeling that open source just can’t do it.
A Perspective
Let me put some perspective on this. I started the podcast Do the Woo in 2016. After a few shows I decided to call it the WPeCommerce Show, hitting the wider eCommerce space of WordPress. Over the four year run of that podcast I learned a lot about eCommerce and WordPress. Which may be a topic for another podcast. But in August of 2018 I decided to bring back Do the Woo. For a time, I was running both simultaneously. But I eventually decided to end the WPeCommerce Show and just focus on Do the Woo, for obvious reasons.
Two real world experiences
A few years back I was at a WordCamp where one of the new eCommerce solutions had a booth. This was a time I was getting more and more into Woo. But also doing the WPeCommerce show, though on the brink of ending that. At WordCamp, I would occasionally see very little traffic at their booth compared to others. They had approached me a few times there and engaged me in some conversation.
After talking with them, two things were apparent. They had dumped quite a bit of money into marketing at no avail. And they learned that it was really tough being up against Woo. Simple as that. I’m not sure whatever happened to them as I haven’t seen or heard about them since then. And to be honest, I completely have forgotten their brand name.
The other experience is quite a bit different and is something that happened within the last year or so. There was another solution that had come out. (I do remember their name, but will not call them out). I started following them on both Twitter and LinkedIn to see what they were up to. My initial discovery was that in their marketing, they were going for it. Labeling themselves as a better eCommerce solution for WordPress than Woo. They were not beating around the bush.
Next came the nasty. And what I mean by that is blatant trolling and disrespect. Whenever I shared a post about a podcast with someone from WooCommerce.com they would come into the comments and basically sell their solution. And also troll the comments. At one point I even called them out and they ignored me. At another time, I deleted their comments on the post and they reposted it. And then they started arguing with the guest that I had one, specifically those from WooCommerce.com, and being very rude with them. This went on for sometime and that is where I drew the line. I eventually blocked him and the company on Twitter and LinkedIn. And if you know me, it takes a lot for me to block anyone.
Now apparently their marketing approach and aggressive tactics where not the way to enter the WordPress space and build some trust and credibility. And yes, their marketing continues to be the same approach and I have not since ever heard anyone in the WordPress space talk about using them. Or even interest in them.
WooCommerce, it is what it is
Well, first off, sorry Carl, I don’t have the perfect answer for you. But these two experiences, in an odd sort of way, tell me a bit more about why we haven’t seen someone step up to the proverbial plate. And of course, within those two experiences of mine, there is a lot to unpack.
Maybe it’s as simple as no one has found a way to come up with a competitor for WooCommerce, not directly. SaaS seems to be the way moving forward and I cannot predict if something find its way into the space and blossom into another powerful solution. On the other hands, smaller solutions, such as plugins, will make their way in and do well. But they will never be a direct competition to WooCommerce.
In any case, I’m one to never say never.
But I have my eyes and ears open. And guess what? I decided I needed to bring on some guests on the podcast to talk about Woo alternatives.
This week at DTW
Well, it’s been pretty busy around here and want to just catch you up in case you missed anything. Started the week out talking about our new Woo DevLife Snippets and of course I will be looking for some developer life tips from you.
Followed that up in a conversation with Jonathan and Robert about their experiences at CloudFest this year in Germany. With this size of a conference, you may find it interesting if they heard anyone talking WordPress or WooCommerce and what next year’s event may look like.
Also, are you heading to the online Atarim Web Agency Summit next week? If you are a WordPress, or even a focused WooCommerce agency or freelancer, you won’t want to miss this one. Do the Woo is a Media Sponsor again this year and in two episodes we get some great tips from the speakers. First one is all about accessibility and ROI and the second show is with three speakers all touching on simplifying the complex. Also, I will be doing a conversation in the networking lounge about Do the Woo and the developer community on Tuesday, the 26th at 3:30 EST. So pop in there and join in.
Lastly, we rounded the week up with Marcus and guest host Courtney talk about doing presentations and being on podcasts. For developers it’s like most other professions, you can grow your network. But it can also help you build your career or maybe even find your next career.
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