The Future of WooCommerce in 2025 with James Kemp, Woo's Core Product Manager

In this episode of 'Within WordPress,' I talk to James Kemp, the new Core Product Manager for WooCommerce. James shares his journey from founding IconicWP to joining WooCommerce, detailing his previous roles and responsibilities.

We discuss the future direction of WooCommerce, focusing on the 'More in Core' initiative aimed at integrating essential plugins into the core product. James elaborates on the decision-making process behind adding new features, handling community feedback, and maintaining the balance between extensibility and basic functionality.

He also emphasizes WooCommerce's ongoing efforts to enhance performance and user experience, making 2025 a promising year for Woo merchants and developers alike.

00:00 Introduction
00:17 Meet James Kemp: WooCommerce Core Product Manager
01:09 James Kemp's Career Journey
03:24 Building WooCommerce Plugins
06:12 Magento and WordPress Integration
07:37 Transition to WooCommerce
12:43 Role and Responsibilities at WooCommerce
13:24 Core Experience vs. Core Platform
15:48 Order Management and Fulfillment
20:54 Deciding Features for WooCommerce Core
23:24 Premium Plugins and Core Integration
28:35 WooCommerce Plugin Strategy
30:10 Comparing WooCommerce and Shopify
33:28 User Feedback and Core Features
35:26 Challenges of Integrating Plugins into Core
37:11 Future Plans for WooCommerce Core
40:09 Balancing Core Features and Plugin Ecosystem
44:39 Extensibility and Community Feedback
59:00 Looking Ahead to 2025