Marketplaces for WordPress themes and plugins aren’t going anywhere – in fact, we’ll probably see 100 more crop up this year at least with a few of them really coming into prominence.
I’m not opposed to that as competition is a good thing that forces everyone to innovate and press even harder to create more value. I especially like it when I see individuals who create their own marketplaces based out of their own need.
For example, Austin Passy is smart – he went about creating a marketplace for his growing line of plugins and taking that extra step of branding it independently of his own personal brand. He’s called it Extendd.
For now it seems that this new small marketplace is only selling Austin Passy plugins – but it’s not a stretch to see him opening up the doors slowly for other authors to contribute their wares.
Using Easy Digital Downloads he’s created a simple solution for his growing customer base for his 9 plugins so far.
I’m not aware of any desire to open it up at this time but the door is very wide open for him to do that in the future. But I think this is where most great marketplaces start – simply identifying an existing need and creating a very simple solution to it. What ends up happening is that people recognize the need as well, since they have it themselves, and build their own or contribute to the existing effort.
Boom, a new business – perhaps an even bigger one than the original project or idea. Great ideas from budding entrepreneurs oftentimes start as side projects – who knew.
6 Comments