From time to time, I like to take a look at the premium, sometimes referred to as the commercial or paid themes market. I haven’t done one in quite some time, and I would like to make it a more regular occurrence here at Blog Themes Plus.
The premium themes market is well over two years old now, and it clearly isn’t slowing down. New commercial theme developers are continuing to start up, hoping to get a stake in the market. There is no doubt that the market will continue to grow, but right now the question is for how much longer.
The Top 5 Theme Designers/Developers
I will be sticking strictly to the developers and designers that entered the market within the past two years, and avoiding those who produce “generic” templates for a wide variety of platforms. Please excuse how I document the charts, as it can be difficult to explore the top designers without first taking a look at the various statistics available.
Another important fact to consider within the themes market is the fact that the average selling price of themes varies widely between the theme designers. While promotional techniques like freebies may entice more traffic, they won’t necessarily warrant more theme sales nor more long-term traffic. We’re comparing statistics based purely on what is available at this time, and where they stand compared to their competition. Finally, some of the domains have changed, and the statistics may be slightly “lower” for these companies.
The above graph compares WooThemes.com, StudioPress.com, Obox-Design.com, Press75.com, and WPZoom.com.
WooThemes – WooThemes has been the most consistent provider of professional themes. While other theme designers have dropped old themes for odd reasons, they have simply refreshed them to provide additional value. Traffic is down slightly this month, but there is a 90% gain year-over-year. Average selling prices of themes is $70 for a Standard License and $150 for a Developer License, with a Theme Club available.
StudioPress – After two main re-brandings, the site has come back to offer professional themes for the market. Considering businesses can get their site set up for as little as $59.95 (Single Theme) to $199.95 (All Themes), they offer a great value. Traffic is fairly consistent with the trends of the leader, WooThemes, although traffic is up nearly 9% month-over-month.
Press75 – Again, some re-brandings have taken place here over the past two years. Jason’s themes have been branching out beyond video and gallery themes.
They were more expensive initially, but have come down in price through various offers (all themes for $275, buy one get one for $25, buy 2, get the 3rd free, etc.). Traffic is down moderately since August (in September), but up 81% year-over-year.
WP Zoom – I’ve included this site, as they are offering more premium themes. Many of their themes are magazine and blog-oriented, although there is quite a variety. Traffic is down slightly month-over-month, up up well over 185% year-over-year. Average selling price of themes is about $109.
Obox-Design – A relative new-comer to the market, traffic is up some 8% month-over-month, and up nearly 1,600% year-over-year. Their themes are priced at $50 for the Standard Package and $100 for the Developer Package.
The above graph compares Dream Template.com (for comparative purposes), Elegant Themes.com, RichWP.com, iThemes.com, and Gorilla Themes.com.
Dream Template – See note below graph.
Elegant Themes – Offering all their themes for just $39.00/year, they offer unbeatable pricing for what you get. Launched late last year, traffic is down about 8% month-over-month. More growth will likely come as people take advantage of their themes club and use them on their site(s).
RichWP – Felix’s themes are clean and easy to use, focusing on simple designs. Average selling price is around $70 for individual themes and $249 for all the themes. Traffic is up 36% month-over-month.
Gorilla Themes – Touting themes that are easy and professional at the same time, their themes are great for blogs, real estate agents, and other types of sites. Most themes are pried at $79.95 for the Basic Package and $179.95 for a Developer Package.
iThemes – Founded around the time premium themes became popular, their themes have traditionally been aimed at the professional and business market. Pricing has come down somewhat since the switch to GPL Licensing, with Single Themes at $79.95 and Multiple Color Scheme Packages at $149.95. Traffic is up 3.36% month-over-month and about 33% year-over-year.
The above graph compares some newer developers: Mod Themes.com, Theme Wars.com, Viva Themes.com, WP Now.com, and Aloha Themes.com.
ModThemes – Combining the talents of several popular theme designers, this site is already off to a great start, with five professional themes starting at $59.99. Traffic is up nearly 93% month-over-month.
Theme Wars – With quite an explosive start, traffic is half of what it was during the first few months. Seven themes were released in the summer (June to August), but no themes or updates have been provided since. Themes are priced at $69 for a Multiple Use License and $149 for a Developer Package. All-Access packages are also available for reduced monthly rates.
Viva Themes – Their themes are also designed for the professional and blog niches, with all themes priced in the mid-$40 range. Traffic is up 7% month-over-month.
WP Now – Offering a great selection of fresh magazine and blog themes, WP Now is off to a great start. After price reductions, their eight themes can be snatched up from $29. Unbranded Developer packages run at $79. Traffic has remained rather steady since launch in April.
Aloha Themes – This is a division of Gorilla Themes, as the two founders split and are now going their own ways in theme development. Traffic has seen some good growth, up 85% month-over-month. Themes are generally priced at $77 or $97, with a theme that goes for $37.
In Conlusion
I’ll be offering a snapshot of what the “premium” themes market has in store for the future. Check out the main points below.
Pricing: A lot of people thought GPL pricing through a requirement by WordPress would force some of the designers to decrease rates, but all it did was cut out the ability to sell licenses based on how many licenses you could “generally” use the themes on. PSD files, expanded licenses, and better support are three common features that are tacked onto the more expensive plans. Overall, you can find “Standard Packages” in the $50-80 range, and “Developer Packages” in the $150-180 range. There are, of course differences in pricing between designers and deals can be had using coupons.
Selection: Overall, selection has improved vastly since the last time I looked at the Themes Market. No longer are we restricted to magazine themes, but there are more and more video and multimedia, or a combination thereof. It makes it much easier for the average WordPress user to choose which theme he or she wants to use. Typically, it’s all about the design, then features, then price. Most themes are priced in the same general range, so most people can’t really say that one theme has been priced “dramatically” cheaper than the next theme.
Number of Providers: The general consensus is now that everyone is in the themes market, competing for the number one position. It’s a market that can be very lucrative and doesn’t involve a whole lot of work beyond support and designing new themes. If any of the main designers skipped a month of designing themes, it ultimately wouldn’t undermine the success of their business. Their sites are up 24/7, so they’ll retain all their customers and visitors. We don’t know how many “premium theme” developers there are on the market, but the overall image needs to be cleaned up, and that’s my next point.
State of the Market: I honestly don’t like the direction many of the smaller theme designers are taking their themes. They are going for the “less theme, more support” model under the GPL licensing, and this makes it possible for theme to release themes that you should never pay for. The themes are sometimes worse than the free theme selections available, and support theoretically won’t be any better. If they offer these themes at a price, you should be guaranteed to receive support requests answered within twelve hours, if not less. These themes/designers are helping take down the market, whether or not anything is going to prevent this from happening.
Theme Features: Contrary to the previous point, I do like where the themes are going from the top five designers, with themes that make it easier to edit the look of the theme, while integrating the latest, cutting-edge features. Before long, some of these themes will be more powerful than WordPress itself.
Overall, the state of the market is that it is still growing at a good pace, in terms of traffic (and likely sales), while the number of designers is also increasing. What this means for customers and buyers of these themes is that more selection and choice will become available in the future, with more releases from the top designers.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:56 am
huge fan of woothemes. amazing!
I also like Thesis, I wonder what DIYthemes numbers are compared. Though I don’t think Thesis is on board with GPL if I am correct. would love to know if they are!
October 30th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Between the two main sites that promote the Thesis Theme by Chris Pearson, it is actually more popular than WooThemes’ entire site (50+ themes compared to one). 183K+ visitors on the DIYThemes site and 53K on his personal blog, compared to 198K on WooThemes.
WooThemes has been consistent in providing great themes for the community. I believe that Matt (founder of WordPress) has had some issues with the way Thesis has been marketing the theme – charging members more for using the theme on multiple sites. However, since it is his only theme, he may not want to raise prices or reduce them to the single pricing method.
I don’t know everything behind it, but this may be the reason he didn’t want to “switch” licenses, but this would be the main reason. However, all themes (including premium) have to be licensed under the GPL due to how they utilize the code within WordPress.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
May 1st, 2011 at 10:19 am
Glad to be one of the visitors on this amazing web site
.