This episode of Do the Woo looks at how to choose and build a WooCommerce theme in 2026. Hosts James Kemp of Woo and Katie Keith of Barn2 Plugins are joined by Colm Troy and Simon Tomkins, co-founders of CommerceGurus and the team behind the Shoptimizer theme.
James will walk through Woo’s soon-to-be-released Purple theme and who it’s designed for. Colm and Simon will talk about their experience building a performance-focused WooCommerce theme at CommerceGurus, and what they’ve learned about what merchants actually look for in a theme.
Expect practical advice on choosing a theme for your own store, along with pointers for anyone building stores for clients: What to prioritize, where performance fits in, and how to weigh an official theme like Purple against building your own or buying one.
This conversation is useful if you’re a merchant deciding what to run your store on, or an agency or developer advising clients on theme choice. With a new default WooCommerce theme now in the mix, it’s a good moment to look at how that changes the decision.
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Thanks to our sponsor WooCommerce https://woocommerce.com.