The State of the Premium Themes Market

Ian Stewart creates several great points, exploring the path that the Premium Theme Market may take in the future in his discussion of The Future of Premium WordPress Themes. 

The release of the Options WordPress Theme in the past week really left no separation between premium themes and free themes, except for the hefty price tag attached to most premium themes.  For example, in an earlier post, I tried to establish a separation between what types of themes and features should be included in each theme category.  When we take a look at the themes being released on an overly growing theme-release market, each theme includes more features, support, and designer experience. 

Ian thinks that the market will die down or completely diminish within the next year, at most.  After all, the premium theme market just began exploding extensively over the past year to the point it is today.  If freelance/hobby/business/corporate designers that are currently producing paid themes see the free, feature-packed themes continue to rise, they will likely have to refocus on their objective or create themes that reestablish blogging.

What will happen:

• New bloggers will likely choose the most popular, feature-packed themes they can get their hands on.
• More high quality, free themes mimicking paid themes.
• Competition will continue growing between “free released” designs, stepping up the quality and feature level of the themes.
• The market for “mass-sold” blog themes will fade out, but there will continue to be a demand for themes that aren’t anywhere else – perhaps sold at budget prices in a limited quantity.
• Designers teaming up with other designers and developers to create “super packages” (sometimes with a price tag), which combine themes, support, plugins, the whole package.
• Additional disputes will form concerning the quality of themes, licensing/porting, the direction that blogging/WordPress should take, and between designers/developers/bloggers.
• WordPress ‘1.x’ themes will become second-par to ‘2.x’, or the current themes.

What won’t happen:

• Bloggers won’t completely stop purchasing or browsing for the highest quality/paid themes.
• I don’t think prices will skyrocket any more than they already have – except for completely custom themes.

Designers will likely suffer, while bloggers will enjoy the wide array of quality themes available.

The past eight (or so) months of ‘premium themes’.
Could the fall already be well underway?  Or is a new spike about to take place? 

Just a year ago, no one could have imagined the escalation of the WordPress theme community that it is today.  Whatever is in store for the next year is sure to keep everyone ready to meet new demands and more blogging opportunities.