Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It is also the name of its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Shopify offers online retailers a suite of services “including payments, marketing, shipping and customer engagement tools to simplify the process of running an online store for small merchants.
Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Snowdevil was closed after two months because the founders did not know how to build a website. Lütke, Weinand, and Lake then decided to make their own software, which eventually led to the creation of Shopify.
The company reports that it has more than 800,000 merchants using its platform, with gross merchandise volume exceeding $40 billion in 2017.
First and foremost, it is important to be aware that Shopify is a subscription-based service. This means that businesses will be required to pay a monthly fee in order to use the platform. Additionally, there are also transaction fees that will be charged on each sale made through the Shopify platform.
While the fees associated with using Shopify can be considered relatively reasonable, it is important to keep in mind that they can add up over time. For businesses that are just starting out, the monthly fee may not be a big deal. However, for businesses that are already established and making sales, the fees can start to eat into profits.
Another potential risk to be aware of is that Shopify can be subject to outages and downtime. This means that businesses relying on the platform may not be able to take orders or fulfill customer requests during these times. While Shopify does its best to minimize downtime, it is
Shopify has been praised for its ease of use, with some users saying it is “the best ecommerce platform” they have used. The company has also been criticized for its lack of certain features and for not being as “open” as other ecommerce platforms.
What is Shopify’s business model?
Shopify’s business model is based on providing an easy-to-use ecommerce platform for businesses of all sizes. The company makes money by charging merchants a monthly fee and a transaction fee on sales. Shopify also offers other services such as payments, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement tools.
