If you shop online, have an online store, or have dabbled with eCommerce, you’ll either have used or heard about Shopify.
ECommerce is rapidly growing in popularity and is projected to keep growing. The 2020 COVID-19 outbreak only highlighted the flexibility and convenience of eCommerce as quarantined and self-isolating shoppers around the world kept consuming from the safety of their homes. Now that businesses are increasingly moving to a digital selling approach and more consumers are flocking to online stores rather than brick and mortar stores, Shopify is ubiquitous.
As a Shopify Partner, the team here at Konstruct has years of experience working with eCommerce stores of all kinds, including Shopify. Specializing in Shopify SEO (check out our Shopify SEO guide), over the years, we’ve kept an eye on how Shopify is developing.
For such an important player in the eCommerce realm, we thought it would be worthwhile to round up some interesting Shopify facts and key Shopify statistics. Show, don’t tell, right?!
Facts About Shopify
Shopify is a Canadian eCommerce platform and solution. With its user-friendly interface, Shopify significantly lowered the bar of entry for entrepreneurs and existing business owners who wanted to start an eCommerce store.
However, the co-founder of Shopify didn’t set out to create one of the leading eCommerce platforms. In 2004, Tobias Lütke and his business partner were looking to start an eCommerce store for their snowboard company. Lütke found the existing eCommerce tools available so underwhelming and frustrating to work with that he decided to put his skills as a software developer to use and build his own eCommerce platform.
Soon, the demand for the eCommerce platform surpassed the demand for snowboard gear and Shopify as we know it today was founded in 2006. Well, sort of. At its inception, Jaded Pixel, as the company was named back then, only offered customizable eCommerce store builder templates. Today, Shopify provides a full solution with payment, shipping, distribution, along with mobile and social selling options.
As a company, Shopify has seen incredible growth over the years. Let’s have a look at some current Shopify data to get a sense of the size of the company.
- 16 offices around the world (Shopify)
- 1 physical location in Los Angeles (TechCrunch)
- 4,000+ employees (Shopify)
- In 2019, the Shopify platform held a 20% market share (Pagely)
- In the US, Shopify is the 3rd largest online retailer behind Amazon and eBay (Shopify & You)
- Shopify is the fastest growing online store builder in the world (WebsiteToolTester)
- Shopify is the most searched eCommerce solution (WebsiteToolTester)
- In 2019, Shopify reported annual total revenue of $1.57 billion, up by 47% from the previous year (Marketing Land)
- Shopify’s total sales volume (gross merchandise volume/GMV) in 2019 totalled $61 billion. (Shopify)
- Shopify’s merchant solutions revenue grew by 53% in 2019, driven by an increase in transactions. (Shopify)
Shopify Store Stats
Next up, let’s have a look at some stats about the Shopify stores. If you’re considering starting an eCommerce store, you’d probably want to know how much the average Shopify store makes and how many people use Shopify.
Because of the diversity of businesses that use Shopify, it can be difficult to give a definitive answer. Case in point, Shopify powers eCommerce for large brands such as Hasbro, The Economist, Heinz, Penguin Books, Budweiser, BBC, Red Bull, and many more.
Rest assured, though, we have rounded up answers to all of your burning questions!
- There are over 1,000,000 Shopify shops to date (Shopify)
- 500,000 active stores (Ecommerce Platforms)
- Merchants in over 175 countries (Shopify)
- 1,000,000 stores use Shopify POS (point-of-sale) (Shopify)
- Over 80% of merchants on Shopify sell physical goods exclusively (Shopify)
- Shopify is available in 20 different languages (Shopify)
- In 2019, the Shopify merchants who achieved $1M+ in gross merchandise volume (GMV) increased by 44% (Shopify)
- Across Shopify stores, the average revenue per customer is US$72 (Littledata)
- Shopify merchants have spent more than $100 million in the Shopify app store on 12+ million Shopify apps (Shopify & You)
- On average, each Shopify merchant has installed 6 apps (Shopify & You)
- There are now over 7,000 Shopify plus stores, Shopify’s enterprise platform (WebsiteBuilders)
Who are Shopify Merchants?
- With 52%, there are slightly more female Shopify merchants. (Shopify)
- Most Shopify merchants (37.5%) are between 25-34 years old. (Shopify)
One of the most common questions about Shopify is: can Shopify make your rich? This question is closely followed by: can dropshipping make you rich? So, let’s look into dropshipping for a minute. Unlike a traditional eCommerce store where a merchant either sells goods they’ve made or have in inventory, dropshipping requires no initial investment to buy inventory. Instead, the merchant buys items from a third-party that ships directly to the customer. With dropshipping, the merchants never actually handle the stuff they sell!
The low initial cost and convenience have made dropshipping a popular online retail model. Shopify has dropshipping down to a tee and offers automated dropshipping services. While there are no Shopify-specific data available, many dropshippers use Shopify because the platform caters to this distribution model. Across the board, 27% of all eCommerce stores have adopted dropshipping. (eCommerce Platforms)
Shopify Online Shopping Statistics
With such a wide variety of stores and merchants around the world, Shopify has been able to glean some really interesting insights about country-specific differences among shoppers.
For example, Shopify customers in Germany are quickest to make online shopping decisions, with an average of 17.68 min from arriving at the store to checkout. Also, Shopify customers in Japan spend the most ($141.72) per average transaction.
Let’s look into some more online shopping statistics from Shopify stores.
- In 2019, 300 million consumers bought from Shopify merchants (Shopify)
- Over 62 million buyers worldwide are repeat Shopify customers (Shopify)
- Shopify buyers purchase 3.8 times on average from the same store (Shopify)
- The average order value on Shopify is $69 (Littledata)
- The average Shopify store conversion rate – the percentage of store visitors who make a purchase – is 1.6%. (Littledata)
- In 2019, Black Friday/Cyber Monday generated a record-breaking $2.9+ billion in sales in Shopify stores around the globe. At the peak of the online shopping frenzy, Shopify recorded $1.5 million per minute! (Shopify)
- Unsurprisingly, November is the most popular shopping month on Shopify (Shopify)
- Short but not that sweet, February is the least popular shopping month on Shopify (Shopify)
- 81% of Shopify users shop via mobile (WebsiteBuilders)
Shopify Bestsellers
What sells best on Shopify? Although there are some universal, top-selling products, interestingly, the top-selling products on Shopify also vary a lot from country to country. In their 2019 State of eCommerce report, Shopify shares some data on the top sellers worldwide and in specific countries.
- T-shirts and tops are the top-selling products worldwide.
- Vitamins are one of the top-selling products in most countries, but nowhere as popular as in New Zealand!
- Books, mobile phone cases, and shoes are other universally high-selling products around the world.
- In Germany, costumes and dance dresses are a top-selling product, while they barely make the top-50 elsewhere.
- In Japan, tea and knives perform better than other countries.
- Nail polish and face cleaning products are top-sellers in Singapore.
- In France, perfume and lingerie sell particularly well.
- Bracelets are in high-demand in Germany, France, the US, and Canada.
eCommerce Stats
Will Shopify continue to grow? If Shopify’s growth follows the projected growth trajectory of global eCommerce, then, yes!
At this point, it shouldn’t be surprising that more consumers are expected to make use of eCommerce shopping options. What is mind-blowing, though, is the increasing influence online shopping has on in-store shopping and the value eCommerce options represent. If you want to know more about how our digital and physical lives increasingly blend, check out this blog post.
- By 2021, estimates predict a whopping 2.14 billion online buyers – that’s about 25% of the world’s total projected population! (Oberlo)
- While in-store retail sales are still dominating, eCommerce is closing the gap. Worldwide, eCommerce makes up around 15% of retail sales. By 2021, eCommerce retail is expected to rise to 17.5% worldwide. (Oberlo)
- In the US alone, consumers spent $601.75 billion online in 2019, which is up by 15% compared to 2018. (Digital Commerce 360)
- The average eCommerce conversion rate is 2.86. That means that only 2.86% of online store visits translate into a purchase. (Oberlo)
- Online shoppers tend to spend more compared to in-store shoppers. The average online order is $75 compared to $62 for the average in-store order. (Shopify)
- 87% of shoppers start their product research online (Retail Dive)
- Interestingly, eCommerce influences 56% of in-store shopping decisions, as consumers increasingly (71%) use mobile devices to compare products online while browsing in-store (smallbizgenious; Retail Dive)
Bonus Fun Facts about Shopify
- Every minute, a new Shopify merchant has their first sale (Shopify & You)
- Shopify has paid 300+ ethical hackers more than $850,000 in bounties for help detecting insecurities with its data storage and eCommerce platform (HackerOne)
- Shopify has run a Build a Business competition on 6 occasions since 2010, one of the biggest content for online entrepreneurs (Product Habits, Shopify). Participants were competing fiercely
- In 2019, Shopify also branched out into the TV and movie business with Shopify Studios! (L.A. Biz)
Not Happy with Your Shopify Store Statistics?
If you are struggling with driving growth and marketing your Shopify store, you’re not alone!
Here are a last couple of stats for you: in a merchant survey, Shopify found that marketing continues to be the biggest challenge for their merchants. 30% of Shopify merchants say that marketing is one of their main challenges, closely followed by 22% who say they are struggling with building a brand.
As an entrepreneur or business owner, it can be tempting to try and do everything yourself. We get it – it can be difficult to trust your brand in someone else’s hands and that an investment in marketing will pay off on your bottom line.
At Konstruct, we’re committed to delivering results for all shapes and sizes of Shopify businesses. Check out our Shopify marketing services here. You can also cut right to the chase and contact us for a free consultation!
