You’re probably aware that Shopify is a big deal. Every day, millions of merchants use it. It has developed from a small Canadian startup to a colossal ecommerce platform on a global scale. But just how giant is Shopify Inc.? In this post, we’ll examine current Shopify sales, statistics, and growth potential to demonstrate the company’s triumphs and challenges over time.
The goal is to clarify the details behind the buzz while also informing you about the platform that so many merchants have entrusted with their whole enterprises.
As fresh Shopify income, usage, and growth numbers come in, we’ll do our best to keep this post updated, and we’ll continue to provide you with the most up-to-date statistics possible. So continue reading to learn everything there is to know about Shopify revenue, usage statistics, and more!
Top Shopify Facts and Figures
Although the following sections go into great length on Shopify revenue and usage statistics, here are a few key facts and figures to help you understand Shopify better:
- In 2021, Shopify’s sales were $3.231 billion, up to 86 per cent from the previous two years.
- In 2021, the total value of transactions executed through Shopify stores was $79.5 billion.
- Over 1.75 million merchants use Shopify as their primary online selling platform.
- Over 457 million people visited Shopify stores and made purchases.
- The Shopify App Store has over 7,000 apps.
- In its Theme Store, Shopify offers over 100 themes, each with three to four variations.
- Over 7,000 employees are employed or contracted by Shopify.
- Shopify was founded in 2004 by three Canadians. They started it as a startup experiment in Ottawa, Canada, after having lousy shipping cart experiences for snowboarding equipment.
- In the United States, Shopify’s ecommerce platform market share has climbed to 32 per cent. The only other ecommerce platform that comes close to that market share is WooCommerce. All other competitors, such as Bigcommerce, Magento, Wix, and Squarespace, are beaten by Shopify.
- According to experts, Shopify’s affiliate network, which pays affiliates an average of $58 per new paid customer, is credited with much of the company’s success.
- The Shopify Financials page is our primary source, written by Shopify CFO Amy Shapero and Shopify President Harley Finkelstein.
Highlights of Shopify’s Revenue
In the third quarter of 2021, Shopify’s revenue was $1.124 billion.
Source: ycharts
When the first and second-quarter revenue reports were added together, total Shopify revenue for 2021 reached $3.231 billion, making it the company’s highest-earning year ever.
Total income generated by Shopify
Source: Shopify
Shopify’s revenue climbed by 57% over the previous year. However, it wasn’t until 2021 that Shopify’s quarterly revenue surpassed a billion dollars.
Over the last few years, Shopify’s revenue has consistently increased, often more than tripling its prior year’s performance:
- $3.2 billion in 2021
- $2.9 billion in 2020
- $1.6 billion in 2019
- $1.1 billion in 2018
- $673.3 million in 2017
- $389.3 million in 2016
- $205.2 million in 2015
Recurring Monthly Shopify Revenue
Shopify categorizes recurring income as a subset of total revenue since it includes merchant subscription fees paid every month. They arrive at this figure by multiplying the monthly subscription cost by the total number of merchants actively using the system.
The $98.8 million in recurring revenue at the end of Q3 2021 was up from $82.61 million in 2020. Although substantially lower than total sales, this is a figure that Shopify considers maintaining steady cash flow and merchant growth.
Source: MarketplacePulse
Here’s a look at how monthly recurring Shopify revenue has changed over the years:
- $98.8 million in 2021
- $82.6 million in 2020
- $53.9 million in 2019
- $40.9 million in 2018
- $29.9 million in 2017
- $18.5 million in 2016
- $11.3 million in 2015
Gross Merchandise Volume
The dollar amount of merchandise sales numbers for all Shopify stores is used to calculate gross merchandise volume. These figures don’t directly contribute to Shopify’s full-year income (because the money went to merchants), but they demonstrate the rise of payment processing revenue and usage from Shopify’s perspective.
Shopify claimed a gross merchandise volume of $121.3 billion at the end of 2021, implying that the company enabled that much money in transactions for merchants. That’s up from $119.6 in 2020, though not quite as much as the jump from 2019 to 2020. (Where they saw a 40 per cent increase).
GMV was $41.8 billion in the most recent quarter (not the entire year).
Source: Marketplacepulse
Previous year’s total gross merchandise volume includes:
- $1.13 billion in 2021
- $119.6 billion in 2020
- $61.1 billion in 2019
- $41.1 billion in 2018
- $26.3 billion in 2017
- $15.4 billion in 2016
- $7.7 billion in 2015
Regional Shopify Revenue
Shopify investigates merchant locations to see where its revenue comes from. Given that they only focus on continents and already know that North America generates most of the income, it’s a rather broad look into regional revenue (primarily the United States).
North America accounts for 73 per cent of Shopify’s sales, with 56 per cent of its merchants based there.
Other sources of income include the following:
- EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) accounts for 16% of the company’s revenue.
- APAC (Asia Pacific, Australia, and China) accounts for 10% of the company’s revenue.
- LATAM (Latin America) accounts for 1% of total revenue.
The following are the income breakdowns from each region, according to the most recent reporting:
- $2.2 billion in North America
- $454.3 million in EMEA
- APAC: $292.2 million
- $36.1 million in Latin America
Shopify Revenue for Subscription Solutions
Any subscription payments, such as platform subscription fees, themes, apps, domains, and POS Pro fees, are included in Shopify income for “subscription solutions.” It’s a unique revenue breakdown that allows investors to see how Shopify produces money.
Shopify reported $336.3 million in subscription solutions sales in Q3 2021, with a total of $654.9 million for the previous two quarters combined, for $991.2 million in subscription solutions revenue in 2021.
Source: MarketplacePulse
This represents an increase in subscription solutions income over the previous year, and it’s apparent that this segment of Shopify’s company has increased over time:
- $991.2 million in 2021
- $908.7 million in 2020
- $642.2 million in 2019
- $465 million in 2018
- $310 million in 2017
- $188.6 million in 2016
- $111.9 million in 2015
Shopify Revenue for Merchant Solutions
Shopify Payments provides payment processing services to many of its merchants, categorizing them as “merchant solutions” in its financial reports. Advertising revenue, referral fees, and point-of-sale hardware purchases are part of the merchant solutions revenue. This combines the company’s income from non-recurring services that help merchants.
Surprisingly, merchant solutions account for approximately 68.9% of Shopify’s total revenue, owing to the steady inflow of payment processing fees. In 2021, merchant solutions generated $2.287 billion in revenue.
The final quarterly report for the third quarter of 2021 was 787.5 million dollars.
Source: MarketplacePulse
The number of merchant solutions has increased over time, like the revenue from subscription solutions:
- $2.287 billion in 2021
- $2.02 billion in 2020
- $933.9 million in 2019
- $608.2 million in 2018
- $363.3 million in 2017
- 2016: $200.7 million
- $93.25 million in 2015
Revenue and Growth Prospects for Shopify in the Future
Shopify has stated in recent reports that it plans to continue growing in future years, but at a slower rate than in 2020. Various variables, including the COVID pandemic, pushed sales significantly higher over that period, and things are now levelling out.
Here’s what Shopify has to say about the future:
- As they employ additional engineers, expand into more commercial skills, and better marketing, they foresee a substantial increase in gross profit dollars shortly.
- Adjusted operating income is predicted to be greater in 2021 than in 2020.
- The fourth quarter is traditionally the most profitable quarter of the year, and Shopify expects this pattern to continue.
- Due to more global merchants joining the Shopify platform, Shopify expects revenue growth in the subscriptions solutions area to prosper.
- They estimate future growth rates (in percentage terms) of merchant and subscriptions solutions to be closer to each other than the higher numbers shown in 2020, which were higher due to the COVID pandemic’s spike in online (and offline) entrepreneurs. 2020 was a one-off, and they don’t expect it to happen again.
- GMV growth from new merchants joining up, current merchants, and emerging product offerings like Shopify Shipping and Shopify Capital will drive growth in the merchant solutions sector.
Shopify Usage and Traffic Statistics
This section considers market share, traffic, and usage statistics.
Shopify Market Share
Market share can be calculated in various ways, so it all relies on how we look at it. One technique compares Shopify merchants to merchants selling on other marketplaces and factors in gross merchandise volume. This gives the impression that Shopify is a marketplace in and of itself, which isn’t entirely accurate. Still, it is a valuable metric, given that many businesses exclusively sell on Amazon and eBay.
Shopify stores in the United States account for 8.6% of the total market share in gross merchandise volume.
Here’s how that compares:
- Amazon has a 39% discount.
- Shopify has an 8.6% market share.
- 5.8 per cent at Walmart
- 4.9 per cent on eBay
- 3.5 per cent for Apple
Analysing online retailers’ most common commerce platforms is another technique to look at market share. Shopify recently surpassed WooCommerce to become the most popular ecommerce platform in the United States:
- Shopify has a 32 per cent market share.
- WooCommerce is responsible for 22% of all sales.
- 14 per cent for Wix Stores
- Squarespace’s Add To Cart rate is 11%.
- Ecwid has a 5% commission.
- 16 per cent other
- Oberlo is the source.
Number of Shopify Sites
The United States accounts for 69.67 per cent of Shopify sites. In addition, the Shopify ecommerce platform is currently used by over 3.76 million live websites worldwide.
Source: BuiltWith
With 153k and 99k sites, respectively, the United Kingdom and Australia are the second and third most popular Shopify destinations. As you can see, Shopify caters to US merchants for most of its market share.
The biggest concentration of Shopify-created websites is found among merchants in the following countries:
- 2.5 million people in the United States
- 153k in the United Kingdom
- 99k in Australia
- 91k in Canada
- 76k in Germany
- 58k in France
- Brazil has 43k people.
- 33k in the Netherlands
- India has 31k people.
- Italy: 25,000
On the other side, Shopify Plus (the enterprise version of Shopify) has a significantly narrower global reach. That’s partly because Shopify Plus is a newer addition to the Shopify product selection and partly because most small and medium-sized online companies don’t require it. Over 6,000 online websites are powered by Shopify Plus, most of which are in the United States.
The following is a list of the top nations with live Shopify Plus sites:
- 5.5k in the United States
- 600+ in the United Kingdom
- 400+ in Canada
- 400+ in Australia
- 100+ in Germany
- 100+ in France
- 60+ in the Netherlands
- 50+ in New Zealand
- Denmark: 40 and up
- 40+ in Spain
Number of Shopify Merchants
Shopify now has 1.749 million merchants, an increase of over 680,000 merchants from the record-breaking growth of 2020.
Source: Marketplacepulse
The Bed Bath & Beyond Kitchen Store, with over $7.2 million in annual income, Chipotle Farmers Market, with $3.2 million in revenue, and the Code Academy Shop, with $2.6 million in annual revenue, are among the top revenue-generating Shopify sites. The Carnival Cruise Line Merch Shop, the Thought Catalog Store, and The Points Guy Shop are other strong possibilities.
Source: BuiltWith
Nokia’s India Mobile Shop, which generates over $27 million per year; Taylor Swift’s website, which generates over $2.7 million per year; and the Chronicle Higher Education store, which generates $7.1 million per year, are among the top revenue-generating Shopify Plus sites.
Regional Shopify Merchants
Given that merchants from all of these countries use Shopify in some capacity, Shopify considers 175 nations home. Over 874K traders are from the United States, accounting for 50%.
With 437K merchants, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa account for 25% of all merchants. With 262K businesses, the Asia Pacific, Australia, and China area accounts for 15% of all Shopify merchants. Canada has a smaller number, which is unexpected given that Shopify was started there. With 104K vendors, Canadian merchants make up 6% of the entire merchant count, while Latin America is at the bottom of the list with 69.9K dealers (4 per cent).
Shopify Stores Have many Customers
Do you ever wonder how many people visit Shopify stores and shop there?
According to Shopify, 457 million visitors visited stores and purchased something.
This occurred in 2020, with consumer expenditure up 52.33 per cent over the previous year.
Buyers on Shopify in 2019 totalled 300 million. In 2018, they had 216 million visitors, up from 163 million in 2017.
Shopify has many apps and themes.
Shopify’s Theme Store hasn’t grown all that much, instead of focusing on curating a library of high-quality themes with many style variations. Shopify, in essence, has a selection of 100 themes that they update every year. Many of the themes have two or three style versions vastly different from the initial design; therefore, we’d say Shopify has around 300 different theme designs.
The App Store, on the other hand, is constantly expanding. Seven thousand apps are available for retailers to download and use on their Shopify stores in the Shopify App Store. There are twelve primary categories and numerous subcategories. What’s more, the Shopify App Store nearly increased its number of apps from 2019 to 2020. In 2019, they had only 3,700 apps.
In 2015, there were 900 apps in the Shopify App Store, 1,400 apps in 2016, 2,300 apps in 2017, and 2,500 apps in 2018.
How many employees does Shopify have?
Shopify said it would continue to hire more developers, engineers, marketing professionals, and contractors to grow its business. Shopify had 334 employees back in 2013. By the end of 2017, the number had risen to about 3,000, and by the end of 2019, it had risen to 5,000.
Shopify employs around 7,000 individuals, according to the latest recent data. This applies to both employees and independent contractors.
Shopify Business Advancements
Shopify revenue reports include more than just graphs, numbers, and figures about user counts and revenue growth. They also discuss current business developments that have contributed to revenue growth. This includes new goods, corporate partnerships, features, and even essential charity events.
Here are a few of the most recent Shopify business developments that affect overall revenue reports:
- Shopify Markets, a platform that helps all of its merchants tap into cross-border client interactions, was built and launched by Shopify. It essentially gives a customized experience for new markets, such as if a merchant wishes to create a website specifically for Germans or one with Italian content. All Shopify Markets websites are consolidated into one consistent display on the Shopify dashboard.
- Shopify has launched a TikTok checkout option that allows businesses to link a TikTok account and link back to their online store from TikTok postings.
- For musicians who wish to integrate their Spotify accounts with their stores, Shopify has launched a Spotify channel.
- Following 2021, Shopify introduced more favourable terms to app developers.
- They expanded Shopify’s shipping services to the United Kingdom.
- Shopify has launched a physical presence in New York City to provide businesses with hands-on experience learning about Shopify goods, hardware, software solutions, and more.
- Shopify Capital expanded its lending programme to include $393.6 million in business loans.
- With the Android system, Shopify released a wholly redesigned POS Pro software.
- Shopify has launched its new Shopify Balance offering, a merchant money management solution. It provides a consolidated dashboard for merchants to access their cash and a card for spending and rewards for using that card for business purposes.
- Product bundling, tracking of inbound transfer shipments, and regional tax options were the new features added to the Shopify Fulfillment Network.
- Shopify’s Global ERP Program, which allows ERP partners more comprehensive access to the app store and direct integrations, has created waves. In essence, it allows larger firms such as Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft, and Acumatica to develop and integrate their solutions within the Shopify ecosystem. This is primarily intended to assist high-volume merchants who wish to improve their daily data and workflow control.
