In this article, we will discuss the latest Shopify statistics for this year.
To help you stay updated with real facts and trends about this platform.
Shopify powers more than 1.7 million businesses and it is the second-largest online retailer in the United States after Amazon.
You see, it is no surprise that Shopify keeps growing yearly and as the world continues to embrace eCommerce.
With over 20% of e-commerce stores worldwide hosted on Shopify, it’s no wonder these statistics are so important for merchants who want to succeed on the world stage of e-commerce.
Let’s dive into it!
General Shopify Statistics
1. Shopify had its billionth order in 2018.
(Source: Shopify & You)
For any e-commerce company, a billion orders is a significant number. After all, some companies never reach this number.
Shopify had its billionth order 12 years after the company was founded.
2. Shopify is the second-largest online retailer in the United States after Amazon.
(Source: Observer)
According to sales data, Shopify overtook eBay to become the second-largest online retailer in the United States after Amazon.
This means Shopify merchants made more sales than eBay.
3. Shopify was founded in 2006.
(Source: The Globe and Mail)
The company was founded by Tobias Lutke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake as an online store for snowboarding equipment.
At the time, they couldn’t find an online store with the right features to sell their products, so they built one.
Tobias Lutke, a computer programmer, built an online store, Snowdevil, to sell their snowboarding equipment.
The platform officially launched as Shopify in June 2006.
4. On April 14, 2015, Shopify filed for its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange.
(Source: Shopify)
About 9 years after Shopify was founded, the company filed for its initial public offering (IPO). At its IPO, Shopify sold its shares at $17 apiece.
This raised the company’s valuation to $1.27 billion. In total, Shopify raised $131 million in its IPO.
When Shopify went public a month later, its share prices had risen to $28 apiece. Today, those shares are worth $1,482 apiece, and the company is worth $184 billion.
The company uses the symbol “SHOP” on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Shopify Usage Statistics
5. Shopify powers more than 1.7 million businesses.
(Source: Shopify Partners)
There are over 1.7 million merchants on Shopify. These merchants run businesses across various industries.
6. Shopify is available in 175 countries.
(Source: Shopify)
To be a global company, you need a high number of nationalities present as employees and customers. Merchants from 175 countries use Shopify to sell their products.
This makes Shopify a truly global company.
7. Mobile devices account for 79% of traffic to Shopify stores.
(Source: Shopify and You)
Over the years, mobile devices have grown in the amount of traffic they account for.
On most websites, mobile devices account for more than half of the total traffic.
On Shopify, mobile devices are even more prominent. They account for 79% of the traffic to Shopify stores.
Beyond that, mobile devices account for 69% of orders on Shopify stores. Therefore, Shopify merchants must optimize their stores for mobile.
8. Shopify hosts 120,000 British businesses.
(Source: The Times)
After the United States, the United Kingdom is the second-largest Shopify market in terms of the number of merchants.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that the company hosts 120,000 British businesses.
9. Shopify Businesses had a 50% increase in online sales in 2019.
(Source: Statista)
According to Statista, Shopify stores had a 50% increase in online sales in 2019. This is more than double the 21% increase of the global e-commerce market.
10. More than half of Shopify stores get repeat purchases.
(Source: Shopify)
Without repeat purchases, it’s difficult for an e-commerce store to survive and thrive. Fortunately, more than half of Shopify stores get repeat purchases from customers.
In addition, shoppers buy 3.8 times on average from the same store.
Beyond that, over 62 million shoppers (over 14% of shoppers) have purchased from the same store twice.
11. The average Shopify conversion rate is 1.6%.
(Source: Littledata)
Shopify conversion rate is the percentage of visitors you convert into customers. According to a study by Littledata, the average Shopify conversion rate is 1.6%.
However, if you manage a conversion rate of 3.6% or higher, that will put you in the top 20% while 5.1% or higher will put you in the top 10%.
12. Checkouts through Shop Pay convert 1.72 times higher than regular checkouts.
(Source: Shopify)
Shop Pay is Shopify’s checkout method that saves shoppers’ information and makes checkout faster. It was launched in 2017 and is used regularly by 40 million buyers on Shopify stores.
In a study by Shopify, when shoppers used Shop Pay, it led to 1.72 times higher checkout-to-order rate than regular checkouts.
When analyzed across devices, Shop Pay led to 1.56 times higher conversions than regular checkouts on desktop and 1.91 times higher conversions on mobile.
Shopify Plus Statistics
13. More than 10,000 businesses use Shopify Plus.
Shopify Plus is the enterprise version of Shopify. On this plan, businesses have access to more features that can increase conversions and revenue.
Currently, over 10,000 businesses use Shopify Plus.
14. The Shopify Plus plan accounted for 25% of Shopify’s monthly recurring revenue in Q4 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
While a low percentage of stores on Shopify are on Shopify Plus, these stores contribute a lot to the company’s bottom line.
In Q4 2020, the Shopify Plus plan contributed 25% of Shopify’s monthly recurring revenue.
15. The three biggest industries on Shopify Plus are Retail, Apparel and Fashion, and Computer Software.
(Source: Enlyft)
When you look across e-commerce generally, these are industries that are bound to be popular. Therefore, it’s no surprise that they’re the most popular on Shopify’s enterprise plan.
To dissect the numbers, Retail accounts for 19% of industries on Shopify Plus, Apparel and Fashion account for 13%, while Computer Software rounds off the top 3 with 6%.
Overall, these 3 industries represent over a third of the businesses on Shopify Plus.
16. The most popular countries on Shopify Plus are the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
(Source: Enlyft)
Unsurprisingly, the United States has the highest number of stores on Shopify Plus.
But beyond that, stores from the country represent more than half of the total number of stores on Shopify Plus.
On this platform, the United States accounts for 63% of businesses.
The United Kingdom is the second most popular with 9% while Canada makes the third spot with 9%.
17. 60% of companies using Shopify Plus have fewer than 50 employees.
(Source: Enlyft)
Frankly, stores on Shopify Plus have to make a high amount of revenue to justify the subscription costs. But how does this translate to the number of employees in these stores?
Since many of these stores have little or no presence offline, it will result in a low number of employees compared to their company size.
On Shopify Plus, 60% of companies have fewer than 50 employees.
Shopify Website Statistics
18. Traffic from email converts most on Shopify.
(Source: Shopify)
For businesses, email marketing is one of the most effective marketing channels.
With just a simple Google search, you’ll find studies online about the ROI of email campaigns.
That trend is present on Shopify too.
To illustrate, traffic from email generates an average conversion rate of 4.29% on Shopify stores.
There are many reasons businesses derive great results from email marketing.
One reason is that email has a high level of reach, as your messages will likely land in subscribers’ inboxes.
Furthermore, personalized email sequences allow you to send offers about products a subscriber is interested in.
Consequently, this increases the chances of subscribers taking up your offers.
19. Shopify has over 4,200 apps.
(Source: Shopify & You)
Apps on Shopify help merchants execute vital tasks to keep their stores running smoothly.
For instance, these apps can help with store design, checkout design, marketing, accounting, and more.
Currently, there are over 4,200 apps that merchants can exploit for better business results.
20. 87% of merchants use Shopify apps.
(Source: Shopify & You)
To underline the significance of Shopify apps, 87% of merchants use them. Furthermore, an average merchant uses 6 apps on their Shopify store.
21. Shopify has traffic of 57.4 million visitors in the past 6 months.
(Source: SimilarWeb)
For a site as popular as Shopify, this amount of traffic shouldn’t come as a surprise. When you consider visits from merchants and partners, this figure makes sense.
22. Shopify has a bounce rate of 56.42% in the past 6 months.
(Source: SimilarWeb)
The bounce rate is the percentage of people who visit a single page before leaving the website. Average bounce rates vary across industries.
And the definition of what a good bounce rate should be depends on your business.
Having said that, the lower the bounce rate, the better.
Therefore, a bounce rate of 60% is always better than a bounce rate of 90%. At 56.42%, Shopify’s bounce rate is on the average to the low side.
23. Shopify has paid over $850,000 to ethical hackers.
(Source: HackerOne)
For its bug bounty program between 2015 and 2018, Shopify thanked over 300 ethical hackers and paid over $850,000 to them for their findings. Shopify took this move to find vulnerabilities in its platform and fix them before criminals exploit them.
24. Shopify has 3 user pricing plans.
(Source: Shopify)
If you’re a merchant looking to begin a store on Shopify, what are your options in terms of subscription costs?
Shopify has 3 user plans you can select depending on your budget and needs.
These plans are:
- Shopify Basic plan which costs $29 monthly. If you’re not using Shopify Payments, you’ll pay a 2% fee for payment processing.
- Shopify Standard plan which costs $79 monthly. On this plan, the fees drop to 1%.
- Shopify Advanced plan which costs $299 monthly. Here, the fees for payments drop even further to 0.5%.
You can check Shopify’s pricing page to get more details about each plan before picking one.
Shopify Financial Statistics
25. Shopify generated an estimated annual revenue of $2.93 billion in 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
In terms of revenue, Shopify enjoyed a great year in 2020.
The company’s revenue in 2020 was higher than $1.58 billion and $1.07 billion generated in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
In fact, Shopify’s revenue in 2020 represented an 85% increase compared to 2019. What’s responsible for Shopify almost doubling its revenue within a year?
One big factor was the COVID 19 pandemic.
As most people were in lockdown, they shifted their shopping online. This led to a boost in revenue for Shopify merchants and, consequently, Shopify.
26. Shopify had a gross profit of $1.54 billion in 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
After accounting for the cost of revenue, Shopify had a gross profit of $1.54 billion in 2020.
In comparison, the company had a gross profit of $865 million and $596 million in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
27. Shopify had total operating expenses of $1.45 billion in 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
For the smooth running of any company, there will be expenses. These expenses can range from employees’ salaries to overhead costs.
This value is higher than $1.01 billion and $688 million that Shopify spent in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
28. Shopify spent $602 million on sales and marketing in 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
No matter how big or popular your company may be, you still need to invest in sales and marketing.
After all, every company wants to increase its customer base, revenue, and profits.
In 2020, Shopify spent $602 million on its sales and marketing campaigns. This is higher than $472 million and $350 million spent in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
29. Shop Pay has processed over $8 billion in sales.
(Source: Shopify)
Shop Pay is Shopify’s checkout system for merchants. Sellers on the platform can choose to use this or their regular checkouts.
As of 2020, Shop Pay has processed over $8 billion in sales. Considering the amount spent on Shopify, Shop Pay still has a long way to go in adoption.
30. For every $1 of revenue Shopify makes, Shopify merchants make $40.82.
(Source: Shopify)
Since Shopify is only a platform, it will make more when merchants also make more. On average, Shopify makes $1 when merchants on the platform make $40.82.
31. Shopify’s monthly recurring revenue increased by 48% year-over-year in Q3 2020.
(Source: The Motley Fool)
At the height of COVID 19 in Q3 2020, Shopify had a record monthly recurring revenue of $74.4 million.
This was a 48% year-over-year increase compared to the same period in 2019.
Apart from the pandemic, a significant contributor to this revenue was the 90-day free trial Shopify offered new merchants during the period.
Shopify Merchants Statistics
32. Shopify merchants generated over $307 billion in global economic impact in 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
While the global economy suffered a downfall because of the pandemic, Shopify merchants increased their global economic impact in 2020.
In fact, their global economic impact increased by 125% compared to $136 billion in 2019.
This type of growth is not so surprising as many people had to shop online for their basic needs.
33. Shopify merchants created 3.6 million jobs in 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
To run their businesses effectively, Shopify merchants have to employ other people for their production and logistics.
In some cases, the need to employ more people arises as a merchant’s business expands.
As a result of the boom in e-commerce in 2020, Shopify merchants had to provide more direct and indirect employment.
Overall, Shopify merchants created 3.6 million jobs in 2020.
This was a 67% growth compared to 2019 when Shopify merchants generated 2.1 million jobs.
34. Shopify merchants generated $5.8 billion in developing nations in 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
Compared to developed countries, merchants in developing nations have bigger challenges getting their products to customers.
A platform like Shopify provides an opportunity to reach potential customers.
In 2020, Shopify merchants in developing countries generated gross merchandise value (GMV) of $5.8 billion.
This is a 70% increase compared to the $3.4 billion they generated in 2019.
Shopify partners statistics
35. Shopify Partners generated $12.5 billion in revenue in 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
Shopify Partners provide services to help Shopify merchants get the best out of their online store.
Therefore, partners include app developers, web designers, marketers, accountants, photographers, and more.
By providing these services, Shopify Partners generated $12.5 billion in revenue in 2020.
36. 26,400 Shopify partners referred a merchant between 2019 and 2020.
(Source: Shopify)
Since Shopify Partners provide services to merchants, it’s beneficial to them if more merchants are on Shopify.
Again, merchants will likely engage the services of the partner that referred them.
But most importantly, people will likely refer to a platform to other people because they trust the platform.
Therefore, this statistic is a positive one for Shopify.
Shopify Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Shopify Stats
What percentage of Shopify stores fail?
Many more stores fail on Shopify than succeed. There are estimates online that 95% of Shopify stores fail.
Although this number is not from Shopify or any reliable study, many businesses fail on Shopify due to various reasons.
How much does the average Shopify store make per customer?
Shopify stores make an average revenue of $72 per customer. This is according to a study conducted by Littledata.
What percentage of e-commerce is Shopify?
Currently, Shopify hosts 20% of e-commerce stores, according to BuiltWith. WooCommerce comes in at the top spot with 28%, while Magento is third with a 9% share of e-commerce websites.
What percentage of Shopify stores are successful?
A low percentage of Shopify stores are successful.
Going by estimates online, only 5% of Shopify stores are successful.
However, these estimates are not from Shopify, nor are they backed by reliable studies.
What they can tell you is that a lower percentage of Shopify stores succeed compared to those that fail.
Why do most dropshippers fail?
There are many reasons most dropshippers fail.
Some of them are:
- Having no business plan
- Choosing the wrong niche products to sell
- Choosing the wrong e-commerce platform
- Having poor website design which makes it difficult for shoppers to find products and checkout.
- Lack of investment
- Bad customer support
Of course, not all these factors have to be present for a dropshipper to fail. In some cases, a single factor can be enough to ruin a dropshipping business.
Why do most Shopify stores fail?
Shopify stores fail for many reasons. Sometimes, it’s a combination of a few of these reasons.
Some reasons are:
- Having no business plan
- Poorly optimized website for mobile devices
- Choosing the wrong product niche
- High shipping cost
- Poor product marketing
- Poor website design
- Bad customer service
- Poor customer retention
There are even more reasons, and you must pay attention to these issues to increase your chances of success.
Is Shopify profitable in 2021?
Shopify is still very much profitable in 2021.
However, you have to follow the best practices to set up and run a profitable Shopify store.
It is possible to make money with Shopify, as long as you have good products and an effective marketing strategy.
You need:
- good prices
- a good product mix
- effective advertising on social media platforms or other sites where your target audience might be located such as search engine (SEO), Pinterest, Instagram, etc.
- actionable feedback from buyers that will help you improve the business for future customers.
Can you get rich from Shopify?
Of course, you can get rich from Shopify.
There are many case studies of businesses that have made 6 and 7 figures from their Shopify stores.
Unfortunately, this will take time, and you’ll have to get many things right.
Is buying a Shopify store worth it?
Well, it depends on many factors.
Is the Shopify store selling at a good price?
Can it deliver consistent profits soon?
Can you improve its weaknesses to make the store better for shoppers?
If the answer to these questions is yes, it’s worth buying the Shopify store. Otherwise, it’s a waste of your money.
How many Shopify stores are there in 2021?
There are over 1.7 million Shopify stores in 2021.
What does the average Shopify store make?
You can make as little as $1,000 monthly on Shopify or as much as $10,000 monthly. The average for Shopify stores will vary across different industries.
Furthermore, it depends on the products you sell, how you market them, shipping costs, and more.
Conclusion
This post has provided you with awesome insights and helpful Shopify stats to help you understand how they work and what kind of information is available to use so that you can make better decisions about your business strategy moving forward.
They will also inspire you to grow your business on Shopify, improve your ecommerce sales conversion rates and customer retention.
I hope this article has been helpful to understanding shopify statistics as well as providing some interesting numbers and facts about e-commerce.
If there’s anything else I’m missing or would be helpful to add, please let me know!
Check out my other Statistics round up:
