Case Study - Shopify

Canadian online commerce giant Shopify was founded in 2006 by two snowboarding enthusiasts. Originally an online snowboard shop, Shopify pivoted into e-commerce software when the founders couldn’t find what they were looking for online: namely, a platform for users to sell goods while simultaneously growing their brand in the digital space.

At the heart of Shopify’s success is its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. The Shopify platform offers online retailers a suite of services, including payments, marketing, shipping, and customer-engagement tools. In other words, Shopify offers Interfaces for most aspects of its platform and offers that platform to any e-commerce enterprise. Any business can leverage those assets, including warehousing and distribution as a service.

As of May 2023, sellers had created more than 4.4 million e-commerce stores in 175 countries on Shopify, with a total gross merchandise volume of more than $50 billion USD per quarter. The platform even boasts an app marketplace, which turns Shopify into a full ecosystem of third-party functions. Today, you can set up an e-commerce store on Shopify in fewer than 30 minutes.

Shopify has mastered Interfaces. By automating services on both the supply side and demand side of their e-commerce offerings, they can scale infinitely (and seem to be doing so).