Today we crossed a major milestone: 100,000 businesses now use Shopify to power their stores.
The first Shopify store was actually my own. Almost a decade ago, I wanted to sell snowboards online. The options for shopping carts were either extremely expensive, or painfully complicated. Eventually this frustration was channeled into creating Shopify. We set out on a mission: to make ecommerce easier and more affordable, so that anyone could start their own online store.
Shopify is now home to businesses from over 150 countries around the world. We host small mom-and-pop shops, big brands like Google and Tesla, and everything in between. To date, Shopify merchants have sold almost 4 billion dollars worth of products.
I’ve witnessed thousands of people accomplish life-long dreams of growing their own successful business, and nothing makes me happier. This is the best thing about working at Shopify: seeing all of the incredible things our community does with our platform.
Last year we launched Shopify Payments and Shopify POS, so that merchants have a fully integrated payment processor and can use Shopify in their physical retail store. This year we launched the new Shopify Mobile, that lets merchants accept credit card payments from a mobile phone. We now consider Shopify a retail operating system, a platform that allows a company to create and run their entire business using one system. Already, thousands of merchants run an online store, a physical retail store, pop-up shops, and more all using Shopify.
Together, we are defining the future of retail. The next chapter in commerce will be defined by the great merging: online, offline, mobile. It’s all just commerce now.
The trust that our merchants place in us is really humbling. To all our partners, Shopify Experts, app and theme developers, our employees, and most of all, to every person and business using Shopify: thank you.
Tobi Lütke
Founder, CEO, Shopify