Shopify
A platform that lets any business set up and run its own online store.
Shopify is a Canadian company, based in Ottawa, that lets anyone open an online store without writing code. It was founded in 2006 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake. It started almost by accident: they wanted to sell snowboards online, found the existing tools frustrating, and Lütke, a programmer, built their own. The software turned out to be the real business.
With Shopify you pick a design, upload your products and prices, and get a store with its own domain name. The platform handles the hard parts: the checkout, payments by card and wallet including its own Shop Pay, taxes, inventory, shipping labels and a card reader for selling in person. Thousands of apps from other companies plug in for email marketing, reviews or accounting. It charges a monthly subscription plus a cut of payments.
The key difference from a marketplace like Amazon or Mercado Libre is ownership. On a marketplace you sell inside someone else's store, next to your competitors, and the customer belongs to the platform. On Shopify the store, the brand and the customer list are yours; the trade-off is that you have to bring the visitors yourself. It serves everyone from one-person shops to large global brands.
Keep in mind
- Canadian company founded in 2006; based in Ottawa.
- Lets businesses build their own online store without programming.
- Handles checkout, payments, inventory, shipping and in-person sales.
- Unlike a marketplace, the store and the customer relationship belong to the seller.
