Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It is also the name of its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems.
Shopify offers online retailers a suite of services “including payments, marketing, shipping and customer engagement tools to simplify the process of running an online store for small merchants.”
The company reports that it has more than 377,500 active stores in 175 countries, and has processed more than $155 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) through its platform as of December 2019.
Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Lütke used the open source web application framework Ruby on Rails to build Snowdevil’s online store, and then launched Shopify in 2006 to make it available to other retailers.
Is Shopify Worth the Cost?
Shopify is a great platform for small businesses and entrepreneurs who are looking to start an online store. The company offers a suite of services that make it easy to run an online store, including payments, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement tools. Shopify also offers a 14-day free trial so you can try out the platform before you commit to a paid plan. There are three main types of plans available: Basic Shopify ($29/month), Shopify ($79/month), and Advanced Shopify ($299/month).
If you’re just starting out, the Basic Shopify plan is a great option. But if you’re looking for more features and customization options, you may want to consider the higher-priced plans. Overall, Shopify is a great platform with plenty of features to help you succeed online.
