The Complete Guide to Selling Successfully on Shopify in 2023
Shopify has grown to become one of the most popular ecommerce platforms, empowering entrepreneurs and small businesses to create thriving online stores. With simple setup, robust tools for marketing and management, and flexible scalability, it‘s no wonder Shopify now powers over 2 million merchants globally.
This comprehensive guide will explore key statistics about Shopify‘s explosive growth, strategies for selling successfully using the platform, and projections for the future of ecommerce. Whether you‘re just starting out or looking to improve an existing Shopify store, this advice will set you on the path toward online retail success.
A Brief History of Shopify
Founded originally in 2004 by founders Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake, Shopify at first set out to build snowboard shopping cart software. After pivoting to an online store platform targeting smaller merchants, Shopify launched in 2006 and quickly found a product-market fit.
Offering easy setup, custom templates, secure payments, and robust reporting, Shopify became the go-to solution for small ecommerce businesses. The company grew quickly, raising funding rounds and enriching its feature set over time.
Some key milestones:
2006: Shopify launches out of dev shop in Ottawa, Canada
2009: Shopify Mobile allows merchants to view & manage stores via smartphones
2010: The App Store launches with third-party integrations
2013: Shopify makes the Shopify Partners program available
2015: "Buy Button" allows selling through social & web channels beyond stores
2020: Shopify Fulfillment Network for storage, packing and shipping
2021: In-person POS systems integrate with online storefronts
Currently, Shopify powers over 2 million businesses from small crafters to major brands like GE, Budweiser, Tesla and Allbirds. With a full marketplace of apps plus third-party logistics support, Shopify aims to be the one-stop solution for retailers in the modern economy.
Why is Shopify So Popular? Benefits for Users
So what exactly makes Shopify so popular with entrepreneurs and established retailers alike? There are several key advantages that Shopify offers merchants:
Easy Setup & Use
Shopify prides itself on letting pretty much anyone launch an ecommerce store quickly. With simple sign-up using an email, users can choose a template, connect a payment provider, and instantly have a shop live online. The admin interface and CMS are intuitive, even for those with no web design or development skills.
Affordable & Scalable Pricing
Pricing starts free for basic stores and scales up based on features and sales volume from $29 to $299/month for the advanced "Shopify Plus" plan. There are no bandwidth or storage limits, so sites can scale from zero to billions in revenue.
Complete Management Platform
From checkout to shipping rates to tax calculations, Shopify handles all the complexities so sellers can focus simply on their products. Robust analytics and rich customer data help inform better decisions.
Top-Notch Security
Shopify takes responsibility for security measures like encryption, PCI compliance, firewalls and redundancy so merchants don‘t have to worry. Chargeback protection also shields retailers from fraud claims.
Abundant App Ecosystem
The Shopify App Store boasts over 6,500 apps covering everything from accounting to inventory and fulfillment to marketing. Users can customize their stores with these powerful extensions.
Omnichannel Sales
In addition to online checkout, Shopify offers POS hardware for brick-and-mortar sales plus "Buy Now" buttons for embedding onto websites, blogs, emails, and social media.
With these benefits in mind, it makes sense why millions of businesses choose Shopify for the foundation of their ecommerce presence.
Shopify By the Numbers: Key Statistics
To fully understand Shopify‘s explosive growth and just how many merchants rely on the platforms, let‘s take a look at some key statistics as of 2023:
- 2+ million active merchants and counting
- $200+ billion in sales facilitated since launch
- 30% of US ecommerce marketshare
- #1 most popular domain hosting ecommerce sites
- 70,000+ Shopify Partners assisting merchants
- 6,500+ apps in the Shopify App Store
- 600+ employees at Shopify working on R&D and releases
- 149 countries supported by Shopify Payments
- 26M+ products sold in 2022 alone!
Beyond the numbers, it‘s clear Shopify has captured lightning in a bottle, establishing itself as the retail platform of choice for sellers of all sizes.
And with the stunning growth of ecommerce overall, Shopify still likely has an enormous runway for user and revenue growth in the years ahead.
Strategies for Selling Successfully on Shopify
So now that we‘ve covered the history and increasing ubiquity of Shopify in modern retail, what does it actually take to sell successfully using Shopify?
While the platform makes launching an online store simple, building a profitable, sustainable business takes much more work. Here are some best practices for Shopify merchant success:
Choose High-Margin Niche Products
Rather than compete directly against Amazon and mega-retailers, new Shopify sellers are better served focusing on specialized offerings with healthy margins. This could be artisanal goods, customized merch, print-on-demand, or infusions into an existing industry.
Focus on Brand Building
Don‘t just set up a basic dropshipping storefront. Take the time to craft messaging, visuals, content and experiences that reflect the unique value of your products. This emotional connection drives loyal repeat customers.
Leverage Influencers & Affiliates
Collaborations with the right influencers, bloggers and media outlets expose your Shopify store to whole new demographics. Affiliate partnerships incentivize others to promote you.
Invest in High-Quality Photography
Showcase products in the very best light. Use lifestyle imagery that connects with customer aspirations and highlights all features/benefits.
Understand & Utilize Key Metrics
Shopify provides abundant sales, traffic and inventory data. But you must interpret and act upon this information to optimize listings, marketing spend, pricing and fulfillment.
Provide Excellent Customer Support
Customer experience is crucial not only to conversion but reputation and referrals. Offer quick, thoughtful and personal support during shopping and after purchase.
Automate Order Fulfillment
Minimize overhead and human error in order fulfillment through Shopify integrations like Oberlo for sourcing and dropshipping or Shopify Fulfillment Network for warehousing/shipping.
Mastering even a few of these best practices will set any Shopify merchant ahead of the pack. But the most successful sellers continually refine and iterate each area to scale their businesses.
Shopify‘s Role During the Ecommerce Boom
The COVID pandemic unexpectedly accelerated the growth of ecommerce years ahead of projections. As traditional retail temporarily shuttered physical locations, buying patterns shifted online rapidly.
Many categories like groceries, alcohol, home goods, and wellness products experienced 5-10x explosive growth in just months on existing marketplaces like Amazon and mass merchant dotcoms.
But savvy entrepreneurs also realized Shopify offered an easier entry point to capture demand in emerging categories like masks, sanitizers, home office products, and at-home fitness gear.
Between March 2020 and January 2022 alone:
- 2.9+ million new businesses signed on to Shopify
- $307 billion in sales processed on the platform
And Shopify rapidly adapted to support sellers in meeting demand during turbulent times:
- Local delivery & curbside pickup options
- Mobile POS systems for managing lines & wait lists
- Pop-up digital storefronts
- Fast shipping integrations
Thanks to Shopify‘s flexibility, over a million small businesses were able to stay afloat by pivoting to online channels while expanding product lines.
In many ways, Shopify actually democratized access to explosive ecommerce growth for retailers during an unprecedented economic shock. The platform made it simple for any motivated merchant to carve out a niche virtually overnight.
The Future of Ecommerce & Shopify
While growth has slowed from the lightning pace at COVID‘s peak, most experts agree ecommerce penetration still has a long runway ahead vs. traditional brick and mortar. Some estimates see the US ecommerce market hitting over $1 trillion by 2025, representing nearly 20% of all retail spend.
And Shopify sits in the pole position to power this continuing boom, given its market leading presence across segments:
- Enterprise – Major brands choose Shopify Plus for scalability & support
- SMB – Startups/small biz flock to Shopify for simplicity & affordability
- Creator Economy – Artists, makers and gig workers leverage Shopify for independence
- Retail Innovation – Cutting-edge tech like AR, IoT and payments integrate first with Shopify
- Global Expansion – Language, payment and shipping options to enter overseas
So even compared to competitors like Magento, BigCommerce and WooCommerce, Shopify stands apart currently in its ability to support virtually any merchant. And the company invests heavily in R&D to maintain its edge through rapid releases.
Over time, Shopify may face competitive pressure from mega-platforms like Amazon or Content Management players acquiring commerce functionality.
However, its singular focus on empowering entrepreneurship & retail innovation still provides a competitive edge in flexibility, governance and trust. Merchants own their data, relationships and ability to leave anytime.
For these reasons and based on growth trajectories, Shopify seems poised to only expand its dominance supporting ecommerce businesses small and large in the decade ahead.
Getting Started: How to Launch & Migrate to Shopify
Hopefully by providing all this context into Shopify’s explosive rise, stellar merchant satisfaction, and bright future prospects, you can better evaluate if their platform makes sense for your specific retail ambitions.
For those ready to take the plunge and launch or migrate existing ecommerce operations to Shopify, here is a quick guide to steps for getting started:
Choose Your Plan
Figure approximate product volumes and order frequencies to select the best value Shopify plan for your needs. Remember you can upgrade transparently later.
Register Your Domain
Ideally a .com matching your brand name for credibility and memorability. Shopify can suggest available names too.
Select a Theme
No need to code! Browse Shopify’s theme store for professionally designed, mobile-friendly templates to match your aesthetic.
Set Up Payments
Shopify offers turnkey integration with 100+ payment gateways. Or optionally apply to use Shopify Payments for simpler merchant services.
Add Products
Manually start bringing your items, details and inventory counts into the CMS. Or accelerate listing existing catalogs via bulk uploads.
Configure Shipping
Identify preferred carriers & rates, delivery zones, and potential fulfillment apps to integrate like Oberlo.
Launch Your Store!
With the foundation up, set your shop live while continually adding content pages, tweaking designs, expanding products.
For migrating an existing store, simply recreate categories, pages, product listings and interfaces more or less identically in the Shopify admin. Use apps like Cart2Cart if moving from platforms like Magento, BigCommerce or others for bulk transfer of past orders and customer data.
Shopify’s ecosystem also offers development partners on their Shopify Experts marketplace who can manage the migration and setup process if desired.
Start Selling Retail Success Today
We’ve only scratched the surface of advice and capabilities for succeeding with Shopify in this brief guide. But hopefully the insights into Shopify’s phenomenal growth, the benefits it provides merchants, and playbook for getting started gives you confidence in the platform‘s ability to support your retail ambitions.
The world of ecommerce moves fast, so waste no time in joining over 2 million Shopify merchants well on their way toward online retail success already!
