Shopify

Shopify Inc.
Public
Traded as
Industry Internet
Founders
Headquarters Ottawa, Canada
Area served
Worldwide
Revenue $205.2 Million[1] (2015)
Website shopify.com

Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, that develops computer software for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems.[2]

Shopify was founded in 2004, and was initially based on earlier software written by its founders for their online snowboard store.[3][4] The company reports that it has 300,000 merchants using its platform,[5] with total gross merchandise volume exceeding $10 billion.[6][7][8]

History

Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Unsatisfied with the existing e-commerce products on the market, Lütke, a computer programmer by trade, decided to build his own.[4][9][10]

Lütke used the open source web application framework Ruby on Rails to build Snowdevil's online store, and launched it after two months of development.[11][12] The Snowdevil founders launched the platform as Shopify in June 2006.[11]

In June 2009, Shopify launched an API platform and App Store. The API allows developers to create applications for Shopify online stores and then sell them on the Shopify App Store.[7] Several companies have developed apps that integrate with the Shopify platform.[13][14]

In April 2010 Shopify launched a free mobile app on the Apple App Store in May 2010. The app lets Shopify store owners view and manage their stores from iOS mobile devices.[15] In 2010, Shopify started its Build-A-Business competition, in which participants create a business using its commerce platform.[16][17] The winners of the competition receive cash prizes and mentorship from entrepreneurs, such as Richard Branson, Eric Ries and others.[17] Shopify was also named Ottawa’s Fastest Growing Company by the Ottawa Business Journal in 2010.[11] The company received $7 million from an initial Series A funding round in December 2010.[18][19] Its Series B funding round generated $15 million in October 2011.[20]

In February 2012 Shopify acquired Select Start Studios Inc ("S3"), a mobile software developer, along with 20 of the company's mobile engineers and designers.[21][22] In August 2013, Shopify acquired Jet Cooper, a 25-person design studio based in Toronto.[23]

In August 2013, Shopify announced the launch of Shopify Payments, which allowed merchants to accept credit cards without requiring a third party payment gateway.[24] The company also announced the launch of an iPad-centric POS system. It uses an iPad to accept payments from credit cards. The company received $100 million in Series C funding in December 2013.[25]

By 2014, the platform hosted approximately 120,000 online retailers,[12][15][26] and was listed as #3 in Deloitte’s Fast50 in Canada, as well as #7 in Deloitte’s Fast 500 of North America.[27] Shopify earned $105 million in revenue in 2014, twice as much as it raised the previous year.[28]

On April 14, 2015, Shopify filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "SHOP" and "SH" respectively.[29][30] Shopify went public on May 21, 2015, and in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, Shopify started trading at $28, more than 60% higher than its USD$17 offering price, with its IPO raising more than $131 million.[31][32]

In September 2015, Amazon.com announced it would be closing its Amazon Webstore service for merchants, and had selected Shopify as the preferred migration provider;[33] Shopify's shares jumped more than 20% upon the news.

On October 3, 2016, Shopify acquired Boltmade.[34]

In November 2016, Shopify partnered with Paystack which allowed Nigerian online retailers able to accept payments from customers around the world.[35]

Reception

Since its launch, Shopify has been well received by popular tech websites such as CNET, who say the platform is “clean, simple, and easy-to-use.”[36] The service was profiled in publications including The Wall Street Journal,[37] The New York Times,[3] The Vancouver Sun,[38] The Financial Post, TechCrunch,[39] and Mashable.[12][40]

Shopify was featured on Fast Company's list of Most Innovative Companies of 2012.[41] In 2013, Shopify was featured on CNBC's Disrupter 50 list.[42] The company's CEO, Tobias Lütke, won The Globe and Mail's CEO of the Year in 2014.[43]

References

  1. Dulaney, Chelsey (17 February 2016). "Shopify Expects Revenue to Surge in 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  2. Bradbury, Danny. Hands-off business a reality The Financial Post. April 21, 2008.
  3. 1 2 Kolodny, Lora. Shopify, a start-Up, Starts Its Own Business Competition “New York Times”. February 2, 2010.
  4. 1 2 Cole, Trevor (27 November 2014). "Our Canadian CEO of the year you've probably never heard of". Globe & Mail. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  5. "Shopify Announces Second-Quarter 2016 Financial Results". Shopify. August 3, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  6. "Shopify stock jumps 14% after it boosts revenue in Q2". CBC News. July 30, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Duncan, Katherine (12 March 2012). "How Shopify Became the Go-To Ecommerce Platform for Startups". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  8. Armental, Maria (April 14, 2015). "Canadian Software Company Shopify Files for U.S.-Canada IPO". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  9. Whittaker, Stephanie. The Web as a safety net The Montreal Gazette. May 4, 2009.
  10. Donnelly, Jim. Shopify picks up $7M in venture funding Ottawa Business Journal. December 13, 2010.
  11. 1 2 3 Donnelly, Jim. Fastest Growing Companies Ottawa Business Journal. May 3rd, 2010.
  12. 1 2 3 Duryee, Tricia. E-Commerce Assistant Shopify Raises $7 Million in First Round All Things Digital. December 13, 2010.
  13. "channeladvisor-expands-webstores-solution-with-shopify". Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  14. Novellino, Teresa (15 December 2014). "Wanelo deal with Shopify gives indie retailers a wing in digital mall". Upstart Business Journal. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  15. 1 2 Rip Empson (2013-04-11). "After 7 Years & 50K Storefronts Created, Shopify Launches Major Redesign To Simplify Online Store-Building". TechCrunch.
  16. Kolodny, Lora. Maker of iPad Cases Wins Shopify Competition The New York Times. July 19, 2010.
  17. 1 2 Rip Empson for TechCrunch. 10 July 2012 Shopify Teams Up With Tim Ferriss, Eric Ries, FUBU Founder To Help You Build A $1M eCommerce Biz
  18. Lewis, Rob. Ottawa's Shopify raises $7 Million Series A Funding from Bessemer, FirstMark, and Felicis Techvibes. December 13, 2010.
  19. McLeod, Mark. Shopify Gets Fundified! StartupCFO. December 12, 2010.
  20. Duryee, Tricia. "Shopify Picks Up $15 Million as It Faces New Competition From eBay". All Things D. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  21. Rao, Leena (1 February 2012). "Ecommerce Platform Shopify Acquires Mobile App Development Studio Select Start". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  22. Berkow, Jameson (1 February 2012). "Ottawa tech merger: Shopify buys Select Start Studios". Financial Post. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  23. Lindzon, Jared (1 August 2013). "Shopify acquires design agency Jet Cooper". BetaKit. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  24. Shopify debuts fully integrated credit card payment processing TechCrunch, 12 August 2013
  25. Etherington, Darrell. "Shopify Raises $100M To Drop The 'E' And Become The Commerce Company That Spans On- And Offline". Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  26. Pileci, Vito. Shopify.com makes it easy for new online entrepreneurs The Montreal Gazette. September 20, 2010.
  27. Louis Columbus (November 20, 2014). "Software Companies Are Dominating Deloitte's Technology Fast 500". Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  28. Reader, Ruth (May 21, 2015). "Shopify pops 65% on the NYSE, starts trading above $28 per share". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  29. "E-Commerce Software Maker Shopify Files for IPO". 14 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  30. Kokalitcheva, Kia (April 14, 2015). "E-commerce company Shopify files for initial public offering". Fortune. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  31. Tech IPO Scorecard: Shopify Skyrockets 51%, While Baozun Rises A Slimmer 4.6%
  32. Abelson, Jeremy; Narasin, Ben (May 21, 2015). "IPO Scorecard: Shopify is another point against bubble proponents". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  33. "Shares in Shopify Jump 23% Following Integration with Amazon".
  34. "Shopify acquires product design firm Boltmade to boost Shopify Plus". TechCrunch. October 3, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  35. "Nigerian Merchants With Shopify Accounts Can Now Accept Payments Via Paystack | TechCabal". Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  36. Needleman, Rafe. Shopify makes quick work of setting up shop “CNET”. May 26, 2006.
  37. Lora Kolodny for the Wall Street Journal. 12 Dec 2013. On Road to IPO, Shopify Raises $100M to ‘Bridge Clicks and Bricks’
  38. Pilieci, Vito. Business booming at Shopify.com “The Vancouver Sun”. September 18, 2010.
  39. Arrington, Michael. Shopify Was Worth the Wait “TechCrunch”. April 15, 2006.
  40. Casel, Brian.40+ Web Design and Development Resources for Beginners “Mashable”. July 23, 2010.
  41. "Most Innovative Companies 2012 - Industries Top 10 - Retail". Fast Company. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  42. "CNBC Disruptor 50". CNBC. 13 May 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  43. Knowlton Thomas (November 27, 2014). "Shopify's Tobias Lütke Crowned CEO of 2014". TechVibes. Retrieved February 9, 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.