Good day, everyone! Today’s material will be about – Shopify, and by the end of this article, you will definitely find out whether it’s worth opening a store there for you. And if you already have one, you’ll just get a lot of interesting and useful information. For example, the average income level of Shopify stores, the overall success rate of stores there, as well as categories of products that sell the best. In short, I have gathered a lot of useful information, and you will definitely not leave empty-handed.
Briefly about the main points: Shopify is a powerful platform for creating an independent brand, ideally suited for experienced sellers, dropshippers, and social brand owners (Instagram, TikTok). According to statistics, 79% of Shopify traffic comes from mobile devices, and the average success rate of stores is 10%. If you have no marketing strategy, experts recommend starting with marketplaces (Etsy or eBay).
Who should open a Shopify store
So, let’s answer the first main question: which types of stores should open on Shopify, generally which entrepreneurs, what kind of business. The answer lies in the most popular comment people usually mention about Shopify: that their business didn’t go well there, they opened a store, and nothing worked out. You know, like on eBay, the most common comment is: I opened a store, it got blocked. All this is simply because people, for some reason, do not understand what a Shopify store is.
Shopify is not a marketplace.
A Shopify store is not the same as a store on eBay or Etsy, or other marketplaces. Shopify itself is not a marketplace. A marketplace is a place where you can list your product or open your shop, your store, and from there, a flow of customers will naturally come if you have good products, good photos, and properly optimized SEO. Then, a flow of customers will come because these customers already go to this marketplace, or eBay, or Etsy, and so on.
Who does NOT need to open a Shopify store
The answer to who should NOT open a Shopify store: a person who has no idea or plan for promoting their business. Usually, Shopify businesses involve more than one person. For example, one person, or several people, are involved in manufacturing, someone handles shipping, someone handles marketing. At minimum, 2-3 people, let’s say, a small enterprise up to 20 people. I understand that.
If you have your own production, if there’s already an offline business, and you want to expand online. For example, in America, it’s often used for services, such as consulting or food delivery. People open a business, partner with many restaurants, hire drivers, and customers can order a lunch or dinner, put it in the cart, and have it delivered.
Which types of businesses are best suited for Shopify?
Or, for example, dropshipping. That is, they purchase goods from China or elsewhere, cheaper, or even just list products from marketplaces like AliExpress on their website, promote through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and rely on impulsive purchases. People visit the site, buy, then go back to AliExpress, resell. Such businesses do very well on Shopify.
Another type are businesses that already have a strong brand. You already have a Facebook page, Instagram. You have many followers who love your business and know you. And they keep asking where to buy your product? Where can I buy your painting, in your gallery? Someone comes, looks, and says: I really want to buy it. But you can’t accept payments? Perfect — you have your business card, your Shopify store. People can go there, immediately add the product to the cart, and buy it.
What does creating a social brand mean? For example, I showed successful stores live — like a character someone invented, a cartoon character, and promoted it through social media. It became popular. Now this character is printed on T-shirts, hoodies, mugs. It doesn’t matter. This merchandise, called “merch,” is sold through their Shopify website. That is, branded products.
Or, for example, someone already has a production. Several stores. Let’s say they produce clothing, shoes, etc. They want to go online. They already have a team dealing with marketing. They hire people to promote their production on TikTok, Instagram, etc. They post cool models and start expanding their business internationally. For all these businesses, Shopify is a great solution.
Who should NOT open a Shopify store?
Who is not suited for Shopify? Again, if you weave or sew at home, put your soul into your craft, but you don’t have time or resources to attract customers to your store. It’s better to list your products on Etsy or eBay first to test demand. It takes time to create listings and ship products there.
Then, you can find a partner, and once you scale your business, create your own website via Shopify. This approach compares to creating your own site versus using a marketplace.
What is the projected Shopify usage statistics in 2026?
Let’s now discuss – statistics. If you already have a store or think your business fits this model — dropshipping, manufacturing, or branding — let’s see what this marketplace is like in terms of size.
Overall figures
So, there are approximately 4.8 million stores on Shopify. Over $404 billion of global economic activity is generated through Shopify stores. This shows how many people buy goods and services via Shopify-created stores. Shopify’s own revenue was $4.9 billion in the first three quarters of 2023.
As of 2024, Shopify has 700 million consumers. By the way, this statistic is quite inaccurate because it creates the impression of a marketplace. Like, 48 million consumers on Etsy vs. 700 million on Shopify. Don’t let this statistic distract you — it’s just the number of customers each store brings in.
79% of total Shopify traffic comes from mobile devices. And most importantly, the success rate of Shopify stores varies from 5 to 10%. Interestingly, this statistic is almost the same in all countries. 95% of all businesses fail on average, with only 5% surviving. So, you can say that Shopify’s success rate is even better — from 5% to 10%.
Shopify income statistics
Next is Shopify’s revenue statistics. As I mentioned, $444 billion — total economic activity. In 2023, Shopify’s revenue reached around $6.6 billion. Imagine that? Over 6.6 billion dollars. It’s a huge company.
Let’s look carefully at the graph showing how income changed from Q1 2020. Remember, the first quarter of 2020 was right at the start of COVID-19. Especially Q2 and Q3. Income then was half a billion dollars, which is significant but still.
In three years, after the pandemic surge, Shopify continued growing — from half a billion to over 7 billion in Q3 2023.
Another interesting table is Shopify’s subscription income. They take $29 per month, right? Since 2015, subscription income was $111 million, and by 2023, it reached $1.3 billion. They earn only from subscriptions — not counting app sales and other services. All additional features Shopify offers provide extra revenue on top of subscriptions.
Shopify’s market capitalization is approximately $94.3 billion in 2024.
Shopify usage statistics
Let’s now discuss Shopify usage statistics. Shopify allows customers to manage products, process payments, track orders, and handle deliveries. It enables easy management of the entire business from one place — client communication, responses to buyers, analytics, advertising integration, and many other marketplace services. Everything needed for online business is in Shopify.
As I already mentioned, Shopify has 700 million users. But that’s incorrect. The stores that attracted these customers themselves account for these 700 million customers. In 2014, it was only 28 million. Notice how rapidly the number of Shopify customers has grown from 2004: from twenty-eight million to 700 million. It’s colossal growth, as you can see — more and more stores conduct their economic activities through Shopify.
It’s important to understand that as of 2023, over two billion people are shopping online — for goods or services. That’s a huge number of people.
Shopify’s geographical spread
Shopify is available in 175 countries. Interesting statistic: 70% of all domains are registered in the United States. You also need to pay separately for your domain, although Shopify provides a free domain, it will include “myshopify” in the URL. If you want your store at MashaKaganovich.com, you’ll pay for that domain, typically around 14-15 dollars a year.
Among these domains registered in the US, about 50% are real American businesses and 50% are sellers who, despite using a US domain, sell products from other countries.
A list of top ten companies with Shopify websites includes Tesla, LVMH, Nestlé, Pepsi, Anheuser-Busch, Kraft & Heinz, Lindt & Sprüngli, Whole Foods, Red Bull, and Hyatt Hotels.
Can you buy a Shopify store?
Here’s an interesting fact you might not know: Shopify stores can be bought and sold. Yes, you can list your successful, well-established Shopify store, with a steady flow of customers, on a marketplace, not just the product. The most popular platforms are Empire Flippers and Flippa.
Average store income on Shopify
Now, perhaps the most interesting part — the average income of a Shopify store. I mean from stores that actually earn money. The average monthly income is $5583 — roughly $67,000 annually. Not very high. So, Shopify mainly works for small businesses, not large enterprises, except for giants like Tesla and Hyatt.
Success rate of stores
Regarding the success rate — as I mentioned briefly, about 5% to 10% of stores succeed. After the 2019 pandemic, Shopify stores grew by 201.53%.
23.6% of Shopify stores, approximately 531,000, sell clothing. Imagine that? Clothing is the most popular product category.
Statistics by country
2.9 million stores operate from the USA. Looking at other countries: 205,000 stores in the UK, 152,000 in Australia. Other countries include Brazil, Canada, the Netherlands, etc. Note that these are .com websites, not necessarily registered locally; some stores from Ukraine, perhaps, are included as well. Since the pandemic, the total number of stores has increased over 2.5 million.
Best-selling product categories
Now, onto the last very interesting statistics.
These are the categories of products that sell best on Shopify:
- Clothing — 531 thousand stores
- Home & Garden — 230 thousand
- Health & Beauty — 192 thousand
- Jewelry & Watches — nearly 28 thousand
- Fashion Accessories — 22 thousand
- Food & Beverages — 16 thousand
- Art — 11 thousand
- Sports Goods — 7.7 thousand
- Electronics — 6.8 thousand
- Auto parts — 6,230
- Other products — 65 thousand
If your products fall into these categories, your chances of successfully marketing them through social media are much higher. There’s a reason why fashionable clothing and accessories sell better online via Shopify, right?
Conclusion
What is the best way to start if you want to open a Shopify store?
The best start is understanding where you will bring traffic from. Shopify doesn’t bring customers automatically; it’s important to decide beforehand: will you use social media, a blog, advertising, or your existing audience? Having a clear source of traffic makes launching easier and helps generate initial sales faster.
Why do many Shopify stores fail?
The problem is almost always that entrepreneurs expect traffic to come “by itself.” Shopify is not a marketplace; you need to actively bring customers yourself. If you lack time or resources for marketing, your store will stagnate without sales. But when you regularly drive visitors, conversion starts improving, and the store becomes stable.
Is Shopify suitable if I have a small or handmade business?
A good indicator is your current customer flow. If you already sell confidently on marketplaces or social media, and feel it’s time to develop your own brand, Shopify is a great choice. But if sales and traffic are low, it’s better to strengthen your presence on platforms like Etsy or eBay first, then transition to your own site — to avoid unnecessary costs and frustrations.
How does Western Bid assist Shopify owners in Ukraine?
Western Bid enables Ukrainian sellers to accept payments via PayPal and Stripe on Shopify, as well as provides logistics, fulfillment in the USA, and store promotion services.
In the next material, we will talk about Shopify’s overall share in e-commerce. Also, I will share the main marketing strategies that yield the best conversion. We will also discuss popular apps, free or paid, used on Shopify. Huge thanks for your support and help. Thank you very much for your attention. Goodbye to all!
