2021 saw the continuing flourish of eCommerce. As businesses around the world were forced to close, merchants and consumers alike turned to the digital landscape to fulfill their shopping needs. It was a particularly great year for the eCommerce platform, Shopify, marked with record-breaking achievements and innovative updates.
With 2021 now firmly behind us, it’s time to reflect on the most noteworthy updates, achievements, and events that defined the platform and take a look in our crystal ball to see what the future holds for Shopify. But first, let’s see some key statistics that really show just how much Shopify bloomed in 2021.
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In 2021, the Shopify platform was used by 1.75 million businesses in 175 countries, accounting for almost 11% of the market share. This figure shoots up when you take a look at its biggest market, the US. It got 29% of the eCommerce market, making it the most popular platform in the United States.
Data from Statista puts Shopify as the third most popular eCommerce platform in the world.
It’s also one of the most highly valued web-based companies. (Source: Monster Post)
And it’s not just merchants taking advantage of this platform, but also consumers. When compared to 2020, at its highest, Shopify’s Gross Merchandise Volume managed to climb up by a staggering 40%. Thanks to this widespread adoption, the eCommerce platform raked in $3.23 billion in total revenue by the end of the last reported quarter.
To put Shopify’s meteoric rise into perspective, we’ll break down the company’s astounding achievements quarter by quarter. Hold on to your seats, because you’re in for a heck of a ride!
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The start of 2021 saw the world in the grips of the new COVID-19 variants, forcing businesses to close and shift to the online world as consumers embraced online shopping. As a result, Shopify experienced its biggest growth to date.
During this quarter, the company experienced record-breaking YOY growth of their total revenue - 110% to be exact. Thanks to swarths of merchants rushing to use the platform, Merchant Solutions Revenue also climbed to its highest ever for the year, growing by a massive 137% ($668 million). For the same reason, Subscription Solutions also increased by 71%. Plus, Shopify’s partner ecosystem experienced record-breaking growth as about 45,800 partners referred a merchant to Shopify, up 73%.
This was another impressive financial quarter for Shopify. It gained over $1,11 billion in total revenue, with Subscription Solutions revenue rising by 70% YOY again.
A highlight of Q2, however, was undoubtedly the annual Shopify Unite event. Here Shopify unveiled its most comprehensive update to the platform ever. The following is a brief recap of the exciting innovations announced:
Strong financial results once again defined this quarter. Total revenue soared yet again, amounting to over $1.12 billion, with cumulative GMV reaching $400 billion. As more merchants continued to join the platform, revenue from subscriptions increased by 37%.
Shopify Markets gives merchants all the tools they need to sell internationally effectively. (Source: Shopify)
Finances aside, a key announcement also took place - Shopify Markets. Consumers are more inclined to making purchases from overseas retailers with 57% of them having done so before. Previously, for Shopify merchants to equip their store with all the functionality needed to sell to foreign customers successfully, various third-party apps had to be installed. With Shopify Markets the international selling process is streamlined thanks to a number of features. Let’s check them out.
The beginning of the quarter saw Shopify releasing some handy new features for its APIs. This included:
BFCM was a huge hit for Shopify, surpassing the records it broke in 2020. 47 million shoppers purchased from Shopify stores during this period, with sales amounting to $6.3 billion - an increase of 23% YOY.
BFCM was another resounding success. (Source: Shopify)
Key trends in eCommerce also continued to thrive during this sales event. Social commerce proved itself to be an even bigger player in 2021 as sales from social media integrations tripled in comparison to the previous year. Consumers flocked to their phones in droves for BFCM with 71% of all purchases coming from a mobile device. Additionally, cross-border shopping spread its wings as 15% of all orders were international ones.
Product details page built in Hydrogen (Source: Shopify)
We also witnessed the rollout of Hydrogen, a React-based framework for building custom storefronts, in developer preview. In case you missed it, Hydrogen aims to foster personalized and contextual experiences for shoppers without compromising on speed. Developers can now build dynamic storefront experiences easier and faster than ever before. Even better, Hydrogen is completely open-source so developers around the world can be instrumental in building and fortifying it.
Allbirds went public in November. (Source: CNBC)
Other exciting news this quarter included the 7th store to be powered by Shopify, Allbirds, going public to start trading on Nasdaq. The sustainable footwear and apparel retailer raised over $300 million in its initial public offering and its shares skyrocketed by 91% on its very first day of trading. This led to it gaining a valuation of $4.1 billion - congrats Allbirds!
With all this thrilling news of 2021, we’re sure you’re scratching your heads wondering what more Shopify has in store that could possibly top such a great year. You’ll be pleased to know that there will be plenty to get excited about in 2022.
Updates to Online Store 2.0 and Shopify Markets are in the works.
The beginning of January has seen the first new feature of Online Store 2.0 come into fruition. Metafield definitions can now be added to Orders, Collections, and Customers rather than just on Products and Variants. This will allow merchants to store and display information more efficiently. Plus, Online Store 2.0 will soon incorporate simple filtering on search results.
Shopify Markets will be further optimized so merchants can create custom market-specific storefronts, and offer unique products tailored to the regions they operate in. Payments made in different currencies will be able to be routed to businesses preferred bank accounts.
Also, be prepared for the launch of Oxygen, the platform that will host Hydrogen storefronts. Thanks to the heavy investment by Shopify in its global infrastructure, Oxygen will have over 100 server locations meaning speed and stability will be optimized for Shopify merchants using it. Plus, store owners using Oxygen and Hydrogen will be able to store any format of the content in their stores.
Financially things are looking very promising for Shopify in 2022. Investors predict that Shopify’s market share and the stock price will be on the rise. This is due to the company’s strong track record of increased earnings in addition to new COVID-19 variants compromising consumer confidence in shopping in brick-and-mortar stores.
And what about our predictions for Shopify here at Boost? Perhaps we’ll see more prominent improvements to the platform which enhance personalized, convenient, and flexible shopping like omnichannel support for all Shopify stores.
Despite 2021 being full of challenges, the year presented tons of innovations that strengthened the eCommerce platform as well as huge increases in sales and revenue. Shopify merchants can step into 2022 with confidence, assured that the platform will continue to strengthen their ability to deliver exceptional online shopping experiences. Here’s to another prosperous year!
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