30 Shopify Statistics

Updated on January 23, 2023
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Overview: Shopify Statistics

  1. Since 2014, global ecommerce has risen from a $1.3 trillion industry to a $3.5 trillion industry.
  2. By 2040, it’s estimated that 95% of purchases will be made online.
  3. There are expected to be about 2.14 billion digital buyers in the world in 2021.
  4. North America generated $552.6 billion in ecommerce sales in 2018.
  5. 57% of online shoppers have purchased from overseas retailers.
  6. Shopify powers more than one million online stores in 175 countries.
  7. Shopify has more than 2.1 million daily active users.
  8. Shopify has processed more than one billion orders.
  9. Shopify accounts for $319 billion of global economic activity.
  10. Shopify is the third-largest ecommerce platform in the United States.
  11. Shopify’s growth rate in 2018 was 59%, nearly three times the global ecommerce growth rate.
  12. Shopify offers merchants more than 25.8 million third-party apps.
  13. 87% of Shopify merchants use third-party apps.
  14. The average merchant has six apps installed.
  15. More than 100,000 merchants use the Shopify POS option.
  16. Porto is the most popular Shopify Theme, used by 40,000 merchants.
  17. Conversion rates for Shopify stores are: 4.29% email, 3.04% search, 2.93% direct, 1.81% social.
  18. More than half of Shopify merchants have repeat customers.
  19. 5,300 businesses use Shopify Plus.
  20. Shopify Plus merchants have seen 126% year-over-year growth.
  21. There were 218 million buyers on the platform in the last year.
  22. The average customer bought 3.8 times from the same store in 2019.
  23. Mobile traffic now accounts for 79% of traffic and 69% of orders of all traffic.
  24. 30% of all social media visits to Shopify stores come from Facebook.
  25. 85% of all social-media-driven orders come from Facebook.
  26. More than 30,000 stores have integrated their shops with Facebook Messenger.
  27. More than 29,000 stores have tried selling on Instagram since the service was implemented.
  28. Shopify generated more than $2.9 billion in sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2019.
  29. Over 25.5 million consumers purchased something on Shopify during Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2019.
  30. 69% of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales happen on mobile, compared to 31% on desktop.

The ecommerce industry is growing exponentially across the globe. It’s estimated that 12 to 24 million ecommerce websites exist today[1]. You’ve heard of giants like Amazon and eBay, but you may not be as familiar with one of the most important companies responsible for this massive ecommerce boom: Shopify.

Shopify revolutionized ecommerce by providing simple online selling solutions for anybody, from Fortune 500 companies to individual merchants. Whether you’re selling software packages or necklaces, Shopify has tools to help merchants grow, and it’s growing fast.

Starting an ecommerce business on Shopify is relatively easy, but it is also good to be informed. Here, we break down the statistics and trends that define Shopify and ecommerce more broadly to give you an idea of what it takes to grow your business on Shopify.

Global Ecommerce Statistics

1. Since 2014, global ecommerce has risen from a $1.3 trillion industry to a $3.5 trillion industry.

Ecommerce has been around since the dawn of the internet. But over the past half-decade, it has grown at a truly exponential pace, nearly tripling between 2014 and 2020. [2]

2. By 2040, it’s estimated that 95% of purchases will be made online.

There’s no end in sight to the growth. The internet makes everything more convenient, including shopping. NASDAQ estimates nearly all purchases will be made online within the next 20 years. [3]

3. There are expected to be about 2.14 billion digital buyers in the world in 2021.

As more of the world gains access to the internet, more people are using it to buy goods. This year, a little less than one-third of the global population will make a purchase online. [4]

4. North America generated $552.6 billion in ecommerce sales in 2018.

That’s good for the second-largest ecommerce market share in the world. Asia generated $831.7 billion in ecommerce sales, giving it the world’s market share, driven significantly by the world’s largest market, China. Shockingly, China is still the fastest-growing market on Shopify as well. [4]

5. 57% of online shoppers have purchased from overseas retailers.

The internet has connected the global marketplace so much, you may have purchased a product from overseas without even realizing it. In fact, more than half of all online shoppers have made a purchase from an overseas retailer. [2]

General Shopify Statistics

6. Shopify powers more than one million online stores in 175 countries.

Shopify is a truly international platform and has grown into an enormous marketplace. An estimated 500,000 stores are “active.” That is, they are actively taking and fulfilling orders. [5][6]

7. Shopify has more than 2.1 million daily active users.

All of those online stores enjoy a daily market of more than two million active users to sell to. Note that this is active users each day, and it’s only an average. The number may spike or decline on a given day. [7]

8. Shopify has processed more than one billion orders.

With such a large and active buyer community, since its founding in 2006, Shopify has processed more than one billion orders. With all those orders, the platform has helped merchants earn more than $55 billion in revenue. [8]

9. Shopify accounts for $319 billion of global economic activity.

This number is from 2019, and is sure to grow in 2020 and beyond as Shopify becomes an even more integral part of the ecommerce industry. [8]

10. Shopify is the third-largest ecommerce platform in the United States.

Despite those enormous dollar amounts, Shopify is still only the third-largest ecommerce platform in the United States, with a 20% market share. Amazon and eBay are both larger. [9]

11. Shopify’s growth rate in 2018 was 59%, nearly three times the global ecommerce growth rate.

Things are only looking up for Shopify still. In 2018, it grew three times faster than the global ecommerce market, and there’s no indication that it’s slowing down. [10]

Shopify and Merchants

12. Shopify offers merchants more than 25.8 million third-party apps.

A major component that makes Shopify so appealing to merchants is its app marketplace. Whether you need help with email marketing, handling customer service, order fulfillment, or practically anything else, Shopify probably has a third-party app to help. [11]

13. 87% of Shopify merchants use third-party apps.

Those apps are so useful that the vast majority of Shopify merchants actually use them. The most-used apps are Privy, SEO Image Optimizer, and Free Shipping Bar. [8][12]

14. The average merchant has six apps installed.

Shopify apps can do so many things that most merchants utilize many of them. [8]

15. More than 100,000 merchants use the Shopify POS option.

Shopify’s POS service helps merchants unify in-store and online sales, accept payments, track inventory, build customer relationships, and more. It’s useful for merchants with brick-and-mortar stores who want to start selling to an online audience. Today, more than 100,000 merchants — about 10% of the platform — use this service. [13]

16. Porto is the most popular Shopify theme, used by 40,000 merchants.

Shopify themes make building an online store easy. But not all themes are created equal. Some research suggests that theme selection can have a significant impact on conversion rates. According to this research, Porto is not one of the top-converting themes. [14][15]

Shopify Success Statistics

17. Conversion rates for Shopify stores are: 4.29% email, 3.04% search, 2.93% direct, 1.81% social.

Compare those numbers to global ecommerce averages:

Email: 2.5%
Search: 2.6%
Direct: 2.1%
Social: 1.1% [16][17]

18. More than half of Shopify merchants have repeat customers.

Not only are conversion rates better than the ecommerce average on Shopify, but Shopify merchants also tend to enjoy more loyal customers. More than 62 million buyers have purchased from the same store twice, representing 14% of all customers on the platform. [18]

Shopify Plus Statistics

19. 5,300 businesses use Shopify Plus.

Shopify Plus is the enterprise version of Shopify, available to sellers with revenues of $1 million to $500 million. It offers a number of improvements over the basic version in exchange for a higher fee. [19]

20. Shopify Plus merchants have seen 126% year-over-year growth.

Shopify Plus merchants are already major players in the ecommerce industry. Yet, by joining Shopify Plus, they have already seen 126% year-over-year growth between 2019 and 2020. [20]

Shopify Shoppers

21. There were 218 million buyers on the platform in the last year.

In 2019, 218 million people bought something from a Shopify store. That’s more than half of the US population! [21]

22. The average customer bought 3.8 times from the same store in 2019.

Not only were there a lot of buyers, but Shopify shoppers tend to be loyal. The typical Shopify customer bought almost four times from the same store. [18]

23. Mobile traffic now accounts for 79% of traffic and 69% of orders of all traffic.

Ecommerce is trending toward mobile, and Shopify is no exception. 79 percent of all Shopify traffic comes from mobile, and 69% of all orders are made via mobile devices. [22]

Social Selling on Shopify

24. 30% of all social media visits to Shopify stores come from Facebook.

Shopify has a number of social media integrations available to store, but Facebook is by far the most successful. If you’re using social media to drive traffic to your store, Facebook is the first integration you should set up. [23]

25. 85% of all social-media-driven orders come from Facebook.

While it drives just 30% of the traffic, Facebook converts at a significantly higher rate than other social networks at 1.85%. That makes Facebook far more successful than other social networks at turning visitors into buyers. [23]

26. More than 30,000 stores have integrated their shops with Facebook Messenger.

Facebook isn’t all about selling, however. Facebook Messenger is a useful tool for handling customer support issues, answering questions about products, and building relationships with customers. That’s why more than 30,000 stores have integrated with Messenger. [8]

27. More than 29,000 stores have tried selling on Instagram since the service was implemented.

The Facebook sales channel includes access to Instagram, but so far less than 30,000 stores have used Instagram as a sales funnel. Considering how successful Facebook is, Instagram may not be an essential funnel. [8]

Shopify Black Friday Statistics

28. Shopify generated more than $2.9 billion in sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2019.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest ecommerce days of the year. That’s no exception for Shopify, which generated nearly $3 billion in sales on the long weekend alone in 2019. That number is double the sales the platform generated in 2018. During the sales period, Shopify hit a peak sales per minute of $1.5 million. [8]

29. Over 25.5 million consumers purchased something on Shopify during Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2019.

Shopify converted 25.5 million people during the busiest shopping weekend of the year. That represents slightly more than 10% of their annual shopper numbers. [8]

30. 69% of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales happen on mobile, compared to 31% on desktop.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, mobile was just as popular during Black Friday and Cyber Monday as it was throughout the rest of the year, driving 69% of sales. Despite most consumers being at home on Friday or at work on Monday, most sales came from mobile. [8]

The Bottom Line

Shopify has been a significant driver for the ecommerce industry, and it continues to usher in a new normal where almost everyone shops online. If you’ve ever considered selling something online, Shopify makes it easy and affordable to do so with user-friendly tools and a huge array of apps and integrations. Plus, the platform’s audience and market share grow every year. These statistics should help you set up the best store possible.

References

  1. https://wpforms.com/ecommerce-statistics/#:~:text=There%20are%20an%20estimated%2012,market%20%E2%80%94%20don’t%20worry.
  2. https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/global-ecommerce-statistics
  3. https://www.nasdaq.com/article/uk-online-shopping-and-e-commerce-statistics-for-2017-cm761063
  4. https://www.statista.com/statistics/251666/number-of-digital-buyers-worldwide/
  5. https://www.shopify.com/about/economic-impact
  6. https://ecommerce-platforms.com/articles/best-shopify-stores
  7. https://hostingpill.com/shopify-statistics/
  8. https://www.shopifyandyou.com/blogs/news/statistics-about-shopify
  9. https://pagely.com/blog/best-ecommerce-platforms/
  10. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1077595/worldwide-shopify-e-commerce-market-growth/
  11. https://twitter.com/intred/status/1141527349193842688
  12. https://blog.asoft.co/shopify-app-store-analysis-c8d9aab85ba7
  13. https://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/shopify-unite-announcements-2019
  14. https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/best-shopify-themes/
  15. https://www.imrhys.com/best-converting-shopify-themes/
  16. https://www.shopify.com/blog/email-marketing
  17. https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-analytics/ecommerce-conversion-rates/
  18. https://news.shopify.com/shopify-unveils-first-state-of-commerce-report-242590
  19. https://www.shopify.com/plus/enterprise-ecommerce
  20. https://www.shopify.com/plus
  21. https://speedboostr.com/notes-from-shopify-unite-2019/
  22. https://www.shopify.com/blog/15206517-mobile-now-accounts-for-50-3-of-all-ecommerce-traffic
  23. https://www.shopify.com/blog/12731545-which-social-media-platforms-drive-the-most-sales-infographic