Canada-based ecommerce platform Shopify Inc. last week released details about the behavior of shoppers at its global retail clients. The vendor, which works with more than 820,000 merchants in 175 countries, says more than 62 million global consumers have bought from the same Shopify store twice, with buyers purchasing 3.8 times on average from the same store in 2018.
Online storefronts represent more than 80% of sales, followed in-person at a store or place such as flea market or pop-up shop. Shopify launched its first POS software in 2013. More than 100,000 merchants use Shopify’s POS hardware and software to sell in person, Shopify says. Shopify enables merchants to sell across multiple channels, including mobile, web, social media, marketplaces, bricks-and-mortar locations and pop-up shops.
The report is based on a sample of Shopify global sales data from April 2018 to April 2019 as well as an online global survey of 3,832 Shopify merchants in March 2019. It also draws on research on consumers in Canada and the United States in December 2018, including interviews and an online survey of 2,653 consumers.
Shopify reports that U.S. consumers visiting a Shopify ecommerce site on average buy six items per shopping trip across all channels—more than any other country evaluated. However, buyers in Germany make the fastest online shopping decisions, making a purchase in less than 18 minutes on average. That’s compared with the U.S. average of about 23.5 minutes. Meanwhile, Japanese consumers spend the most per transaction, around $142 on average, compared to the U.S. average of around $81. Additionally, 218 million consumers globally purchased from a Shopify merchant in 2018, up from 163 million a year earlier.
Geography also impacts how buyers purchase. Consumers at Shopify stores in Brazil, for example, buy more frequently on smartphones than desktop. However, consumers in Denmark, Ireland, Malaysia, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam purchase on tablets more frequently than smartphones. Meanwhile, buyers in the U.S., Australia, Canada, China and the U.K. purchase in relatively equal transaction volume across tablets, desktop and mobile.
Shopify also says approximately 5,300 retailers now use Shopify Plus, Shopify’s platform for larger merchants. Additionally, the number of merchants on Shopify generating more than $1 million in sales grew 58% in 2018, Shopify says.
Earnings, acquisitions and product upgrades
For its first quarter ended March 31, Shopify said its revenue increased 50% year over year to $320.48 million, from $214.34 million as the gross merchandise value of transactions processed through its technology, which includes its POS system and online purchases, also increased 50% to $11.9 billion from $8 billion.
Last month, Shopify acquired mobile commerce firm Handshake Corp. The companies did not disclose what Shopify agreed to pay for Handshake, but Techcrunch.com estimated the deal to be $100 million.
New York-based Handshake, which was founded in 2010 and has received about $23.5 million in venture capital, specializes in providing a mobile app it developed called Handshake Rep. The app is designed for sales reps who can use it to access their company’s product catalog, check inventory and enter orders for customers and check order history on mobile devices.
That move follows a new point-of-sale hardware Shopify launched in April that can be detached from the register, allowing store associates to check out consumers throughout a store and check out.
“[The reader] is already making a huge difference for our retail team,” says Ariel Kaye, founder and CEO of Parachute, which sells bedding and bath linens. “Our stores are designed to feel like gathering spaces, encouraging visitors to explore all of our home essentials, and try sensory experiences that allow them to test our products first-hand. Because the reader can be easily detached from the dock, our retail team can serve our customers from anywhere in the store.” Parachute is No. 794 in the Internet Retailer Top 1000.
Shopify has 38 ecommerce platform retail clients in the Internet Retailer Top 1000, including Albirds, No. 426, and Untuckit, No. 338. In an August 2018 Internet Retailer survey of 183 merchants, 20% of merchants looking to switch ecommerce platforms were most strongly considering Shopify, the No. 1 vendor response.
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