Because Shopify runs the websites of these merchants, it may be able to more accurately track users bouncing between sites and build machine learning algorithms to calculate lookalike audiences for its stores. It may also be able to persist a customer's payment info across stores to make the secondary checkout faster. In short, Shopify has the... See more

this is traffic that stores are paying for already via FB, Google Ads, etc. Because Shopify already makes money through SaaS, Payments, etc, it can effectively “bundle” demand gen into its product, offering traffic at below-market rates. That could be net good for merchants, even if they may lose the occasional purchase to a competitor. The reality... See more

Imagine a Shopify app installed on a store page after checkout. It could offer ads for related or similar products. If the shopper clicks through and transacts in another store, Shopify could earn an additional "demand gen" rake for that transaction, net of payment to the sending merchant for hosting the ad inventory. Shopify may even find... See more

Shopify’s big strategic question is how it can build network effects. It wants to sell higher-margin products to merchants for the money, but it might be more important in the long term that those products build a network, pull more merchants and users into the system, and make the core business more sticky. Shop Pay is one building block, but an... See more

Main Street businesses need to form online networks that enable them to compete with Amazon on price, convenience, and brand. E-commerce platforms Shopify, Lightspeed, Woocommerce, and Square, could enable this collaboration. For example: when one local retailer doesn't have a product in-stock, why don't they suggest another local shop that does?... See more