eCommerce platform Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) has recorded a triple growth in the number of live stores amid the coronavirus pandemic, a metric that highlights the company’s role in the shift towards online shopping.
Shopify’s live websites surged 201.53% between March 2020 and January 2022. During the period, the platform added 2,594,798 stores in under two years, data provided by marketing platform Genus AI indicates.
At the pandemic’s start, Shopify hosted 1,287,547 websites that have tripled to 3,882,345 as of January 2022.
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Furthermore, the Canadian platform is more dominant in the United States, hosting 2,666,627 live Shopify stores. The figure has grown 178.53% from March 2020’s 957,393 stores. The United Kingdom has 156,466 live stores, followed by Australia at 101,795.
Elsewhere, between March 2020 and January 2022, Germany registered the highest growth in Shopify live websites at 480.18%, among the top six countries with the highest number of Shopify live stores.
Shopify’s growth in live stores directly shows the implication of the pandemic that accelerated the shift towards eCommerce as most people under lockdowns preferred online shopping. Consequently, businesses leveraged easily accessible infrastructure under platforms like Shopify to go online amid increasing demand.
In general, merchants prefer Shopify because of the platform’s user-friendly status that offers an environment to create eCommerce websites without technical knowledge or coding skills.
Shopify comes with a series of templates and themes that are easy to navigate, hence, it emerged as one of the best eCommerce solutions for businesses in jurisdictions like the United States.
Shopify’s expansion drive
Shopify has recently scaled up its operations by embarking on strategic partnerships.
On Tuesday, January 18, the company announced a partnership with eCommerce giant JD.com to assist U.S. merchants in selling their goods in China.
Notably, the deal is monumental for both platforms helping Shopify expand while J.D. will benefit significantly from international clients.
Through the deal, merchants on Shopify can establish their stores within a month instead of 12 months that it takes foreign brands to begin selling in China.
Furthermore, Shopify recently enhanced its cross-border capabilities allowing merchants to identify, set up, launch, and optimize international markets tied to a central store.
The expansion drive has also seen Shopify venture into emerging products like cryptocurrencies. As reported by Finbold, Shopify added a new service allowing users to mint and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
