Shopify's Success in Market Expansion and Profitability

Shopify's Q1 results demonstrate both growth and profitability, gaining market share and outperforming competitors, with a strategic focus on data-driven marketing.

### Shopify's Strong Growth and Profitability: A Data-Driven Success Story
* 📈  Shopify reported over **$1 trillion in GMV since inception**, with **25% revenue growth to $2 billion in Q1**.
* 💰  Free cash flow margin more than **doubled from 6% to 16%** year-over-year.
* 🛒  The platform is gaining market share, with merchants **outperforming competitors** and **healthy growth rates**.
* 📊  A data-driven marketing strategy, including a successful experiment with an emerging social platform, contributed to a **51% increase in new merchants** from that channel.
* 🌍  Shopify's growth is not only about **adding more users**, but also **expanding into new geographies and product offerings**.
* 🎁  The company is well-positioned for the upcoming holiday season, with a **diverse range of merchants across various verticals**.
* 📆  CEO Harley Finkelstein emphasized the importance of having a broad merchant base, stating that "**merchants that are on Shopify are doing disproportionately well**."

Things are going right for Shopify.
The environment is hard to understand. Is there something specific that Shopify
is doing better or well in that environment?
I think so. I think absolutely.
So first and foremost, I think we've earned the trust of millions of
merchants and business all over the world.
We announced at a month ago, a month or so ago, I announce that we have now
powered over $1,000,000,000,000 with a T in Q1 of GMV since inception, which for
us is really incredible. But I think we're not just helping
merchants compete, I think we're propelling them to victory.
And in terms of, you know, how Shopify is doing in particular, I think these
results demonstrate that we can do we can create a serious combination of both
growth and profitability. You know, when you exclude the sale of
logistics, revenue is up 25% for the quarter to 2 billion.
It's our fifth consecutive quarter, at

least 25% top-line growth. When you look at free cash flow or free cash flow margin, more than doubled from last year from 6% to 16%. Now, in terms of sort of the more macro, I guess sort of macro questions you're asking, look it from our vantage point, what I'm hearing from other companies, which you're hearing as well. But from our vantage point, our merchants, the merchants on Shopify, are outperforming others in the market. They're growing at healthy rates. We're adding more merchants every day. And I think as a result, we're gaining market share. Holly, real quick, I just want to jump in because I did go well from the quarter. You've kind of been suffering from slowing growth in prior quarters and your emphasis was on marketing. But marketing. But something jumped out. You talked about a partnership with the social media platform that really helped out. What platform was that?

What were the specifics around that is a
catalyst for you? Yeah, I mean, the truth is the way that
we think about marketing, the same way we think about product ad, we don't
necessarily it's all about data. And so when we see a particular
marketing opportunity, we take that opportunity.
And the way that we think about all our marketing channels, that these are
levers. So in Q1, we did an experiment with a
new emerging marketing channel, emerging social platform.
We put some money to work, we saw great return, we doubled that in Q2, and we saw
about a 51% increase in new merchants from that channel.
At the same time, we saw other channels that historically did perform well, not
perform as well, and so we pulled back on it.
But the way that we think about our marketing is as this incredible data-
driven engine that allows us to not just focus on SMBs in English-speaking
countries, but you think about our point.

of sale business, our B2B business, our
international business, we're able to deploy capital.
They have the highest return on those investments, all within an 18-month
average payback. And that's the sophistication that we've
built into the growth numbers of Shopify.
So which big social platform was it? Oh, we're not. We don't go into specifics
on that. It's just an example of something that
we're constantly experimenting with. There's not that many emerging social
platforms. I'm sure you can figure out which one.
But the point actually that we want investors, we want the street to take
away is that we are always looking for new ways to grow the business.
And again, five consecutive quarters of above 25% top-line growth while being
profitable. There's not too many companies that can
do that at our size and grow their market share.
And I think this is the best version of

Shopify you're seeing right now.
I've spoken to so many businesses, smaller and slightly bigger that use
Shopify. I get the benefit of it.
So this is about discoverability, right? Adding new merchants or markets your
platform. But let's do the math.
If we won't name the social platform, what what ballpark was the spend?
Because the return on that campaign seems to have been very definitive in
the quarter. Well, think about this.
When we started to we've been public now for just over nine years.
Initially we were focused on e-commerce for SMB, as in very specific regions.
We now have a point of sale offering that surpassed $100 billion in GMV.
International, for example, over 50% of merchants that joined in Q2 on Shopify
were from outside our core English speaking countries.
You know, two years ago we didn't have a B2B product and this past quarter B2B
Jimmy grew 140% year on year.

So it's not just getting more people to use Shopify. It's more people in more geographies use different products, and that is leading to the growth that you're seeing at the same time as being focused on profitability and how we enter the summer months. And then we have the holiday season here in North America. Do you kind of market hard in the summer in the hopes of having business transaction later in the year? Real quick. Look, I think the key is that I do think the holiday will be very good, but because we have so many different verticals of merchants, we have, you know, figs doing scrubs and pet products and barkbox, we have Nestlé and Hines and Mattel and Staples all using Shopify. We're not relying on one particular type of merchant, but I think that merchants that are on Shopify are doing disproportionately well.

Shopify President on Results, Shares Rising

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Shopify has achieved over $1 trillion in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) in Q1, demonstrating significant growth and profitability.

The company's focus on helping merchants succeed has earned the trust of millions of businesses worldwide, propelling them to victory in the market.

Shopify's strong performance is also reflected in a 25% increase in revenue and a doubling of free cash flow margin, while its merchants continue to outperform others in the market, leading to a growing market share.

Shopify's marketing approach is driven by data and experimentation with new emerging channels.

They saw a 51% increase in new merchants by investing in a new social platform in Q2, while scaling back on underperforming channels.

The company's sophisticated and profitable growth is attributed to their constant search for new ways to expand their business, leading to five consecutive quarters of over 25% top-line growth.

Shopify has experienced significant growth, expanding its focus from e-commerce for small businesses to a point of sale offering surpassing $100 billion in GMV.

The platform's international presence has also been rapidly growing, with over 50% of new merchants joining from non-English speaking countries in a recent quarter.

Additionally, Shopify's B2B product experienced a 140% year-on-year growth in the past quarter, despite not existing two years ago.

Shopify's Diverse Merchant Base Drives Growth

Shopify's growth is not just about expanding its user base, but also about diversifying the products and geographic locations of its merchants.

The company is focused on profitability and targets the holiday season for a strong business impact.

With a wide range of verticals, including big names like Nestlé and Mattel, Shopify's merchants are experiencing significant success, reducing the company's reliance on any particular type of merchant.