Shopify has quietly taken the second place in e-commerce in North America. Is independent station the "magic weapon" to win?

source / China world industry Digital Research Institute

Everybody knows , The largest e-commerce platform in North America is Amazon , Who is the number two in the North American e-commerce industry ？ Maybe some people will say yes eBay, As a matter of fact ,Shopify In the past year, it has quietly sat on the e-commerce platform in North America “ Second place ”.

Two years ago. ,Shopify In Canada, it is just a little-known small e-commerce company , Less than the scale eBay Half of , But to 2020 year , Its market value has exceeded 1300 Billion dollars , The total turnover is 1196 Billion dollars , Of Amazon's sales 40%. thus , This e-commerce service platform from Canada , transcend eBay、Walmart Wait for the old giants , With 8.6% Its market share is second only to that of the United States Amazon The second largest e-commerce platform .

chart 1. 2020 U.S. retail e-commerce sales share in

What's interesting is that , E-commerce has been highly mature 、 In fields with strong monopoly ,Shopify A completely different way to rise has been found between the cracks ： Lean on “ Independent station ” This particular play , Is using “ rebels ” The image of spiritual leader is subverting the existing global e-commerce landscape .

His shan zhishi , Can offend jade .Shopify The growth history of , Maybe it can be applied to China's e-commerce SaaS Enterprises have some reference .

In North America “ Platform giant ”Shopify History of growth

2020 year , Under the stimulation of COVID-19 , The rising trend of global e-commerce makes Shopify The enterprise that helps businesses open online stores has become a platform for upstart giants .

According to foreign media reports ,Shopify founder Tobias Lütke and Scott Lake The original plan was to sell and provide Snowboard equipment to skiers all over the world through e-commerce . At that time, they gave the website a cool name ——Snowdevil, Meaning for 「 Snow devil 」,Lütke Responsible for Technology ,Lake Responsible for daily operation and external affairs .

2004 year ,Snowdevil The official launch . But they found out in the process of selling skis , More people come to ask how this website is made . Those who came from technical backgrounds soon realized , Selling software may have more business opportunities than selling snowboards . So they 2006 Founded in Ottawa, Canada Shopify .

chart 2. Global e-commerce SaaS Faucet Shopify Website screenshot

Comb and discover ,Shopify There are several obvious stages in the development of ：

▷2004 -2008 year , From skiing online shop to SMBs Provide SaaS Service e-commerce station building tools .Shopify The original positioning is for small and medium-sized businesses （SMBs） Provide SaaS Service e-commerce station building tools , namely Shopify Provide e-commerce sellers with technologies and templates for building online stores , Including order tracking 、 Automated inventory management 、 To upload pictures 、 Basic functions such as adding labels . adopt Shopify, Those who have not been engaged in online sales can find the necessary tools , Create an online store from scratch .Shopify The original charging model , A certain percentage of transaction fee is charged to customers according to sales , This model is not friendly to merchants with large sales scale , therefore Shopify Change the charging system to SaaS Subscription charging .

▷2009-2013, establish API And application store , Realize the transformation from tool to platform . The company released API Platforms and app stores , In the app store , Developers can sell their apps , Merchants can browse 、 Buy and install apps directly .Shopify Created an application ecosystem and a developer community .

▷ 2013 So far this year , Gradually expand offline .2013 year Shopify Launched the payment function , Then we launched offline POS, And provide... For key customers Shopify Plus.2016 year ： In order to integrate the personalized touch of offline commerce with the convenience of e-commerce ,Shopify Introduced and Facebook Messenger Integration of .2017 year ：Shopify adopt Shopify QR code further narrowed the gap between online and offline shopping . This allows shoppers to use their mobile camera to scan the code on physical items , And directly access the goods in the merchant's online store .

According to the Shopify call ,2021 Continue to devote to the establishment of Shopify Our distribution network 、 Optimize software and build technology capabilities , So that retailers can better understand and manage their inventory . in addition ,ShopifyShipping Can let the seller deliver goods directly , And now more than 50% Most of the sellers are using it .

obviously Shopify The business success of each stage is finally verified in the data . Rank the major e-commerce companies according to the total global commodity transactions .2019 And 2020 Compared to , Number five eBay By Shopify replaced , And in 2019-2020 Year ,Shopify It's growing faster than any other platform , Become the number one in the world .

In the Amazon empire “ rebels ” Leader

Entrepreneurs often start with “ rebel 、 subversion ” The role of .2019 year ,Shopify The founder of Tobias Lutke stay Twitter Said ,“ Amazon wants to build an empire , and Shopify The rebels are being provided with weapons and equipment .”

Here he mentioned “ Rebel ”, It doesn't mean consumers , It is the businesses, large and small, on the Amazon platform .

As “ Anti Amazon Alliance ” Core strength of ,Shopify Targeting those from the Amazon empire “ escape ” come out , And businesses that simply cannot or do not want to step into the Amazon empire , Most of them are more personalized small and medium-sized sellers . After all , The high cost of the Amazon platform （ High deduction rate + Increasing advertising expenses +FBA And other related service fees ） Next , The profit space of small and medium-sized businesses has been continuously compressed .Shopify Appearance , It meets the psychological needs of a large number of small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs to reduce costs and increase efficiency , It brings them a new choice .

Shopify Follow Taobao 、 Amazon 、eBay The biggest difference is , It is not a direct platform for consumers , It is a platform that provides services for sellers . open Shopify Website , What you see is not a dazzling array of goods , It's an invitation to you to start your online business , To provide you with a complete set of stations 、 sales 、 Managed services .

In the following, the author analyzes it in detail Shopify Business model ：

1. Business model ： Provide tools 、 Platforms and services , Help businesses develop + Manage the retail business .

On social media 、 Cloud computing 、 Mobile devices and data analytics create new possibilities for business ,Shopify Successfully simplified e-commerce , The company's platform allows businesses to easily build a digital front desk , And manage from payment processing and inventory management , As well as distribution and transportation solutions .

chart 3.Shopify Business model diagram Drawn by Andersen Securities Research Center

Shopify Provide differentiated value by providing multi-channel front-end and highly integrated back-end to merchants .

（1） The front end ：Shopify The software enables businesses to easily display in more than a dozen different sales channels 、 Manage and sell their products , More than two-thirds of businesses use two or more channels .

（2） Back end part ：Shopify Businesses can manage business across multiple channels through the dashboard , Including but not limited to managing products and inventory 、 Process orders and payments 、 Order delivery 、 Identify new buyers and build customer relationships 、 Purchase products and obtain financing .

2. profit model ：SaaS Subscription fee + Value added service fee .

Shopify Revenue mainly comes from subscription solutions （Subscription Solution） And merchant solutions （Merchant Solution）. Outside the regular subscription plan , The company also has key customer service . For large brands , at present Shopify VIP MRR The proportion is close to 30%, The company continues to strengthen its big customer service . Business services ,Shopify Offer payment 、 Logistics and warehousing services , Continue to expand business boundaries through mergers and acquisitions .

chart 4. Business composition and profit model diagram Drawn by Andersen Securities Research Center

monthly / The function of annual subscription is recorded as subscription solution , Including subscription function package and skin / plug-in unit , Revenue is recognized when services are actually provided ; Value added services are recorded as business solutions , It mainly consists of transaction service fee （Shopify Payments）, It also includes logistics 、 Other trading services 、POS Machine sales , Revenue is recognized when it occurs .

chart 5.2015 year -2020 year Shopify Changes in income composition

According to the Shopify The data related to the financial report shows that ,Shopify2020 The annual value-added business accounts for about% of the total revenue 70%,SaaS Subscription services account for about 30%; And in the 2019 During the year , Value added services account for about 60%,SaaS Subscription services account for about 40%. thus it can be seen ,Shopify Our revenue has gradually shifted from subscription fees to commission payments .

Shopify Our experience may show that ： about SaaS For e-commerce companies , When its revenue model gradually changes from subscription fee to commission , Its profit and cash flow will usher in an inflection point .

To open or find a new path or snap course , Rely on the strong rise of independent stations

Shopify It is different from the traditional e-commerce platform focusing on consumers , It focuses on the supply side —— merchants .Spotify Through various services, the platform and “ Independent station ” In series , Quietly formed a business closed loop , It has given birth to a new e-commerce ecology .

A big background is that , Cross border e-commerce has entered a new stage of development —— Independent brand stations have become the focus of more and more sellers .

So what is an independent station ？ In short , It's about getting businesses off the platform , You can have your own domain name and page , Traffic , brand , Data belongs to businesses , Just like the official websites of some big brands .

Shopify Our independent station , It's the seller's shop , All become a separate brand , Have your own website , It looks very “ On the tall ”, But the real thing behind it is “ control ” nevertheless Shopify.

in the past , The reason why these small and medium-sized stores did not choose to build their own stores , There are three main reasons ： The cost of building a shop is too high , No traffic Introduction , And don't know how to provide services .

For these questions ,Shopify Provides a solution . Develop websites for small businesses ,Shopify Will provide a large number of templates and tools , Businesses don't need to hire professionals to design their pages according to their preferences , And it's only a few minutes to build what looks like a sophisticated online store .

In terms of popularity expansion and customer traffic ,Shopify Through and with Facebook、Instagram、Youtube And other mainstream media cooperation , Help businesses access to promote . Enterprises can not only rely on Shopify Get customer traffic , At the same time, we are building our own brand image .

Shopify Our service process is perfect .Shopify It can solve all the problems related to the operation of online stores for businesses , for example ： Website design , Online payment mechanism , From customer service , Sales data analysis , From operation to promotion , Logistics management, etc .

in addition ,Shopify It also provides different sales models for sellers with different needs , Businesses can choose to build their own stations , Or bind your own social account as a marketing channel , You can also embed product information and purchase buttons into any site .

Shopify This model of is the most common affliction of businesses . In recent years ,Shopify It has been well known by e-commerce sellers all over the world , And attracted more and more people to use it .

According to the Wall Street Journal , Amazon from 2020 The end of the year began to realize Shopify The threat of , And set up a project named Project Santos Our secret team , Peter, vice president of consumer department · Larson led 10 Several senior executives signed confidentiality agreements to study and copy behind closed doors Shopify Pattern , To prevent the tide of platform merchants from leaving the market is getting worse .

Domestic e-commerce giants are also eager to try . This year, 5 month , Ali about recruitment Shopify The information of independent station operators is circulating in the industry , It seems to be releasing the signal that Alibaba will explore independent station services in cross-border business . JD was also exposed in the first quarter of this year that it was laying out the independent station service market , The plan is to build a station SaaS The service further expands the possibility of cross-border sea going .

But for now ,Shopify Or the absolute advantage in the field of independent stations , It occupies about 60% Above market share , On the usability and richness of the site building tools ,Shopify No one can beat it . However , With Amazon 、 Alibaba and other e-commerce giants have made great strides , In the field of independent station service, the technical threshold is not high ,Shopify Whether it can firmly sit on the second place of e-commerce in North America , Continue to make great strides in the next stage ？

The author also notes , At present, a number of domestic enterprises are made up of B2B Industrial Internet platform enterprises from e-commerce platforms , With the original Shopify equally , They go deep into the industry , Carefully study the market pain point demand , And try to find another way , Start in e-commerce SaaS、 Independent station and other solutions . Maybe , The next round of drastic changes to change the pattern of China's e-commerce starts from them . Just like the hot discussion in the industry in the past two years , Can the huge domestic enterprise service market breed “ Chinese version of Shopify”, It's undoubtedly a very exciting thing .