Shopify

Shopify is a commerce platform that lets a business set up an online store and also sell in person. It positions itself for everyone from a side business to a global brand, and it brings the main parts of retail into one product: a website builder with ready-made themes, checkout, a point of sale system for shops, payment processing, shipping tools, marketing and analytics.

The company also offers Shop Pay, an accelerated checkout, and an AI assistant called Sidekick. Its newer Agentic Storefronts feature is aimed at selling through AI shopping experiences. Shopify Capital provides financing to merchants, and the site says more than 5 billion dollars has been lent through it.

Developers build on Shopify through its APIs and an app store that the site puts at over 21,000 apps. The platform exposes interfaces such as the Customer Account API and POS UI extensions, which software teams use to customise the shopping and in-store experience.

Brands shown on its pages include Glossier, Mattel, Our Place and Steve Madden. Plans are tiered and priced monthly, with a free trial available. Its careers page lists offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, New York and Bellevue.

Key facts

• Products: online store builder, point of sale, Shop Pay, Sidekick, Shopify Capital
• Ecosystem: more than 21,000 apps and developer APIs
• Offices listed: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, New York, Bellevue
• Pricing: monthly plans with a free trial