Small businesses outside of big cities driving Shopify’s merchant base in Canada

There are over 34,000 Shopify merchants in Canada living outside of the six major urban centers, representing more than 64 per cent of all Shopify merchants in Canada, reveals Shopify’s first global impact report produced by Deloitte.

“The future is borderless commerce. Small businesses are becoming global businesses much faster than ever before,” Tobi Lutke, founder and chief executive officer of Shopify said in a tweet after the release of the report.

An increasing number of Canadian entrepreneurs are now becoming independent to build their own businesses and the majority of them live in the less populated regions of the country. Their earnings totaled more than CA$3.9 billion from 2016 to 2018, higher than the CA$2 billion in sales generated by Canadian entrepreneurs in the six biggest cities of the country. This is “proof that anyone, anywhere can create impact,” indicated the report.

It also sheds light on the company’s merchants and how the success of independent business owners is important to economic prosperity.

In Canada, Shopify merchants supported more than CA$14.5 billion in economic activity from 2016-18. Globally, businesses built on Shopify supported CA$240 billion in economic activity from 2016-18.

The report also revealed that Shopify has a growing number of merchants which recently reached the one million mark. Shopify is reportedly the largest tech company, by market cap, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2019. The company’s revenue surpassed US$1 billion in 2018, while its partner ecosystem generated nearly $1.7 billion.

Shopify’s share of R&D expenditure across technical, professional and scientific services sector in Canada was nine per cent in 2018, highest among their peers in the country.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Pragya Sehgal
Pragya Sehgal
Born and raised in the capital city of India - Delhi - bounded by the river Yamuna on the west, Pragya has climbed the Himalayas, and survived medical professional stream in high school without becoming a patient or a doctor. Pragya now makes her home in Canada with her husband - a digital/online marketing fanatic who also loves to prepare beautiful, healthy and delicious meals for her. When she isn’t working or writing around tech, she’s probably watching art films on Netflix, or wondering whether she should cut her hair short or not. Can be contacted at [email protected] or 647.695.3494.

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