Shopify is Eating their Ecosystem (thread):

Of anyone in commerce,

Shopify is the undeniable behemoth.

They’ve made commerce accessible for independent merchants.

All good, right? Not entirely…

~~ Background ~~

As some background, Shopify is an end-to-end commerce platform.

This means that they have to provide a full suite of services out-of-the-box.

With limited resources in the early days, they couldn’t build it all.

Introducing… the Shopify App Store.

Launched in 2009, the App Store allowed others to build new features for Shopify, make them accessible to Shopify merchants, and make money.

Startups and developers went to work.

The App Store blossomed 🌼🌼

Developers and startups flocked, many of which built entire businesses on top of it.

It was a thriving community.

Shopify benefited tremendously from this ecosystem.

Developer partners provided critical functionality since the earliest days.

With them, Shopify would not be what it is today.

For context, Shopify is now worth $80B+.

Anyone familiar with the history of Shopify knows this:

It has been built by partners.

But as Shopify grew, they had a decision to make:

Prioritize openness and commit to empowering the community.

-or-

Replicate these apps as their own products, sell them, and drive direct revenue.