Shopify.

E-commerce Platform

The world's largest SaaS e-commerce platform, with more than one million shops. From startup builder to serious enterprise solution with AI integrations and B2B capabilities.

What is Shopify?

An e-commerce platform provides the complete infrastructure to sell goods online: storefront, payment processing, inventory management and fulfillment capabilities. Shopify specifically is a fully managed SaaS solution where you don't need to set up servers – it works directly out of the box for B2C stores and scales via Shopify Plus to enterprise level.

What makes Shopify different?

Significant AI investments form Shopify's core strategy. The OpenAI partnership means Shopify merchants have direct access to ChatGPT integration: customers can discover and purchase products directly in ChatGPT via the Agentic Commerce Protocol.

Massive extension ecosystem. The Shopify App Marketplace contains thousands of plugins. For most standard requirements, there are ready-made solutions. This makes Shopify particularly suitable for organizations that want to grow quickly without custom development.

B2B is taken seriously. Shopify Plus offers native B2B features: multi-tenant accounts, bulk ordering, custom pricing per customer group.

Strengths

Fast implementation – Standard Shopify Plus is live within 4-6 months.

AI-first approach – ChatGPT integration means your products are available in AI agents without extra work.

Proven ecosystem – Payment gateway, fulfillment, email – all in one place with thousands of partners.

Native multi-currency – Built-in support for 135+ currencies and localization per region.

Who uses Shopify?

Shopify serves everyone from one-person businesses to large enterprise organizations.

Tony's Chocolonely – Dutch chocolate company (fair trade)

Who Gives A Crap – Australian toilet paper brand, B2B wholesale

Vacu Vin / BOSKA – Dutch household goods brands

DAISO – Japanese retailer, B2B expansion

Mokobara – Luggage brand, DTC + B2B

Filtrous – Lab supplies, multi-million company

Our perspective

In our experience, Shopify is growing into a viable enterprise choice. The platform two years ago was mainly suitable for "fast B2C"; now you see serious multi-brand operations and B2B wholesalers.

Suitable for

B2C retailers who want to go live quickly and use a broad palette of integrations

B2B + B2C hybrid – Shopify Plus offers native B2B without complex custom builds

International expansion – Multi-currency, multi-language native

Brands that want AI discovery – ChatGPT integration is a unique competitive advantage

Consider carefully

Deep customization – Shopify is less flexible than Commercetools

Cost at scale – Shopify Plus is €2,300+ per month

Vendor lock-in – Shopify proprietary features make migration expensive

Is Shopify suitable for enterprise?

Shopify Plus is becoming increasingly serious for enterprise. For the Dutch mid-market (€10-100M revenue), Shopify Plus is genuinely realistic.

Summary: Shopify has transformed from "startup e-commerce builder" to mature enterprise platform. The OpenAI integration is game-changing.

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In practice

Integrations & ecosystem

Shopify integrates natively with: Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Adyen (payments), ShipBob, Flexport (fulfillment), Klaviyo, Mailchimp (email), and Google Analytics 4, Segment (analytics).

Implementation

Shopify Standard is 4-8 weeks. Shopify Plus with custom development can be 4-6 months. The learning curve is low – Shopify Admin is intuitive.

Support & community

Shopify Plus gets 24/7 dedicated support. Shopify has the largest e-commerce community of all platforms.

AI & product development

Shopify AI creates product descriptions, images and variant suggestions automatically. ChatGPT integration (agentic commerce) is the biggest news. Shopify invests heavily in AI.

Compare with alternatives

How does Shopify compare to Commercetools?

Shopify is an "all-in-one" SaaS; Commercetools is purely API-first and microservices-based. Shopify is faster to go live and cheaper for standard scenarios. Commercetools provides unlimited flexibility for hyper-custom scenarios.

Also check out our analyses of other e-commerce platforms:

Commercetools – API-first composable, maximum flexibility for enterprise

BigCommerce – Middle position between Shopify and Commercetools, strong B2B

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Shopify for B2B?
Yes, Shopify Plus has native B2B (Company accounts, bulk ordering, custom pricing). Sufficient for most mid-market.
How much does Shopify Plus cost per month?
€2,300 base price. Custom development and transaction fees can increase this.
Is Shopify truly API-first?
Partially. Hydrogen (headless) is React-based and good for custom frontends. But backend is not purely API-first.
What about ChatGPT integration?
Shopify merchants appear in ChatGPT via Agentic Commerce Protocol. Customers can buy directly in ChatGPT.
How long does Shopify Plus implementation take?
Standard: 4-6 months. Faster with fewer custom features; slower with complex integrations.

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