E-commerce
Shopify.
A commerce software company co-founded by Tobias Lütke, developed from the practical work of building an online snowboard store.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
Visit ShopifyPEOPLE IN THIS STORY
Tobias LütkeEXPLORE THE FIELD
E-commerce
WHAT THE BUSINESS OFFERS
The work behind
the name.
Online stores
Software for presenting products and taking orders.
Commerce operations
Tools around products, customers and the work of selling.
Merchant platform
A shared software foundation for independent businesses.
01 / THE BUSINESS IN FOCUS
A merchant’s problem becomes a product for merchants.
Shopify’s origin is connected to Snowdevil, an online snowboard shop. Tobias Lütke built software for the store after finding existing options difficult to use. The tools developed for one business became a product that other merchants could use.
The platform supplies infrastructure, while the merchant supplies the product, brand and customer relationship. That division explains how one software business can serve stores with very different identities. Lütke’s biography follows the technical and entrepreneurial development behind the company; this portrait focuses on the commerce work its software supports.
THE REFERENCE DESK
Read the
underlying record.
Official sources accompany this portrait. Company descriptions record the business’s own account of its offering and development.
- shopify.comShopify: official website
Brand image: Shopify — image source.
Our editorial approachBEHIND THE BUSINESS