{
 "company": "shopify",
 "as_of": "2026-09-25",
 "choices": [
  {
   "id": "shopify-p01",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Origin",
   "statement": "L\u00fctke wrote his own store software for the Snowdevil snowboard shop after trying Miva, OsCommerce and Yahoo Stores.",
   "event_date": "2004",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH1"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p03",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Hosting",
   "statement": "Shopify hosted every store instead of releasing open-source software for merchants to run; a fix on its servers reached every merchant.",
   "event_date": "2006",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH25"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p02",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Launch",
   "statement": "Shopify launched publicly as a hosted store service in June 2006.",
   "event_date": "2006-06",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH11"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p04",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Payment gateways",
   "statement": "Active Merchant, a payment library extracted from Shopify and in production since June 2006, connected stores to many outside gateways through one interface.",
   "event_date": "2006-06",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "company_described_offering",
   "sources": [
    "SH45"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g01",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Pricing",
   "statement": "Shopify replaced a flat percentage of sales with a monthly subscription and a much lower transaction fee, dropped on the highest plans.",
   "event_date": "2007",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH25"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p05",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Theme language",
   "statement": "Liquid, the template language L\u00fctke wrote for Shopify themes, reached version 1.9.0 by March 2008; it lets users edit templates without running code on the server.",
   "event_date": "2008-03",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH46"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g05",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Design contest",
   "statement": "Shopify ran a store design contest voted on Twitter, with a couple of iPods as prizes.",
   "event_date": "2009",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH25"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p07",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "API and App Store",
   "statement": "The API and App Store launched on June 2, 2009, letting developers build and sell apps to Shopify\u2019s 5,000 merchants, with Shopify managing App Store transactions.",
   "event_date": "2009-06",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH9"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p06",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Feature boundary",
   "statement": "L\u00fctke tested every feature against what most customers need most of the time and sent specialised needs to third-party apps.",
   "event_date": "2010",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH1"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g02",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Early acquisition",
   "statement": "L\u00fctke credited the Ruby on Rails community for early signups and said about 60 percent of signups came from people searching for Shopify.",
   "event_date": "2010",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH25"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g03",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Referral partners",
   "statement": "Design firms and others that brought a merchant received 20 percent of that account\u2019s revenue for as long as it stayed.",
   "event_date": "2010",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH1"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g07",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Developer recruiting",
   "statement": "Finkelstein phoned developers who built for other websites to ask them to build for Shopify.",
   "event_date": "2010",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH34"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g09",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Contest terms",
   "statement": "About 1,300 contestants entered in 2010; Ferriss had argued for $100,000 instead of the $10,000 first planned, payable only at the end.",
   "event_date": "2010",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH40"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g08",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Build a Business",
   "statement": "Shopify and Tim Ferriss launched a $100,000 prize for the new Shopify store with the highest sales over six months.",
   "event_date": "2010-01",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH36"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p08",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Theme Store",
   "statement": "The Theme Store launched in April 2010 with themes from $80, against custom designs that typically cost over $1,500.",
   "event_date": "2010-04",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH37"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p09",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Store setup",
   "statement": "A non-technical merchant could take orders within a few hours of signup, switch themes without code and edit HTML or CSS directly.",
   "event_date": "2010-10",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH12"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p10",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "App adoption",
   "statement": "About two thirds of customers used at least one of 54 apps a year after the App Store opened.",
   "event_date": "2010-10",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH12"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g04",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Channel mix",
   "statement": "About 65 to 70 percent of signups came by word of mouth and about 20 percent from web design firm referrals; a new data warehouse had revealed the design-firm channel, and a full-time hire was cultivating it.",
   "event_date": "2010-10",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH12"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g06",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "App contests",
   "statement": "With few customers to attract developers, Shopify ran contests for the best third-party app, following Twilio\u2019s example.",
   "event_date": "2010-10",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH12"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g10",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Series A",
   "statement": "Bessemer led a $7 million Series A and Alex Ferrara joined the board; the uses included developer tools to attract app creators.",
   "event_date": "2010-12",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH38"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g11",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Shopify Fund",
   "statement": "The $15 million Series B set aside a $1 million Shopify Fund to finance developers building apps.",
   "event_date": "2011-10",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH39"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p11",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Shopify Payments",
   "statement": "Shopify Payments launched on Stripe technology with automatic setup for new stores, order-synced payments, payout tracking and generated chargeback responses.",
   "event_date": "2013-08",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH30"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g12",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Payments pricing",
   "statement": "Shopify Payments came at no added cost on existing plans, at 2.9% plus 30 cents on Starter and 2.25% plus 30 cents on Unlimited.",
   "event_date": "2013-08",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH30"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g15",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Plus sales team",
   "statement": "Plus ran as a separate team in Kitchener-Waterloo; its first five sales reps, new graduates, called existing merchants at risk of leaving.",
   "event_date": "2014",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH48"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p12",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Shopify Plus",
   "statement": "Shopify Plus launched for high-volume merchants and growing existing customers.",
   "event_date": "2014-02",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH14"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g14",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Referral scale",
   "statement": "More than 8,500 partners referred at least one merchant in 2015, up 48 percent from the year before.",
   "event_date": "2015",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH3"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g13",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Outside processor fee",
   "statement": "Shopify charged a transaction fee on plans whose merchants did not use Shopify Payments.",
   "event_date": "2015-08",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH33"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g16",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Partner earnings",
   "statement": "Partners earned about $800 million in 2017 against Shopify\u2019s $673 million in revenue; Shopify took 20 percent of app revenue and offered $5,000 loans for new apps.",
   "event_date": "2017",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH42"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g17",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "Platform test",
   "statement": "L\u00fctke says partners\u2019 earnings passed Shopify\u2019s in 2018, meeting Bill Gates\u2019s test for a platform.",
   "event_date": "2018",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH35"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g19",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "App review",
   "statement": "A small team vetted early app submissions by phone; the App Store held about 100 apps in 2013 and over 2,000 by 2018.",
   "event_date": "2018-09",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "participant_account",
   "sources": [
    "SH41"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p13",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Fulfillment network",
   "statement": "Shopify announced the Shopify Fulfillment Network in June 2019.",
   "event_date": "2019-06",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH50"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p14",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Warehouse robotics",
   "statement": "Shopify agreed to buy 6 River Systems, a warehouse robotics company, for about $450 million.",
   "event_date": "2019-09",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH50"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-g18",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "go_to_market",
   "dimension": "App revenue share",
   "statement": "From August 2021 Shopify took no commission on a developer\u2019s first $1 million of annual revenue and 15 percent above it, down from 20 percent.",
   "event_date": "2021-06",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH43"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p15",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Deliverr",
   "statement": "Shopify agreed to acquire Deliverr for about $2.1 billion to extend two-day delivery across US sales channels.",
   "event_date": "2022-05",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH51"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p16",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Logistics exit",
   "statement": "Shopify agreed to sell its logistics business to Flexport and reduced its workforce by about 20 percent.",
   "event_date": "2023-05",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "documented_offer_or_action",
   "sources": [
    "SH6"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "shopify-p17",
   "business": "Merchant platform",
   "category": "product",
   "dimension": "Shop Pay",
   "statement": "Shop Pay recognized returning shoppers across participating stores; Shopify reported more than 100 million users and announced access for enterprise retailers on other platforms.",
   "event_date": "2023-06",
   "date_precision": "month",
   "evidence_kind": "company_described_offering",
   "sources": [
    "SH20"
   ]
  }
 ]
}