Is Shopify becoming Obsolete?

By 20VC

Categories: VC, Startup

Summary

Shopify's current e-commerce platform may become obsolete within 2 years, as the future of commerce shifts to conversational models that bypass Shopify's 'plumbing'. The CTO has committed more code in the last 60 days than the entire previous history, signaling the urgency to adapt.

Key Takeaways

1. Shopify's e-commerce platform could become obsolete within 2 years as the future shifts to conversational commerce models that bypass Shopify's services.
2. Shopify's CTO has committed more code in the last 60 days than the entire previous history, indicating the urgent need to adapt the platform.
3. Shopify's 'plumbing' that powers merchant stores may become less relevant as consumers increasingly interact with brands through conversational interfaces like ChatGPT.
4. Shopify's revenue model of taking a cut of GMV could be threatened if e-commerce transactions no longer happen on the Shopify platform.
5. Shopify must adapt its core software platform within the next 2 years to remain relevant as the e-commerce landscape shifts to conversational and AI-powered commerce models.
6. Shopify's leadership is actively working to future-proof the platform by increasing development velocity and committing more code than ever before.

Topics

• Shopify
• E-commerce Trends
• Conversational Commerce
• Platform Obsolescence
• Rapid Platform Adaptation

Transcript Excerpt

What's the commonality between Service Now, Salesforce and Shopify? It seems like nothing. But actually, they all could be abstracted away into a database. Even Shopify can't. If I am shopping on chat GBT, I may not go to that merchant store ever. And in the short term, it doesn't hurt Shopify because it is the plumbing of the store, right? And it takes a piece of the GMV, but ultimately, if the future of e-commerce is conversational commerce and it does not happen on the Shopify platform, that ...