Drinking from the Firehose | Alex Taussig, Lightspeed | Substack

I think it’s inevitable that Shopify will become a consumer destination, but the way it monetizes demand gen will need to be aligned with its role as a Platform.

Shopify has come from nowhere (well, Canada) to over $100bn of GMV in 2020

this is traffic that stores are paying for already via FB, Google Ads, etc. Because Shopify already makes money through SaaS, Payments, etc, it can effectively “bundle” demand gen into its product, offering traffic at below-market rates. That could be net good for merchants, even if they may lose the occasional purchase to a competitor. The reality... See more