Shopify's latest investor overview "Leading the future of commerce" just dropped, and features some eyewateringly good numbers for their developer ecosystem.
Let's start with the app developer opportunity. In 2022 Shopify counted millions of merchants in over 175 countries - quite a distribution channel for apps. Revenue retention is also strong, anywhere from 3.4x refenue growth for the Q1 2015 customer cohort, to 1.5x revenue growth for the Q1 2019 cohort.
If a Platform's own revenue retention is good, it's usually a sign of strong revenue retention for 3rd party developers.
In 2022, that translated into $561m paid out to Shopify's app developer partners, likely in part fuelled by Shopify's recently revised rake, which offers partners 100% of revenue up to the first $1m they earn through the App Store.
Over 10,000 apps are now listed in Shopify's App store. By way of comparison, Shopify counted 6,000 App Store listed apps in February 2021. These apps serve a growing list of well known brands including Allbirds, Heinz, Mattel, Steve Madden, Staples, Glossier, and Asics.
