Shopify beats estimates as quarterly revenue nearly doubles annually

Canadian e-commerce firm Shopify Inc beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue on Thursday, as more brick-and-mortar businesses listed on its platform to tap the pandemic-driven surge in online shopping.

U.S.-listed shares of Shopify rose five per cent before the bell.

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The boom in online orders from consumers sheltering at home during the outbreak boosted sales across e-commerce firms, encouraging small- to medium-sized businesses to create an online presence.

Shopify generates revenue by selling subscriptions to merchants looking to join its e-commerce platform and by charging them payment processing and transaction fees along with other paid logistics services.

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The Canadian company’s gross merchandise volume (GMV), a metric used in the e-commerce sector to measure transaction volumes, surged 109 per cent to $30.9 billion in the quarter, the highest since its IPO in 2015.

Revenue, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, came in at $767.4 million, a 96 per cent surge on-year, and above analysts’ estimate of $663.4 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.