💲 Shopify is a payments company

PLUS: Victoria’s Secret’s makeover. June 21, 2021 [The Hustle] [The Hustle]( We know Father’s Day was yesterday… but it’s never too late for a good dad joke: “What do you call a cheese that isn't yours? Nacho cheese!” The big idea [Shopify logo]( How Shopify became a payments company What is Shopify? Your 1st guess might be “ecommerce platform.” While that answer is not wrong, it is also incomplete. Over the past few years, Shopify has increasingly morphed into a payments company. Shopify was launched in 2006... … and for the 1st decade of its life was primarily known for its Subscription Solutions, which let you create an online store in a few clicks. In 2013, the software firm launched Shopify Payments -- an easy checkout solution for merchants. The fee on a [basic plan]( is 2.9% and 30 cents per transaction. While a small business at launch, the payments business has grown significantly, per tech analyst [Ben Thompson](: - 2015: In the year Shopify went public, revenue from Subscription ($67m) was nearly 2x Payments ($38m) - 2020: Last year, the results flipped: revenue from Payments ($2B) was nearly 2x Subscription ($909m) Last week the $183B Canadian firm… … [announced]( that its payments business -- now known as Shop Pay -- will be available to users who sell on Facebook or Google properties starting this summer. Crucially, these sellers don’t have to be existing subscribers to Shopify’s platform. Shopify -- which “powers nearly 10% of ecommerce in the US” -- says Shop Pay is 70% faster than other checkout options. Facebook, Google, and Shopify are taking on… … a small company named Amazon. Thompson calls their cooperation “The Anti-Amazon Alliance.” While Jeff Bezos’ baby is trying to centralize all ecommerce activity, Shopify’s goal is to give any merchant a chance to compete (or to “arm the rebels” in company slang). Shopify says [1.7m]( businesses already use its product. By opening Shop Pay up to Facebook and Google, millions more can join the ranks. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=How+Shopify+became+a+payments+company%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F06212021-Shopify-payments%3Futm_campaign%3DShopify%2BPayments%26utm_content%3D06212021-Shopify-payments%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS NEW! Introducing our new and improved [Snippets](. You can now get extra snippets on your favorite topics. Follow the button below to get started. (It takes less than 30 seconds!) Prime Day -- Amazon’s shopping extravaganza -- starts today and ends tomorrow. Per [CNBC](, Prime Day sales are expected to surpass $7B, with 2m+ items on discount. When will business travel come back? The CEO of Hyatt Hotels thinks it will be [this fall](. FAANG stocks -- Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google -- have risen together in recent years. In [2021](, Facebook and Google are outpacing their Big Tech frenemies. Join the 59,468 others who are now enjoying extra, personalized snippets. Click the button👇 to choose your favorite topics and see your list grow in tomorrow’s email. [Personalize Your Snippets]( Bring Sexy Back to 2021 [models]( The new faces of Victoria’s Secret (Source: Yahoo Finance / Victoria’s Secret) Victoria’s Secret trades its Angels for a more inclusive ‘Collective’ Victoria’s Secret is a brand in desperate need of a pushup. According to [The New York Times](, Martin Waters -- the lingerie brand’s CEO -- believes the scantily clad Angels are no longer “culturally relevant.” The old Victoria’s Secret is being replaced... … with a more inclusive “VS Collective,” with 7 notable women becoming the face for the brand: - Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas - Soccer player Megan Rapinoe - Freestyle skier and future Olympian Eileen Gu - Model Paloma Elsesser - Model Adut Akech - Photographer Amanda de Cadenet - Valentina Sampaio, who [became]( Sports Illustrated’s 1st trans model in 2020 Once the undisputed champ of the lingerie market… … Victoria’s Secret’s market share dropped from ~80% in 2016 to 65% in 2019. Why? Consumers now [prefer]( more body-positive and inclusive brands, comfort over pushup bras, and [athleisure](. In 2010, 10m viewers watched VS’s annual fashion show -- a spectacle of models in angel wings and bejeweled bras. In 2018, only [3m]( watched and it was canceled the following [year](. The VS Collective and the company’s intention to expand sportswear options may help, but it’ll still have to compete with… … the underwear up-and-comers - American Eagle Outfitters’ Aerie ditches photoshop and embraces body positivity. Sales have [grown]( by double-digits every quarter for 6 years. - Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty hit a [$1B]( valuation earlier this year and saw 200%+ sales growth last year. - Gender-inclusive Les Girls Les Boys saw [400%]( YoY sales growth in 2020. Fun fact: Victoria’s Secret’s “Red Hot Fantasy Bra” [contained]( 1.3k gemstones and was valued at $15m. It’s probably not very comfortable, though. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Victoria%E2%80%99s+Secret+trades+its+Angels+for+a+more+inclusive+%E2%80%98Collective%E2%80%99%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F06212021-Victorias-Secret%3Futm_campaign%3DShopify%2BPayments%26utm_content%3D06212021-Victorias-Secret%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Free Resource Here’s the best 2021 State of Marketing report This is marketing under the microscope. Forty-five pages of delicious data gathered from 1.5k+ marketers worldwide. This [free report]( hits the major keys of digital marketing: social media, email, video, content marketing, SEO, customer research, and more. We bestow these free, hot-diggity insights upon you HubSpot, Litmus, and Wistia worked together on this trends analysis to help small- and medium-sized businesses win. This goes behind the scenes and then some. It tells you what’s in, what the best are doing, and top takeaways from the wild world of 2020 to help you craft better marketing strategies today. Do your due diligence and skim this report. [I love quality content →]( By the Numbers [hybrid work preferences stats]( Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index Survey Digits: Erasing student debt, Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator, and shrooms - One year after antitrust regulators blocked their merger with Cengage, McGraw Hill, America’s 3rd largest textbook publisher, will be [acquired]( by Platinum Equity for $4.5B (roughly the cost of 3 college textbooks). - Speaking of college, the Department of Education [erased $500m+ in student loan debt]( owed to ITT Technical Institute after 18k former students claimed fraud. - Microsoft surveyed 30k+ people in 31 countries to surface [7 key work trends for 2021](. Shocking: 41% of employees are thinking of leaving their employers. - [ATAI Life Sciences]( became the 3rd psychedelic company listed on the NASDAQ, alongside Compass Pathways and MindMed. - Amazon [committed]( $150m to support Black-owned businesses through its new Black Business Accelerator, which includes startup and advertising credits, free product photography, and $10k cash grants. Applications open [July 1](. - [Tennessee]( has 50k+ people collecting unemployment. The state’s job board has 250k+ postings, but only 3% show a salary of $20k+. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Digits%3A+Erasing+student+debt%2C+Amazon%E2%80%99s+Black+Business+Accelerator%2C+and+shrooms%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F06212021-digits%3Futm_campaign%3DShopify%2BPayments%26utm_content%3D06212021-digits%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Founding story of the day [Snow Devil screenshot] The Snow Devil website (Source: Product Habits) Shopify’s origin story is definitely unique in tech lore. Shopify CEO and co-founder Tobias Lütke launched an online snowboard shop in 2004, called Snow Devil. According to [Product Habits](, the German-Canadian software engineer built the original store on Yahoo Stores. In an absolute shock to no one, Yahoo’s product sucked. Lütke realized he had to build a custom solution for Snow Devil to integrate payments, inventory, and a decent UX together. The tooling he put together for Snow Devil was repackaged and launched as an ecommerce platform called Shopify in 2006. In that 1st year, the software did $8k a month ($96k annualized). In 2020, Shopify’s revenue was [$2.9B](. SHARE THE HUSTLE [Hustle Cons Greatest Hits ebook]( Over the years, we’ve learned… secrets. The business secrets, tips, and tricks that have helped founders go from zero to millions -- and even billions -- of dollars. Want to see ‘em? Just refer 3 more friends to The Hustle and we’ll send you our curated set of interviews with founders from brands like Zola, AWAY, Vungle, Bonobos, and more. Here’s a message you can use to share with your friends: Hey! Do you read The Hustle? It’s the best daily business newsletter out there -- only takes 5 minutes to read and you’ll sound like the smartest person in the room. Sign up here, it’s free: [ P.S. You can always check your referral count [here](. [Share The Hustle →]( How did you like today’s email? Today's email was brought to you by [Trung Phan](, [Kolby Hatch](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](. Editing by: Brad “Shop Pay Me” Wolverton. [PODCAST]( [JOBS]( [CONTACT US](mailto:news@thehustle.co) [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( [Trends]( 2131 THEO DR. STE F, AUSTIN, TX 78723, UNITED STATES • 415.506.7210 Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](list=thehustle). [The Hustle](