Latest news with #Shopify
Entrepreneur
3 hours ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Why Smart Founders Are Ditching Traditional Business Models
How modern entrepreneurs are shifting from traditional business models to building collaborative systems that benefit partners, users and collaborators alike. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Every entrepreneur faces a fundamental choice: Build everything from scratch, or create something others want to build upon. Now, the smartest founders are discovering a third option that's accelerating their growth faster than either traditional approach. They're building ecosystems — business models where multiple players contribute to and benefit from the same infrastructure. Instead of just selling to customers or licensing to partners, they're creating systems where everyone involved has skin in the game. Related: 3 Business Models That Will Shape the Future of Entrepreneurship in 2025 and Beyond From platform to ecosystem Most entrepreneurs understand platforms. Apple's App Store is a platform — developers build apps, Apple takes a cut, and everyone benefits. Shopify is a platform — merchants sell products, and Shopify provides the infrastructure and takes fees. Ecosystems go deeper. Instead of just allowing others to use your infrastructure, you give them a stake in its development and success. The difference is ownership versus participation. Take Airbnb's evolution. It started as a simple booking platform. Property owners list spaces, travelers book them, and Airbnb takes a cut. However, over time, Airbnb shifted toward an ecosystem mindset. Super Host programs give top performers special benefits and advisory roles. Host advisory boards let property owners influence platform decisions. Community centers provide local support. The more invested hosts become in Airbnb's success, the better the service gets for everyone. The Web3 revolution in business thinking Web3 may sound like tech jargon at times, but it represents a fundamental shift in how businesses operate. Traditional web businesses are centralized, meaning one company owns the platform, makes all the decisions and retains most of the profits. Web3 flips this by distributing ownership and decision-making among users. Instead of Uber owning everything, imagine if the most active drivers and frequent riders had voting rights on new features and shared in the company's profits based on their contributions. Companies are already using Web3 principles without the technical complexity. Patagonia's "1% for the Planet" program empowers customers and suppliers to have a voice in environmental decisions. REI's co-op model gives members actual ownership stakes and voting rights. The core insight: When people feel like co-owners rather than just customers, they become your biggest advocates and contributors. Related: The World Of Web3: A Beginner's Guide To A Space That's Set To Change The World As The Internet Once Did DePIN: Infrastructure without the infrastructure costs Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) represent one of the most practical applications of ecosystem thinking. Instead of building massive infrastructure yourself, you coordinate individuals and businesses to provide pieces of a larger system. Here's how it works in practice: Instead of a telecom company spending billions on cell towers, a DePIN approach would incentivize individuals to install small cell equipment on their buildings. Contributors get paid based on the data they help transmit. The network grows organically without massive upfront investment. Spacecoin demonstrates this model. Rather than building traditional satellite internet infrastructure like SpaceX's Starlink, Spacecoin is creating a decentralized network using blockchain technology built on Creditcoin. They coordinate small, cheap satellites to provide global internet coverage of up to 5G. Individual contributors can participate by running network nodes, and the blockchain automatically manages payments, governance and data transmission. The result: Internet access for underserved regions at just $1-2 per month, compared to traditional satellite internet that costs hundreds of dollars per month. The same principle of coordinating distributed infrastructure applies beyond tech, though with different levels of decentralization. Airbnb coordinates property owners to provide rooms, and DoorDash coordinates drivers for delivery. However, these remain centralized platforms that control payments and governance. They can set commission rates unilaterally, change terms of service, suspend participants and retain all decision-making power about features and policies. This creates dependency where contributors have little say despite providing the actual service. True DePIN goes further by also decentralizing the payment systems and decision-making. Participants vote on network changes, fees are determined by consensus rather than corporate decree, and blockchains automatically distribute payments based on contribution rather than a company taking a predetermined cut. This removes the need for a central company to take fees and make all the rules. When every new user makes the system better Traditional businesses often struggle with scale — more customers mean more complexity, higher costs and operational headaches. Ecosystems flip this dynamic. In a well-designed ecosystem, each new participant makes the system more valuable for everyone else. The key is designing systems where growth creates value for existing participants, not just the company at the center. Building your ecosystem Creating an ecosystem requires rethinking how your business creates and shares value. Here's how to approach it: Start with interdependence: Look for situations where your success depends on others' success. If you're a software company, your success depends on customers getting results. If you're a service business, your success depends on suppliers delivering high-quality products and services. These dependencies are opportunities for ecosystem thinking. Make participation profitable: Don't ask people to contribute for free while promising future rewards. Early ecosystem participants need immediate value — whether that's revenue, cost savings or competitive advantage. Design for contribution: Traditional businesses are designed for consumption — customers buy products and leave. Ecosystems are designed for contribution — participants improve the system through their involvement. Related: How AI Ecosystems Are Transforming the Future of Business The competitive advantage Ecosystems are becoming a competitive necessity in today's business landscape. Customer acquisition costs are rising. Traditional advertising is becoming less effective. Markets are becoming more fragmented. In this environment, businesses that can turn customers into advocates, suppliers into partners and even competitors into collaborators have a massive advantage. They have lower marketing costs, better market intelligence, faster innovation and more resilient business models. The shift from traditional business to ecosystem thinking requires a fundamental mindset change. Instead of asking "How do we capture more value?" the question becomes "How do we create more value for everyone involved?" It means recognizing that sustainable growth comes from making everyone in your system more successful, not just your own company. The entrepreneurs who master this approach are movements — and movements scale faster than companies ever could.
Miami Herald
4 hours ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
From pop-up to permanent: How independent brands are betting big on their first stores
In an age where algorithms curate our lives and screens mediate our interactions, brick-and-mortar retail remains a visceral, irreplaceable force. From the agora of ancient Athens to the mall-rat culture of the '90s, humans have always gathered to touch, taste, and talk. In 2024, merchants with brick-and-mortar stores generated an average of 81% of their total sales in person-up 7 percentage points from 2023, according to Shopify data. This growth underscores a simple truth: The thrill of discovery-a scent, a texture, an unexpected conversation-can't be digitized. It's not a question of online versus offline. It's a hybrid ecosystem where tools dissolve the boundaries, letting brands meet customers exactly where they are. For a viral fragrance brand, one pop-up changed everything When Dossier founder Sergio Tache launched his fragrance brand in 2019, he did it "the hard way." Online-first. Selling $49 dupes (or duplicates) of $300 perfumes meant battling consumer skepticism. Yet Dossier thrived, amassing a cult following thanks to the #FragranceTok community and viral scents like Ambery Vanilla (a dead ringer for YSL's Black Opium). "It just didn't make sense that to go out on a date and smell nice, you had to fork out $150 at Sephora. We wanted to create high-quality perfumes made in France, but sell them at affordable prices for the 99%," says Tache. Despite the brand's meteoric growth, a 2024 pop-up in Manhattan's Nolita neighborhood exposed a blind spot: Demand far exceeded expectations, and a line wrapped around the block for hours. The sight piqued Tache's curiosity. "I was walking down the queue talking to people who were kind enough to wait such a long time. I asked them a simple question, 'why are you here?' They gave me a very simple answer: They wanted to try the perfumes." In addition to their dupes, the pop-up showcased their underdog Originals Collection (their own creations), which customers overlooked online. The in-person response to this collection gave Tache a second revelation. "At the time, it was still a small category for us. But once people got to experiment with them, there was big enthusiasm," says Tache. "I saw that if we want to showcase all the great things we're doing, we need a physical space where people can interact with perfumes in a way that's hard to do online." Fast forward to now, Dossier is opening two NYC stores this summer: an 1,800-square-foot flagship in Nolita and a mall outpost. Their mission: translating a digital-native, minimalist ethos into a tactile, human experience. The stores will showcase all 150+ fragrances, inviting customers to layer scents-a ritual nearly impossible online. With Dossier, brick-and-mortar isn't a detour-it's an elevation. "We want to meet customers where they are. If they want to have a great experience in our own boutiques, we'll meet them there. If they love shopping online, we're online," Tache says. A bookstore gets the tech to power its first chapter For Amanda Badeau, The Archive bookstore wasn't just a pivot to physical retail-it was her first-ever business. As a lifelong booklover who left her corporate job, she wanted to curate a space where people could escape. "I've been working toward this goal my entire life. I have always dreamed of owning a bookstore," says Badeau. In The Archive, Charleston's dark academia haven, moss-green walls, flickering candlelight, and towering shelves of fantasy novels evoke a grown-up Hogwarts. The Archive's opening weekend was a love letter to brick-and-mortar's enduring power. More than 700 fans lined up for hours, some driving as far as from Georgia, to step into Badeau's vision: a moody refuge where $6 glasses of wine pair with $28 "romantasy" hardcovers. Many had learned of The Archive's opening day event from a single viral reel of Badeau ripping a "coming soon" banner off the door. "That day the line just kept growing. I still can't believe that so many people wanted to not only come to our bookstore, but were willing to wait in line for it. It's a very humbling experience." Badeau's sanctuary stocks hundreds of SKUs, from niche titles to locally roasted coffee beans. Uploading inventory via CSV lets her sync real-time stock levels across her shelves. Though The Archive launched as brick-and-mortar first, Badeau's point-of-sale (POS) setup is laying the groundwork for ecommerce. When she does go online, it will be all one unified system. "I wanted to do something where I could host my website, run my online store, and have the physical inventory of the shop linked with the POS. I just wanted everything to be connected," says Badeau. "People on social media are always asking whether we ship. So I want to set up ecommerce, build the brand, and hopefully even expand to other states. I want The Archive to be a household name for anyone who loves books." An IRL laboratory for digitally native brands And then there are the countless brands still testing the waters before diving in. According to 2024 Shopify data, 22% of entrepreneurs sold their products through avenues like craft fairs, holiday markets, and farmers markets, while 17% opted for pop-up shops. TikTok's first family, the D'Amelios (Marc, Heidi, Dixie, and Charli), learned the power of in-person connection through a pop-up shop for their eponymous footwear brand last year. Fans were able to try on shoes, take photos, and even participate in a meet-and-greet with the family. "So much of our journey has been shaped by social media, so stepping into a physical retail space felt like entering a new chapter," says cofounder Marc D'Amelio. "Being able to offer that in-person connection gave us the chance to build trust and hear direct feedback, which was incredibly valuable." It also allowed them to capture customer contact information and preferences, "which is so important for continuing the relationship beyond the pop-up," D'Amelio says. The founders of Eastside Golf, a streetwear-golf brand, left their NYC pop-up with one clear takeaway. "We need our own store," says cofounder Olajuwon Ajanaku. "We generated an incredible reaction from all types of people, whether they were men, women, golfers, or non-golfers." The founders plan to take what they've learned through the pop-up and apply it to their upcoming retail location in the Detroit airport. "Since the beginning, we have always wanted to create a space that's a home base for Eastside Golf, and the pop-up offered us a snapshot of the world of brick and mortar," says cofounder Earl Cooper. This story was produced by Shopify and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. © Stacker Media, LLC.
Fast Company
11 hours ago
- Business
- Fast Company
AI's unfulfilled promise to small businesses
Over the past few years, artificial intelligence has dominated business conversations. What once felt like a futuristic concept is now a tangible, widely accessible tool, one that is now seen as table stakes for businesses. AI's greatest promise is efficiency. For small-business owners who wear multiple hats, this promise sounds like a dream, and for some larger companies, that dream has become reality. Yet for many small and midsize businesses (SMBs) that have invested precious time and money into AI-enabled solutions, that promise remains unfulfilled. As a CEO of a company that provides fintech solutions for SMBs, and as a small-business owner myself, I understand the desire to do more with less. I understand how AI can seem like a magical solution. But the reality is, AI tools are not currently made with small businesses in mind. Whether you have already invested in AI tools, are in the consideration phase, or still testing tools, I urge you to pause everything, take a step back, and reevaluate AI's role in your business. AI's Promise Is Not for the Masses AI is pitched as a game changer for businesses, promising improved productivity, faster workflows, cost savings, and business growth. Major companies like Duolingo and Shopify have even suggested AI can replace human-led roles. And this may be true, for enterprises. This level of efficiency is possible only through custom, complex, and expensive AI models that are programed by dedicated AI teams and trained on an immense amount of data—resources, and results, that are unattainable by SMBs. The reality is, many SMBs are still digitizing their practices, their data sets are small, budgets are tight, and IT resources are minimal. This is why, instead of trying to mirror the AI adoption strategies of large enterprises, SMBs should take a different approach, one that is slow, simple, and focused on business fundamentals. By focusing on core operations like admin, customer service, and reporting, small businesses can lay the groundwork to ensure AI enhances, rather an complicates, their workflows. A False Start: SMBs and AI Adoption It's no surprise that SMB adoption of AI dropped to 28% this year, a 33% year-over-year decline. Some have learned from experience that trying to mimic enterprise adoption of AI has had the opposite effect: draining time, money, and productivity. Many SMBs still have a poor understanding of AI and its learning curves. Without proper in-house resources to implement and train on the technology, SMBs are paying for expensive tools that are not optimized to their business needs. For SMB owners who feel they've overcommitted, I encourage you to pause and reassess. Ask yourself: Is this tool achieving what I need it to? Back to Basics Broad adoption of AI is a costly mistake for SMBs. Business leaders must slow down and thoughtfully assess where AI can truly make an impact. Start small: Choose one area, such as marketing or administrative tasks, and measure results before expanding further. Rather than investing in new tools, explore the AI features already built into your existing tech stack. Tools like Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and Box now offer AI integrations allowing small businesses to easily explore AI applications without significant investment or complexity. By starting with the tools you already use, you not only lower the barrier to entry, you also concentrate your learning and adoption in a familiar environment. AI Applications That Work AI can be highly effective with repetitive tasks such as answering common customer questions and managing inventory. One small business, Something Sweet Cookie Dough, used AI to scale recipes and reduce ingredient waste, while also automating responses to frequently asked customer questions. AI can be a great resource for creative ideation and research as well. However, it's important for a human to review all materials produced by AI as the technology is prone to misinformation and to misinterpretation of the task at hand. I suggest treating AI like a new employee: regularly checking its work, conducting performance reviews, and slowly introducing new tasks. Do not overrely on AI or assume it can operate unsupervised. AI Is Not Automatically Secure Another major oversight is the assumption that AI is inherently secure. Most AI tools—including popular free versions like ChatGPT—learn from the data you share with them. That means sensitive business information could become part of a model's training data. If you're in a regulated industry or working with proprietary or confidential information, this is a major risk to your business and customers. Before you input sensitive data into any AI tool, understand how that data will be stored and used. Once you've done some trial and error with free versions, consider upgrading to enterprise-grade AI tools that offer security, data privacy, and compliance features tailored to you industry. AI Will Have a Place in SMBs AI can support small businesses, but only if the tools are chosen, applied, and monitored with care. Until AI companies build solutions tailored to the unique needs of SMBs, emphasizing simplicity, affordability, and support, it's up to business owners to be diligent in the tool's evaluation. With a measured approach, SMBs can capture the benefits of AI without overinvestment, complicating workflows, or overwhelming you and your team.
Business Insider
16 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
'2025 Has Not Been a Banner Year for Canadian Technology': Shopify Stock (TSE:SHOP) Slides Despite AI Push
Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify (TSE:SHOP) might be one of a few bright spots in the Canadian technology sector. That sector has been suffering in the doldrums for the last several months, but Shopify may help turn it around, at least somewhat. Though a new push into artificial intelligence (AI) is helping, investors are still very skeptical. Shares of Shopify were down nearly 3.5% in Tuesday morning's trading. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. National Bank analyst Richard Tse, who has a five-star rating on TipRanks, spelled it out: 'So far, 2025 has not been a banner year for Canadian technology.' This is, sadly, true; tech stocks dominate the headlines these days, but Shopify is little more than an afterthought. That may change, though, as Tse points out that Shopify's growth in AI is giving it some real help. Tse noted, 'The most notable broad driver of growth and innovation for Shopify is from AI – its application both internally and for its merchants. In our view, this is by far the biggest potential driver of profitability for Shopify care of operating leverage.' Given that Shopify has been pushing aggressively into AI for months—the company will not hire new people without first asking if the job for which they are intended can be done by AI instead—it is clear that Shopify is going all in therein. Rattling the Conference Cage Business conferences are a fairly familiar part of life for many business figures, but Shopify—in a fashion ultimately true to its brand ethos—is shaking up the conference scene, using some unconventional tools to make its conferences more effective. Shopify took its Shopify Summit 2025 event to the Enercare Center in Toronto, and delivered a conference that had a lot more of a vacation to it than an actual conference. For instance, Shopify set up a 'vinyl-listening lounge,' as well as a 'hidden speakeasy.' With spaces set up like garages and shipping materials, Shopify strove to exemplify the ' builder-first culture ' while also providing space for connection and collaboration throughout its global employee base. Is Shopify Stock a Buy or Sell? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on TSE:SHOP stock based on 21 Buys and 10 Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 103.53% rally in its share price over the past year, the average SHOP price target of C$160.81 per share implies 5.21% downside risk.
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
The UK Just Created A Regulated Market For Carbon Removals
Big Ben with bridge over Thames and flag of England against blue sky in London, England, UK We're used to thinking of carbon markets as a punishment mechanism—a tax in disguise for those who pollute. But what happens when the same system starts to reward the people actively cleaning up the atmosphere? After months of consultation, the UK government has laid out a clear path: greenhouse gas removals—including engineered solutions like direct air capture (DAC) and enhanced weathering—will become part of the country's carbon market by the end of this decade. If you're in the weeds of carbon policy, this is a watershed moment. If you're not, here's why it matters: it means corporations will soon be able to buy carbon removal credits in a regulated market—and carbon removal companies will, for the first time, have a predictable, price-driven demand signal for cleaning up the atmosphere. Until now, carbon removals—like DAC, biochar, or enhanced weathering—have mostly lived in the voluntary market, propped up by early-adopter buyers like Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify through initiatives like Frontier. But voluntary demand is tiny. Currently the global voluntary carbon market is worth just $2 billion. By contrast, the global compliance carbon market—driven by schemes like the European Union's Emissions Trading System, California's Cap-and-Trade, and now the UK Emissions Trading system (ETS)—was valued at over $800 billion. Right now, the UK ETS covers around 111 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually across the power, industrial, and aviation sectors. The average price of a UK allowance in July 2025 is around $48 per tonne. Even if just 1% of UK ETS obligations are fulfilled through removals, that's a potential $43 million market annually for removals. And here's the key: this isn't a hypothetical. The UK has committed to legislating integration by 2028, with removals entering the market by the end of 2029. That timeline is long enough to allow for standard setting and infrastructure development, but near enough to start attracting real investment now. For a sector that's often lived off philanthropic capital and early adopter corporate buyers, this is oxygen. What does this mean in practice? A few things. First, only removals that take place on UK soil will be eligible—this ensures that the benefits of investment (jobs, infrastructure, MRV capabilities) stay local. Second, removal credits will be awarded after the carbon has been verified to be sequestered, not in advance. That's important. It signals a clear move away from the 'pay-now-promise-later' dynamic that has plagued lower-integrity offset markets. Perhaps most importantly, only removals that can demonstrate carbon will be stored for at least 200 years will qualify. That threshold effectively draws a line in the sand: no reforestation credits that could reverse in a few decades. The UK is saying, if you want an allowance, your removal better last two centuries. That's a powerful signal to companies focused on permanence—those relying on mineralization, geologic storage, or stable biochar. The government has also indicated it is 'minded to differentiate' between these new removal credits and existing allowances—potentially creating a dual-credit system. In other words, a tonne of avoided emissions and a tonne of removed carbon might be priced and treated differently. That opens up the potential for two carbon markets to exist side-by-side: one punishing emitters, the other incentivizing removers. It's a nuanced idea, but if done well, it could provide flexibility while preserving environmental integrity. There will be auctions to facilitate a route to market—helping removal operators sell their credits into a structured and transparent system, rather than relying solely on opaque bilateral deals. The government will also maintain the existing 'gross cap'—that is, the total amount of allowances won't increase to accommodate removals. This ensures that carbon removals don't create space for additional emissions. It's not a license to pollute—it's a tool to neutralize emissions that can't be cut. Some of this might sound arcane, but it reflects a growing maturity in how we think about removals. Climate science is clear: reaching net zero means both cutting emissions and removing what we can't avoid. The UK is the first country to bake that second half of the equation into its compliance market architecture. This decision is also a direct boost to the UK's emerging carbon removal ecosystem. Take UNDO, a recent XPRIZE winner, which spreads finely crushed basalt on farmlands to accelerate natural weathering processes—permanently storing carbon in soils. Or Mission Zero Technologies, a direct air capture startup developing modular electrochemical systems that capture CO₂ from ambient air and store it underground. Both are UK-based, and both could now see a real, regulated path to monetizing their impact—not through donations or hype cycles, but through policy-anchored carbon demand. And this matters beyond the UK. Globally, the carbon removal sector must grow from removing tens of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ per year to billions by 2050. That means turning niche science projects into bankable infrastructure. It means shifting from tech demonstrations to projects that institutional investors, insurers, and utilities can underwrite. None of that happens without real markets—and until now, those have been missing. The UK's move is not perfect, and it won't be fast. But it's a milestone: the first major economy to say, explicitly, that carbon removal belongs in the same market as pollution—and that removing carbon deserves the same financial seriousness as cutting it.
