Shopify’s Growing Influence in European E-commerce

The competition between e-commerce platforms is intensifying across Europe. New data suggests that Shopify is gaining significant momentum in the region, particularly among newly launched online stores. While platforms such as WooCommerce and PrestaShop remain important parts of the European e-commerce ecosystem, Shopify is increasingly becoming the platform of choice for new merchants.

According to analysis from ShopRank, which examined 324,000 new e-commerce stores launched in Europe in 2025, Shopify powered 148,044 of those stores, compared with 99,140 built on WooCommerce and 9,747 on PrestaShop. This means Shopify generated roughly 1.5 new stores for every WooCommerce store created during that period.

The findings highlight an important shift in how new European e-commerce businesses are choosing their technology stack.

Shopify Leads New Store Creation Across European Markets

The trend is visible across multiple countries. In the Netherlands, for example, 54 percent of new stores launched in 2025 used Shopify, while in France the share reached nearly 49 percent. Spain also showed strong adoption, with around 41 percent of new stores choosing the platform.

What makes this development notable is the difference between new-store share and overall installed market share. In many markets, Shopify’s share among newly created stores is significantly higher than its share of all active e-commerce stores.

For instance, in the Netherlands, Shopify currently holds around 31 percent of all e-commerce stores, but among stores launched in 2025, the share jumped to over 54 percent. Similar double-digit increases appear in France, Italy, and Spain.

This suggests that Shopify is becoming particularly attractive to new entrants in the e-commerce market.

A Shift in Platform Preferences

The growth of Shopify does not necessarily mean other platforms are disappearing. Instead, the data suggests that the competitive dynamics between platforms are evolving.

PrestaShop, historically strong in Southern Europe, shows a decline in its share of newly created stores. In France, for example, it accounts for 14 percent of all active stores but only about 5 percent of stores launched in 2025. Similar patterns appear in Spain and Italy.

WooCommerce presents a more nuanced picture. While it loses share in some markets, it continues to perform strongly in others, such as Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

These shifts indicate that platform competition is not simply about replacing existing systems. Instead, different platforms may appeal to different types of merchants and business models.

Shopify’s Strength in DTC and Lifestyle Brands

One of the clearest patterns in the data relates to the types of stores being created on Shopify.

More than half of new Shopify stores fall into lifestyle-driven categories such as clothing, accessories, health, and beauty. These sectors are often dominated by direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, startups, and social-commerce businesses.

These businesses typically prioritize:

• Fast store setup
  
• Integrated payment and logistics tools
  
• Strong marketing and branding capabilities
  

Shopify’s ecosystem, including built-in commerce tools and app integrations, is designed to support exactly these types of businesses.

By contrast, WooCommerce and other platforms tend to attract a broader mix of categories such as food, electronics, home goods, and automotive parts.

The Role Of Icecat In Shopify Commerce

As Shopify adoption grows, product content management becomes an increasingly important operational challenge. Merchants must manage large product catalogs, maintain consistent product specifications, and ensure that product pages contain accurate and comparable information.

This is where solutions such as Icecat’s Shopify integration support e-commerce operations. By connecting Shopify stores with Icecat’s structured product data, merchants can automatically enrich product pages with standardized specifications, images, and marketing content.

This reduces manual catalog work while improving product presentation and consistency across online stores. For merchants operating in competitive e-commerce markets, structured product content helps accelerate catalog onboarding, improve discoverability, and support better purchasing decisions.

Click here to learn more about Icecat’s Shopify Connector!

Europe is Becoming A Key Growth Region

Shopify’s expansion in Europe is supported by strong regional growth. The company has reported double-digit increases in gross merchandise value (GMV) in the region, including periods where growth exceeded 40 percent year-on-year.

Europe is becoming one of Shopify’s most important markets outside North America. The region benefits from a large base of small and medium-sized merchants, strong cross-border e-commerce activity, and a rapidly developing digital commerce ecosystem. At the same time, many European retailers are looking for platforms that allow them to scale internationally while keeping operational complexity manageable.

What This Means For The Ecommerce Ecosystem

Shopify’s momentum reflects a broader shift in how e-commerce businesses are launched and operated. Increasingly, merchants are choosing cloud-based platforms that offer ready-to-use integrations for payments, logistics, marketing, and analytics. This reduces the technical barriers traditionally associated with launching an online store.

However, as more merchants enter the market, competition is intensifying. Success depends not only on the e-commerce platform itself, but also on product data quality, discoverability, and consistent product content across channels.