For a long time, “I have an idea for a business” was followed by “I just need…” Would-be entrepreneurs had the inspiration but got stuck because of logistics, like needing development support to build an online store or enough capital to buy inventory of multiple products.
Over the last decade or so, e-commerce platforms and AI have shifted the equation, making it less of a hurdle to start a business. According to Shopify’s Entrepreneur Effect report, 86% of entrepreneurs say e-commerce platforms have made starting a business easier than it was 10 years ago.
Logistics is finally keeping pace with inspiration, and entrepreneurship is surging. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, business applications in the United States have reached historically high levels, while the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor reports high levels of entrepreneurial activity across many economies. The number of first-time sellers on Shopify has increased sevenfold since 2018.
Here are three ways the business-building playbook has changed, and why it’s not just entrepreneurs who benefit — it’s all of us.
Starting small is becoming a strategy
Across the platform, new Shopify sellers make a first sale every 26 seconds. Among those who do, half receive their first order within about three weeks of launching their online store.
A shop doesn’t need to be expansive to be ready for launch: 41% of stores launch with a single product. The report shows that serving a niche is becoming a strength, especially as AI makes it easier for customers to find specialized products.
Through AI chat, shoppers can now get personalized recommendations for something specific they’re looking for. This shift is driving not just volume, but quality customers. In the period Shopify measured, AI-referred sessions converted 80% better than organic-search sessions, and led to 14% larger average order sizes.
Seventy-five percent of those AI-referred sales came from merchants selling outside the platform’s 100 most common product categories. In fact, nearly 54% of new stores sell products outside those categories altogether. What that means: Niche products are outperforming the mainstream, and AI is helping buyers find the super-specific products they’re looking for.
Local business, global customer base
Shop owners no longer need to be near a major market to reach one. Where a business is built is starting to matter less than what it’s selling and how well it finds its customers.
An order from a rural merchant now travels an average of 1,118 miles, close to the 1,162-mile average for an urban merchant. And shop owners can also put their goods in front of an international audience. Rural Shopify merchants generated $2.9 billion in international sales in 2025, up from $655 million in 2019.
Founders still have to decide what’s worth making and whether they can make a living selling it, but AI and other technologies give them far more help getting started. New merchants who used onboarding support from Shopify’s Sidekick, an AI commerce assistant, were 8% more likely to reach five orders within 15 days. Shopify merchants installed 21 million apps in 2025, getting help with tasks that are difficult for a small operation to handle alone.
A strong economic ripple effect
As more people find a practical way to go from “Why doesn’t someone make this?” to creating and launching their own product and store, the benefits can extend well beyond their own business. Shopify merchants made more than $68 billion in international sales last year, and Shopify estimates that its ecosystem supported more than 9.6 million jobs and generated over $1.2 trillion in economic activity. A business that finds its customers can eventually become an employer, a steady client for another small business, and a pillar in its local community.
Shoppers are benefitting from this entrepreneurial shift, too. Now that a small shop can be discovered on merit rather than media spend, consumers can find precisely what they’re looking for. In 2025, 186 million people bought from a business on Shopify for the first time, at a rate of 6 sales per second.
When you add it up, everyone wins. The entrepreneur gets a shot, the economy gets new employers, and shoppers can find what they actually want. Of course, there’s still plenty of work between “I have an idea” and a successful business. But the latest data makes the case that starting — and succeeding — is easier than ever.
Explore the Entrepreneur Effect.
This sponsored post was created by BI Studios with Shopify.
