Newsletter #50: Shopify's 1 trillion milestone, Podscan, and Toronto

Hi there,

I hope you're feeling good.

Today is a big day: my newsletter is 1 year old!

I remember very well the day I started it. I was in the French countryside, enjoying a peaceful off-grid retreat with my mum. We were spending our time walking, chatting, cooking, and reading in our lounge chairs on the wooden terrace.

I took some time to reflect on my professional journey as a freelance Shopify developer. Maybe it was time to start a new side project?

The idea of launching a newsletter appealed to me for 3 reasons.

First, I genuinely enjoy writing. From 2013 to 2020, I had a blog where I wrote 200+ reviews about movies and TV shows. Since I closed the blog, I have always missed writing.

Secondly, in this fast-paced world, I felt it would be nice to slow down. I liked the idea of putting my thoughts on paper and creating something lasting that I could revisit later.

Third, I had a growing audience on LinkedIn and Twitter. People enjoyed following me to stay up to date with the latest Shopify news. However, how much of that audience would follow me if I went off track a little bit? Would they care if I shared something other than Shopify news? There was only one way to find out…

A year later, I’m extremely happy to have:

• 800 subscribers

• 50 editions published (weekly publication, except during Christmas holidays)

• 64% open rate

Thank you so much to every single one of you.

As a little present to myself, I’m migrating my newsletter from Substack to Beehiiv. It provides a better writing experience, deeper analytics, and more customization options. Overall, Beehiiv appears to be more dynamic than Substack in shipping much-needed features.

Now, before we embark on this second year together, allow me to present today’s sponsor.

New Shopify Theme Joins The Themes Store 🎉

Vevol Themes, a sister company to Vevol Media, proudly launches Noblesse. It features interactive video storytelling, optimized navigation, and lightning-fast loading speeds, ideal for the fashion and beauty sectors. 

It exemplifies flexibility, scalability, and reusability. Co-founders Bogdan Dogaru and Dan Nistor emphasize their commitment to quality, aiming to redefine eCommerce standards. 

Explore Noblesse on the Shopify Themes Store or read their press release here.

In today’s edition, we’re discussing Shopify's 1 trillion milestone, Podscan, and Toronto.

Let's dive in.

Work

If there is one number to remember this year, it’s definitely this one.

Shopify just crossed $1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) in cumulative gross merchandise volume (GMV), which is the aggregate value of all sales conducted through the platform.

The platform’s growth is absolutely outstanding.

10 years ago, Shopify had 100K merchants. Today, it has millions of merchants.

When do you think the 2 trillion in GMV milestone will be crossed? Should we place bets?

I’ll start: I bet that Shopify will cross the 2 trillion in GMV milestone on January 29th, 2026.

Why 2026? Well, 90% of the first trillion came from the last 5 years. So I think reaching the second trillion in half that time (two and a half years) sounds like a good challenge.

Why January 29th? Because it’s my brother’s birthday so I have a very good feeling about this date.

What’s your bet?

Inspire

Arvid Kahl just launched a super interesting service: Podscan.

Podscan monitors all podcasts and alerts you when one of them mentions you or your brand.

Several entrepreneurs I follow, including Pieter Levels, subscribed to Podscan and were very satisfied with the first results it returned.

It really seems like a cool product: fascinating to build and providing great value to its users.

The alerts are real-time: you are notified the minute a podcast mentions you or your brand. This often happens within minutes after the podcast’s release, meaning you’ll know what was said about you even before listeners do.

I’ve seen initiatives like this in the past, with tools such as Mention that allow you to monitor mentions of your brand on social media. But it’s the first time I’ve seen this for podcasts.

Learn more on Podscan’s website and on Arvid Khal’s Twitter account.

Explore

On Sunday, I’ll be boarding a flight to Toronto.

I’m looking forward to meeting everyone in the Shopify ecosystem who will be attending the editions.dev event.

After that, I’ll spend some time exploring the city. It will be my first time in Canada, I’m super excited to discover it!

If you have any tips or recommendations on what to see or do in Toronto, feel free to reach out.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading this edition until the end.

I'll talk to you soon.

Take good care of yourself.

Coralie