How Much Do Shopify Stores Make? [133,894-Store Data Study]

TL;DR from 133,894 real Shopify stores:

• The often-quoted "$5,583/month average" is misleading. It's a mean skewed by the top 1%, who account for 80% of Shopify's total GMV
• 43.8% of stores get under 50K monthly visitors (estimated under $100K/month revenue). Only 1.4% reach 1M+ visitors ($2M+/month)
• High-revenue stores invest more: 1M+ traffic stores average 2.9 apps vs 1.4 for stores under 50K
• Beauty and Health & Wellness stores invest the most per store (2.3 and 2.1 avg apps), pointing to stronger margins
• Shopify Plus stores average 2.2 apps vs 0.8 for standard stores and carry 2,089 products vs 828. They're completely different businesses
• Only 5-10% of Shopify stores reach long-term profitability

---

Every article about Shopify store earnings quotes the same number: "$5,583 per month."

That stat comes from a 2020 Shopify survey. It gets copy-pasted from blog to blog without context, without methodology, and without anyone asking whether it's still accurate, or if it was ever useful in the first place.

Here's the problem: averages lie. If Jeff Bezos walks into a bar, the average net worth of everyone in the room is $50 billion. That doesn't mean you're a billionaire.

Shopify has the same problem. The top 1% of stores account for 80% of platform revenue. The "average" is meaningless.

We took a different approach. Instead of surveys, we analyzed 133,894 live Shopify stores in the StoreInspect database. We looked at traffic tiers, tech stacks, niches, and investment signals to build a real picture of what stores earn and what separates the ones making money from the ones that aren't.

Quick note: This won't tell you exactly how much you'll make. Revenue depends on your niche, execution, marketing, and a hundred other factors. What we can show you is what's actually happening across 133,894 real stores.

---

How We Measured Revenue (And Why It's Hard)

Shopify doesn't publish individual store revenue. No tool can tell you exactly how much a store makes. But you can estimate it using observable signals, and some signals are much better than others.

Our method:

Revenue estimation formula:

Estimated Monthly Revenue = Monthly Traffic × Conversion Rate × Average Order Value

Industry benchmarks put conversion at 1-3% and average order value at $50-$150 depending on niche. A store with 100K monthly visitors, 2% conversion, and $80 AOV is doing roughly $160,000/month.

We use traffic tiers as our primary proxy and cross-reference with tech stack investment to validate. Stores don't spend $500/month on Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Rebuy unless the revenue justifies it.

What we can't measure: Exact conversion rates, actual AOV, repeat purchase rates, or offline revenue. Our estimates point you in the right direction, but they're not exact.

Dataset: 133,894 Shopify stores across 15 categories, scanned via frontend detection patterns for apps, pixels, themes, and Shopify Plus status. Full methodology details here.

---

The Revenue Distribution: What 133,894 Stores Actually Earn

This is how stores break down by estimated revenue bracket:

What this tells us:

The data splits into two big groups. Nearly half the stores (43.8%) are in the under-$100K tier. Many of these are early-stage or side projects. Another 44.8% sit in the $400K-$2M range, which represents established businesses with real marketing operations.

Only 1.4% of stores in our database reach 1M+ monthly visitors (estimated $2M+/month). These are the stores that skew the "average" everyone quotes.

Why our sample skews high: 69.6% of stores in our database are on Shopify Plus, which starts at $2,300/month. Our sample over-represents established businesses. The real-world distribution has an even longer tail of small stores. Industry estimates suggest 5-10% of all Shopify stores achieve long-term profitability.

---

The Investment Escalator: How Spending Grows with Revenue

The data makes one thing very obvious: stores spend more as they grow. App count, pixel count, and marketing tools all go up with traffic tier.

The pattern is clear: Stores in the 1M-5M tier run twice as many apps as stores under 50K. They also run nearly twice the tracking pixels, indicating diversified ad spend across multiple platforms.

This isn't a coincidence. Stores don't pay for expensive tools unless they have the revenue to justify it. A store running Klaviyo (email), Gorgias (support), Rebuy (upsells), and Elevar (analytics) is spending $500-$1,500/month on apps alone. That requires at minimum $50K-$100K/month in revenue to make sense.

Key insight: If you're researching a competitor or evaluating a store for acquisition, check their tech stack first. App count is one of the most reliable external signals of revenue. Use the free Store Inspector extension to check any store in seconds.

---

Revenue by Niche: Which Categories Earn More?

Some niches just make more money than others. You can see it in how much stores invest in their tech stack. Higher margins mean more budget for tools.

Beauty leads. Brands like Glossier and Kylie Cosmetics set the standard in this space. Beauty stores average 2.3 apps per store (the highest of any category) and have the highest Shopify Plus adoption (79.1%). Skincare and cosmetics drive repeat purchases, which means higher lifetime value and more budget for tools.

Health & Wellness is close behind at 2.1 apps. Supplements and wellness products are natural subscription businesses. Brands like AG1 and Huel invest heavily in email and retention because their customers reorder monthly.

Fashion is the biggest category but not the most invested. With 33,127 stores, Fashion is by far the largest niche. But its average of 1.9 apps is lower than Beauty or Health, likely because the sheer number of early-stage fashion stores pulls the average down. Established brands like Gymshark and Fashion Nova run full stacks, but most fashion stores don't.

Electronics has high Plus adoption despite fewer apps. At 77.4% Shopify Plus but only 1.6 average apps, Electronics stores tend to be larger businesses with higher order values that need fewer retention tools. The revenue is there. They just get it through higher AOV rather than repeat purchases.

For a deeper dive on which niches perform best, see our Best Shopify Niches ranking.

---

What High-Revenue Stores Look Like (vs Everyone Else)

We compared the top-performing stores (1M+ monthly visitors on Shopify Plus) against early-stage stores (under 50K visitors on standard plans).

High-revenue stores have 4-5x the tech investment of early-stage stores. Think Allbirds, Brooklinen, or Gymshark. They all run Klaviyo, Gorgias, reviews apps, and multiple tracking pixels. They didn't start with all those tools. As revenue grew, they added tools to sustain that growth.

The app stack progression

This is what the tech stack typically looks like at each stage:

Under $100K/month (0-2 apps):

• Basic email (Mailchimp free tier or Klaviyo starter)
• Maybe a reviews app (Judge.me free plan)
• 1-3 tracking pixels (Meta, Google Analytics)

$100K-$400K/month (2-3 apps):

• Dedicated email marketing (Klaviyo paid tier)
• Reviews app (Judge.me or Yotpo)
• Starting to add support tools
• 4-6 tracking pixels (adding TikTok, Pinterest)

$400K-$2M/month (3-5 apps):

• Full email + SMS stack (Klaviyo + Postscript or Attentive)
• Dedicated support platform (Gorgias)
• Upsell tools (Rebuy)
• Loyalty program (Smile.io or Yotpo Loyalty)
• 6-8 tracking pixels across multiple ad platforms

$2M+/month (4-6+ apps):

• Enterprise email + SMS + attribution
• Advanced analytics (Elevar, Northbeam)
• Full support stack
• Subscription tools if applicable
• 7-10+ tracking pixels with server-side tracking

Want to see where a specific store falls? Install the free Store Inspector extension and check any Shopify store's apps, pixels, and theme in seconds.

---

App Stack Complexity: What the Numbers Say

App stack complexity varies a lot:

Nearly 1 in 5 stores has zero detected apps. These are either very early-stage, running exclusively backend tools we can't detect, or simply haven't invested in their stack yet.

The sweet spot is 3-5 apps. These stores have lead scores of 89 (out of 100) and run an average of 6.6 tracking pixels. They represent the established businesses that have figured out what works.

Only 2.5% of stores run 6+ apps. If you're running more than 5 frontend apps, you're in the top 3% of Shopify stores by tech stack complexity. You're almost certainly doing well.

---

The Shopify Plus Effect

Shopify Plus starts at $2,300/month. No one pays that unless they have the revenue to justify it. The numbers tell the story:

These aren't just slightly different stores. They're completely different businesses. Plus stores carry 2.5x more products, run nearly 3x the apps, and have 3.4x the tracking pixels. The gap between Plus and standard is the gap between a business investing in growth and one that hasn't gotten there yet.

Plus adoption by traffic tier

At the 200K-1M tier, Plus adoption hits 99.6%. Once stores reach this level, they essentially need Plus for checkout customization, automation, and advanced features. If you're evaluating a store and it's NOT on Plus but has 200K+ monthly traffic, that's unusual and worth investigating.

For more on how to identify Shopify Plus stores, see our Shopify Plus detection guide.

---

Where the Money Isn't Being Spent (Opportunity Gaps)

Some of the most revealing data is what stores are NOT doing. Here are the gaps in app adoption by traffic tier:

70% of small stores have no email marketing app. That's potentially the single biggest revenue gap in ecommerce. Email marketing typically generates 30-40% of revenue for stores that use it well.

Even among stores with 1M+ monthly visitors, 43.5% have no detected email app and 66.2% have no reviews app. That's a lot of money left on the table, and a lot of opportunity for agencies and SaaS companies selling into this market.

If you sell to Shopify stores: Use StoreInspect to filter stores by missing apps. A store doing $2M/month with no email app is a better prospect than a store doing $50K with a full stack. Browse stores with gaps.

---

The Real Cost of Running a Shopify Store

Revenue means nothing without understanding costs. This is what stores actually pay at each tier:

Platform costs

Typical app costs by stage

These are representative ranges based on published pricing for Klaviyo, Judge.me, Gorgias, Rebuy, and Elevar.

Ad spend signals from our data

Pixel count indicates how many ad platforms a store uses:

Stores under 50K visitors average 3.3 pixels. Stores in the 1M-5M tier average 5.7. The difference reflects increasing marketing investment as stores scale.

---

Revenue by Business Model

Different business models produce different revenue profiles. Our data doesn't distinguish business models directly, but industry benchmarks give a rough picture:

Sources: TrueProfit analysis, industry benchmarks.

What our data shows: Stores in categories with natural subscription potential (Health & Wellness, Beauty, Food & Beverage) invest more in their tech stack, which points to stronger margins. Beauty stores average 2.3 apps (the highest of any category), likely because repeat purchases from loyal customers justify the investment.

---

How Long Does It Take to Be Profitable?

Let's be honest about this one.

The harsh reality:

• Only 5-10% of Shopify stores achieve long-term sustainable profitability (source)
• 60% of new stores make under $1,000/month (TrueProfit data)
• Only ~10% of newly launched stores remain active after the first 90 days (source)
• Most successful stores take 3-6 months to generate consistent sales

Signals from our data that a store is surviving and growing:

The bottom line: Shopify makes it easy to start a store. Making it profitable is a different story. The stores that succeed have strong product-market fit, invest in marketing from the start, and treat it as a real business, not a side project.

---

How to Estimate Any Store's Revenue

Want to quickly estimate what a specific store is making? Use this 3-step framework based on our data:

Step 1: Check their tech stack

Install the free Store Inspector extension and visit the store. Count their apps and pixels.

Step 2: Check for Shopify Plus

If the store is on Shopify Plus (the extension will tell you), add confidence to a higher estimate. Plus stores average 2.2 apps and 5.8 pixels. They're serious businesses.

Step 3: Cross-reference with traffic data

Use SimilarWeb (free tier) to get a rough traffic estimate. Combine with the tech stack data for a more reliable picture.

For the full 7-method framework, see our detailed guide: How to Check Shopify Store Revenue.

---

FAQ

How much does the average Shopify store make per month?

The commonly cited number is $5,583/month, based on a 2020 Shopify survey. But this average is misleading because the top 1% of stores generate 80% of Shopify's total GMV, which skews the mean way up. The median store likely earns much less. Our data shows 43.8% of stores have under 50K monthly visitors, which means most stores earn under $100K/month, and many earn far less.

Can you realistically make $10,000/month on Shopify?

Yes, but it's not typical. Our data shows only about 56% of stores in our database exceed the 50K monthly visitor threshold where $10K+/month becomes realistic. For new stores, reaching $10K/month usually takes 6-12 months of consistent effort with good product-market fit and marketing investment. Branded DTC and subscription models are more likely to reach this level than dropshipping.

What percentage of Shopify stores are profitable?

Industry estimates suggest 5-10% of Shopify stores achieve long-term profitability. Only about 10% of newly launched stores remain active after 90 days. The high failure rate is largely due to unrealistic expectations, poor marketing, and treating Shopify as a get-rich-quick scheme rather than a real business.

How much do Shopify dropshipping stores make?

Most dropshipping stores make between $500-$5,000/month with profit margins of 5-15%. The margins are thin because you're competing on price with many other sellers offering the same products. Our data shows that branded stores invest a lot more in their tech stack (more apps, more pixels), which points to stronger margins than dropshipping operations.

How much does it cost to run a Shopify store per month?

Basic costs start at $39/month for the platform. But real costs depend on your stage: early stores might spend $50-$200/month total (plan + a couple apps). Growing stores in the $100K-$400K/month revenue range typically spend $500-$1,000/month on platform + apps. Enterprise stores on Shopify Plus can spend $5,000-$10,000+/month on platform, apps, and tools before ad spend.

Which Shopify niche makes the most money?

Based on our analysis of 133,894 stores, Beauty leads in tech stack investment (2.3 average apps, 79.1% Shopify Plus adoption), which points to the strongest margins. Health & Wellness and Baby & Kids follow closely. Fashion is the largest category by store count but has lower per-store investment, likely diluted by the huge number of early-stage fashion stores. See our full niche ranking for details.

How much do Shopify Plus stores make?

Shopify Plus stores are completely different from standard stores. They average 2.2 apps vs 0.8 for standard, 5.8 pixels vs 1.7, and carry 2,089 products vs 828. Plus starts at $2,300/month, so these stores need significant revenue to justify the cost. Most Plus stores are in the $400K+/month range, with the platform becoming essentially standard (99.6% adoption) at the 200K-1M monthly visitor tier.

Can you see how much a Shopify store makes?

You can't see exact revenue for any Shopify store (unless they're publicly traded or share numbers). But you can estimate it using observable signals: traffic data from tools like SimilarWeb, tech stack analysis from Store Inspector, and social proof signals. Our full revenue estimation guide covers 7 methods ranked by accuracy.

Is Shopify still worth it in 2026?

Yes, if you approach it as a real business. Shopify processes over $290 billion in annual GMV and powers millions of stores. The platform itself isn't the problem. The 90%+ failure rate comes from poor execution, not platform limitations. Our data shows that stores which invest in their tech stack (3+ apps, email marketing, reviews) have much higher lead fit scores, which tells us they're building sustainable businesses.

How much do the top 1% of Shopify stores make?

The top 1% of Shopify stores account for 80% of the platform's total GMV of $292 billion (2024). That puts the top ~56,000 stores collectively generating over $230 billion, or roughly $340K+/month per store on average within that top tier. The very top stores (Gymshark, Allbirds, Fashion Nova) do hundreds of millions per year.

What is a realistic Shopify income for a new store?

For the first 3-6 months, most stores earn between $0-$2,000/month. After 6-12 months with consistent effort, successful stores typically reach $5,000-$20,000/month. To reach $50K+/month usually takes 1-2 years of dedicated work with real marketing investment. The stores that scale fastest typically have a differentiated product, invest in paid acquisition from the start, and build an email list from day one.

How can I tell if a competitor's store is doing well?

Check their tech stack with the free Store Inspector extension. Key signals: 3+ apps (especially Klaviyo, Gorgias, Rebuy), Shopify Plus, 5+ tracking pixels, and a paid or custom theme. Cross-reference with SimilarWeb traffic data and Meta Ad Library to see their advertising activity. For a comprehensive framework, see our competitor analysis guide.

---

What This Means For You

This data means different things depending on who you are.

If you run a Shopify store

Benchmark yourself. Find your traffic tier in the tables above and see how your app count, pixel count, and theme compare to the average. If you're in the 50K-200K tier with zero email marketing, you're behind 49% of stores at your level who already have it.

Follow the growth path. The data shows a clear order: email first, reviews second, then support or loyalty as you scale. Don't skip ahead. Get the basics right before adding complexity.

Don't over-invest too early. The sweet spot is 3-5 apps. Only 2.5% of stores run 6+. More apps means more scripts, slower pages, and more monthly costs. Every app should earn its place.

If you're an agency or freelancer

Use gaps to find prospects. 70% of stores under 50K traffic have no email app. 84% have no reviews. These aren't just stats. They're leads. A store doing 100K monthly visitors with no email marketing is leaving money on the table, and they probably know it.

Filter by Shopify Plus. Plus stores have 2.2x more apps and much higher budgets. They're also more likely to hire agencies. Use StoreInspect to filter by Plus status, traffic tier, and missing app categories.

Lead with data. Instead of "Do you need email marketing?", try: "I noticed your store is in the top 30% by traffic but you're missing email and reviews, the two most common apps in your niche." Data-backed outreach converts better. See our cold email templates for scripts.

If you sell apps or SaaS to Shopify stores

The opportunity is huge. 59% of stores have no email app. 78% have no reviews. 93% have no support tool. Every one of those gaps is a potential customer.

Target by niche. Beauty stores run 53% more apps than the average. Health & Wellness has strong email adoption. Focus your marketing where stores already invest. They're more likely to add one more tool.

Build integrations. The most common app pair is Klaviyo + Judge.me. If you build a reviews app, make sure it integrates with Klaviyo. If you build a loyalty app, make sure it works with email tools. See the full tech stack study for co-installation patterns.

---

Summary

Key findings from 133,894 Shopify stores:

The bottom line: The "$5,583/month average" is meaningless. What actually matters is your traffic tier, your tech stack investment, and your niche. The stores that make real money invest in the right tools at the right time, and the data shows a clear pattern of what that looks like at every stage.

---

Want to analyze stores at scale?

StoreInspect has 133,894+ stores with tech stack data, traffic tiers, and verified contacts. Filter by category, apps, revenue signals, and missing tools, then export your leads.

Browse the Database →

Want to check a single store?

Install Store Inspector - free Chrome extension. See apps, pixels, themes, and Shopify Plus status in one click.

Browse Top Stores by Category →

---

Related Guides

• How to Check Shopify Store Revenue [7 Methods + 4,898-Store Study] - The full 7-method framework for estimating any store's revenue
• Shopify Tech Stack: What Successful Stores Actually Run [120,017-Store Study] - Deep dive on app adoption, pixel usage, and theme data
• Best Shopify Niches in 2026 [23,619-Store Data Study] - Which niches have the strongest margins and growth
• How to Value a Shopify Store [83,258-Store Study + Formulas] - Revenue-based valuation methods
• How to Analyze Shopify Competitors [5,000-Store Data Study] - Complete competitor analysis framework
• How to Sell to Shopify Stores [91,694-Store Study + Pitch Scripts] - Prospecting playbook for agencies and SaaS