The Entrepreneur Effect

The Entrepreneur Effect is the economic and societal impact created when more people start and grow businesses. Entrepreneurs support jobs, generate economic activity, expand consumer choice, and help money circulate through local communities. This counters the “fixed pie fallacy”—the idea that economic opportunity is fixed—because entrepreneurs create new products, demand, and jobs rather than simply redistributing existing value. In the last year, Shopify-powered businesses supported more than 9.6 million jobs and generated more than $1.2 trillion in global economic activity.

Cite this reference as: Shopify, “The Entrepreneur Effect,” 2026, shopify.com/entrepreneur and include your date of access, or embed the link to this site within your reference. Individual findings should be attributed to Shopify and, where identified in the methodology, the relevant survey or external source. Journalists and researchers seeking additional detail can contact press@shopify.com

This research combines aggregated Shopify platform data, third-party and merchant surveys, and economic-impact modelling. Different findings use different sources and methods. Estimates of jobs supported and economic activity use an input-output framework informed by Shopify merchant and partner activity and OECD global supply-chain data. Survey findings identify the survey provider, sample, markets, and fieldwork dates where applicable. See the methodology section for the source, scope, definitions, and reporting period behind each finding.

Entrepreneurship has grown substantially on Shopify, while several external indicators also show elevated business formation in many markets. In 2025, seven times as many Shopify stores made their first sale as in 2018. Business formation in the United States and startup activity in many regions have also reached record levels. 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.

Small businesses are major job creators, but global totals vary by definition and source. In the last year, Shopify’s merchant and partner ecosystem supported more than 9.6 million jobs. That ecosystem includes Shopify-powered businesses and the app developers, theme designers, agencies, and other experts that help them operate and grow. “Jobs supported” captures employment associated with the ecosystem’s direct, indirect, and induced economic activity.

The average age of an entrepreneur is about 42, based on responses to Shopify’s 2026 Merchant Pulse Survey. The largest age group was 35–44, representing 31% of respondents, followed by those aged 45–54 at 24% and 25–34 at 23%.

The timing varies by product, market, and launch strategy, but among newly created Shopify stores that ultimately achieved a sale, half received their first order within approximately three weeks of launching their online store. Compared with 2022, 43% more stores now make their first sale within one day of signing up.

Experience and capital remain useful—and some businesses require significant upfront investment—but ecommerce and AI tools reduce the skills, staffing, and costs needed to test most business ideas. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify, AI tools, and apps can help founders close skill gaps and do work that once required a larger team or budget. In a 2026 U.S. survey, 86% of surveyed business leaders say ecommerce platforms have made it easier to start a business than a decade ago. Among surveyed merchants, 78% built their own store, while 41% of stores launch with just one product. In other words, founders can test an idea and begin selling before they have a large team, a broad product catalog, or every skill in-house.

Starting a business is faster and more accessible than it was a decade ago. Ecommerce lets entrepreneurs sell beyond their local market, while AI and technology continue to reduce common barriers involving skills, time, cost, and product discovery. Among surveyed merchants who delayed launching, 57% said they wished they had started sooner.

AI helps entrepreneurs reduce the time, skills, and money needed to start and operate a business. Entrepreneurs can use AI for market research, writing product descriptions, creating marketing campaigns, analyzing performance data, supporting customers, among many other tasks. This helps small teams move faster and accomplish work that previously required several specialists. Across Shopify stores, AI-driven traffic increased threefold year over year. During the measured period, AI-referred sessions had an 80% higher conversion rate than organic-search sessions, while AI-referred orders had a 14% higher average order value. AI channels also help entrepreneurs compete through agentic discovery. Shopping agents recommend products based on their relevance to a shopper’s query, making it easier for small businesses to reach potential target customers at moments of high intent, without relying solely on advertising budgets.

Traffic from AI assistants is growing quickly, although the amount varies by store, category, market, and measurement period. Across Shopify stores, AI-driven traffic increased threefold year over year. Merchants should track AI referrals alongside search, social, email, and paid channels to understand their own results.

AI referrals are helping shoppers discover products outside Shopify’s most common categories. In the measured period, 75% of AI-referred sales came from stores selling products outside the top 100 product categories.

During the measured period, AI-referred sessions had an 80% higher conversion rate than organic-search sessions, while AI-referred orders had a 14% higher average order value. AI channels also converted nearly twice as many orders from first-time customers as other channels.

Sidekick is Shopify’s AI-powered commerce assistant. It helps merchants complete tasks, navigate Shopify, make informed decisions, and receive personalized guidance. Onboarding support from Sidekick increased the share of new stores reaching five orders within 15 days by 8%.