Shopify was known for helping DTC brands scale – and in some cases go viral.

It was originally developed to give smaller brands and independent sellers access to the many complex backend systems that larger sellers had.  It was a way to level the playing field (or at least part of it) by putting otherwise unaffordable technology within reach of anyone who wanted to sell online.

Enterprise brands had the resources to develop their own systems – and typically preferred to do so that they could be customized and to ensure that key data remained in-house.  There’s also the complications of managing thousands of SKUs and a global network of retail.

Typically, brands with sales of $200 million or more run their own e-commerce operations.