What: Impressive results for this company. Will it continue to grow?

Why it is important: Covid has served as an accelerator of growth for many online formats. Shopify represents a variant of a growing model offering “retail as a service” (including to brick and mortar stores).

The Canadian e-commerce platform has doubled its sales for the third quarter in a row. However, it warns that it is unlikely to keep up that growth rate through 2021. Shares have tripled in value to give the company a value of almost $ 180 bn. Hundreds of thousands of new sellers adopted Shopify’s services which allow brands to sell directly to customers.

Spending by consumers on the 1.7 m merchants selling through Shopify’s software and services grew to $41.1 bn in the fourth quarter. Net income in the quarter was $ 123.9 m compared to $ 771 000 in the same period the year before.

A representative of Shopify is due to address the IADS CEO meeting in April.

FT Shopify doubles sales for third consecutive quarter