Shares of Shopify (SHOP -7.04%), the most popular e-commerce software platform in the U.S., have risen by more than 2,000% since going public in 2015. The S&P 500, for comparison, rose by just 195% over the same period.

The best news is that Shopify stock could rise another 2,000% in the years to come. If you’re looking for stocks with massive upside, this one’s for you.

Shopify has a massive lead on the competition and it’s not even close

There are two critical factors to pay attention to when it comes to Shopify. The first is the competitive landscape. In this regard, Shopify is undoubtedly king.

When most people think of e-commerce, they think of companies like Amazon, which sell products and services online. But there’s another type of e-commerce business, and that’s platforms that allow others to set up digital storefronts of their own. Shopify, for instance, doesn’t run any of its own stores. Instead, millions of merchants run their stores using Shopify’s platform. Small home businesses use Shopify-powered stores, but so do major brands, including Nike, Allbirds, and Red Bull.

Let’s say you want to start selling online. You could list your products on Amazon, but you’ll have to give the company anywhere from 8% to 45% of your sales. Shopify, meanwhile, takes only a small percentage of your sales as a fee, and in return gives you all the things you need to establish a successful e-commerce business. That includes web design templates, marketing and analytics tools, inventory management dashboards, payment processing, and more. You won’t have the immediate reach of a platform like Amazon, but you’ll have more tools, customization options, and functionality, plus you’ll retain a much greater portion of your sales.

According to data compiled by Statista, Shopify has a 28% market share for e-commerce platforms in the U.S. WooCommerce commands an 18% market share, while Wix comes in third with 17%. Total e-commerce spending, meanwhile, is on the rise. In 2019, e-commerce spending in the U.S. totaled $540 million. Last year, it surpassed $1 billion. By 2029, it’s expected to approach $1.9 billion. E-commerce platforms like Shopify, then, are swimming in a bigger and bigger pool of potential customers. As you’ll see, there’s a good chance Shopify will not only maintain its current industry lead but expand on it in the years to come.

Artificial intelligence could put this stock on steroids

The second reason to love Shopify stock right now is that it’s perfectly positioned to benefit from the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). E-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix all compete a bit on price. But what they compete on most is functionality and user experience. Whichever platform makes its platform more powerful and easier to use wins.

With the largest market share, Shopify has an early lead. AI should accelerate this lead even further in the years to come. That’s because Shopify has the resources to attract the most AI developers to its platform. Right now, any developer can add more functionality to Shopify’s platform, earning money whenever users decide to incorporate the new tool or service. Developers know that Shopify offers them the largest potential user base to monetize their creations. Already, the company has dozens of AI apps and features that users can implement in a few clicks — everything from chatbots to automated content creation. As AI takes off, expect Shopify to benefit, gaining more market share in an already large and growing market.

How big could Shopify get? After a recent pullback, the company is valued at just $75 billion. Amazon, for comparison, is worth around $1.9 trillion. Shopify would have more than 2,000% in upside if it reached Amazon’s size. To be clear, Amazon is a far more diverse and far larger business than Shopify. It will take years or even decades for Shopify to attain a $1 trillion market cap, let alone a $2 trillion market cap. But it is businesses like this that can sustain growth for long enough to reach this enormous size.

The global e-commerce market is clearly large enough to accommodate a Shopify 10 or 20 times its current size. Keep in mind, this underlying market is still growing by around 10% annually. Much of that growth will be directed to large, consolidated e-commerce sites like Amazon. But independent stores, such as those powered by Shopify, will also take an increasing amount of this new market growth. After a 25% decline in share price over the last 90 days — a drop fueled by short-term concerns over quarterly guidance — this is a great time to back up the truck for a high-quality business with a massive long-term growth runway.

Since the world has become more digital, it is crucial for eCommerce software vendors to guarantee that their solutions can interoperate with the different eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. These integrations help ensure the flow of continuity of the user experience, data exchange and synchronization, and good business management. The application programming interface (API) is very useful for achieving these integrations. The article is devoted to the specifics of how software vendors can connect to API of eCommerce platforms and marketplaces and how this process can be made easier.

Understanding APIs

APIs enable two or more software applications to exchange data and information. For eCommerce software vendors, APIs are the way to get and manage data from eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. The eCommerce API gives users access to various store information. It often enables GET, ADD, UPDATE, and DELETE data from stores, such as orders, products, customers, categories, etc.

eCommerce API integration refers to the process that enables an app or software to connect to API of an eCommerce platform. Therefore, software providers can provide various valuable features for online store owners. Some are order management, inventory synchronization, product management, and others.

API of eCommerce Platforms

Every eCommerce API is unique and has its own features and way of functioning. Here are some examples of popular eCommerce APIs:

Magento API

This API allows the developers to get and modify the store data on the Magento platform including customers, orders, products, etc. It supports both REST and SOAP communication protocols.

WooCommerce API

When software developers connect to API of WooCommerce, they can get, add, modify, and delete data in WooCommerce stores, such as products, prices, orders, customers, and shipping statuses.

Shopify API

This API allows you to retrieve, create, update, and delete object data in WooCommerce stores: products, prices, orders, customers, and shipping statuses. The API is XML and JSON compliant and uses HTTP requests, including GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.

BigCommerce API

BigCommerce RESTful API enables you to integrate your eCommerce applications with BigCommerce and use any code language of your choice. It allows the user to view and manipulate store data, which includes orders, products, customers, categories, shipments, etc. All CRUD operations are allowed via HTTP methods, such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.

Squarespace API

Squarespace API has different endpoints, such as the Inventory API, Orders API, Products API, Profiles API, Transactions API, and Webhook Subscriptions API. These allow developers to get stock data, order history, manage products, and much more.

Key Considerations Before Connecting to an API

1. API Documentation




API documentation is the starting point for learning how to communicate with a specific platform’s API. It contains information on the endpoints, the formats of requests and responses, authentication, the rate at which requests are allowed, and how errors are handled. It is imperative to go through the documentation of the target eCommerce platform or marketplace carefully before moving on to the integration part.




2. Authentication




Various platforms employ different forms of authentication, including API keys, OAuth, and basic authentication. Make sure that you are familiar with the expected authentication method and have the credentials needed to make the API calls.




3. Rate Limits




APIs usually have rate limits to prevent overuse and misuse of the API. These are the limits that you should observe so that you don’t get throttled or blocked. This information is usually available in the API documentation.




4. Error Handling




Good error handling is vital for a successful integration since errors are bound to occur at some point. It is also important to know the various error codes and their meanings and how to manage them in your integration to address matters like rate limits, timeouts, and authentication.

Methods to Connect to API of eCommerce Platform

There are two ways of connecting to eCommerce API: in-house integration development or via integration solution like API2Cart.

In-house integration development

Creating eCommerce API integrations from the ground up takes a lot of time and effort and includes stages such as planning, development, testing, and support. This can slow down the time it takes to market your solutions.

In-house development allows more control, but it requires a team of qualified developers, which may prove expensive. Moreover, the costs of maintenance and updates, which are continuous processes, are also included in the resource requirements.

All the eCommerce platforms are different in terms of API, documentation, and prerequisites that need to be met. Managing all these for several platforms can be rather cumbersome and also comes with some mistakes.

Integration with eCommerce platforms via API2Cart

API2Cart decreases integration development time. Data can be easily accessed, and developers can connect to eCommerce platform APIs with minimal effort.

The service helps to decrease the need for a large internal development team, which reduces costs. It also includes maintenance and updates, so you don’t need to waste your time and effort on them.

API2Cart has detailed documentation and code samples, which makes it more convenient to connect to the APIs. This support can help minimize the time taken in the integration process.

API2Cart can process large numbers of API calls, which is why it works for any business, regardless of its size. It’s flexible and can accommodate your business’s growth without compromising performance and reliability.

This API integration solution provides its clients with detailed technical support in case of any questions or problems connected with integration. This support can be very helpful when trying to figure out issues and/or fine-tune your integrations.

API2Cart helps you to integrate with the shopping platforms faster, save time on development, allowing you to concentrate more on other business operations.

Depending on various factors such as business requirements, time and money constraints, and other factors, it is possible to choose between the in-house integration development and the use of API2Cart. If you want to have full control and high flexibility and have the capabilities, developing your own may be more suitable. But if you are in search of a cheap, efficient and easily customizable approach, API2Cart is a viable competitor with its API-based integration.

How to Get Started to Connect to eCommerce APIs via API2Cart

API2Cart provides a simple way to connect to API of multiple eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. To start using the service, you need to follow these simple steps:

1. Sign Up and Get the API Key




The first one is to get an API2Cart account with the help of experts. Once you sign up, you will be given an API key that will be used for the authentication process.




2. Connect a Store




To add a store to your API2Cart account, you need to enter the basic details of the store such as the store URL, the platform, and the authentication details. API2Cart employs various forms of authentication with regard to the platform used.




3. Explore API Methods




API2Cart contains many API methods, including products, orders, customers, categories, etc. The documentation explains how to use them appropriately.




4. Test and Optimize

Check that the integration is functioning correctly. Monitor the API calls and responses and modify your integration.

Conclusion

Integrating with the API of eCommerce platforms and marketplaces is one of the most important tasks for eCommerce software vendors. By knowing the critical factors, adhering to the integration steps, and using tools like API2Cart, vendors can make the process easier, shorten the development time, and have reliable connections. API2Cart is a unified API approach that offers a reliable and flexible solution to help vendors concentrate on value-added services. With a single API software, vendors can integrate with over 40 eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. The list of supported integrations includes Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace, Amazon, etc. You can get more information about API2Cart by scheduling a call with our manager.

Following the guidelines and best practices mentioned in this article, eCommerce software vendors can easily connect to the APIs, improve their products, and provide the best user experience.

A few times a year, the WordPress open source software gets a major update, providing users with new capabilities, regular refinements, and important bug fixes. With hundreds of fixes and enhancements, WordPress 6.6 brings a new level of creativity, usability, and efficiency to your WordPressing.  

Here’s a quick tour of what this latest update offers folks on WordPress.com, starting with some of the basics about WordPress 6.6. 

Table of Contents

1. The basics 
2. More efficient views and navigation in the Site Editor 
3. Unified and updated publishing flow 
4. Override synced patterns with custom content 
5. Automatic plugin rollbacks 
6. New design elements
   1. Site background image 
   2. Negative margins 
   3. All-new grid support 
   4. Custom default shadow styles 
7. Section-specific styles
8. Block Bindings API upgrades 
9. And more! 

The basics 

WordPress 6.6 is available right now and has likely already landed on your WordPress.com site. You may notice that many of these new features have been available on your site(s) for a few weeks or even months; we often roll out updates in waves on WordPress.com to allow for early access, testing, and iteration before these major updates are more widely released. 

Sites on WordPress.com are updated automatically. If you run into issues or bugs, always feel free to reach out to our expert Happiness Engineers at wordpress.com/help.  

More efficient views and navigation in the Site Editor 

The last couple major WordPress releases have dramatically reimagined the Site Editor experience. With 6.6 you’ll see a new side-by-side default layout when viewing and editing pages. 

Pattern management has also been better integrated, ensuring more efficient navigation and fewer clicks to get where you want to be. 

Amidst these bigger changes are a number of small enhancements to keyboard navigation, bulk editing actions, and the overall design and functionality of the Site Editor. 

Unified and updated publishing flow 

If you’ve spent time in the Site Editor, you’ll have noticed that it used to offer a fairly different experience from the page/post editor. WordPress 6.6 now offers a shared workflow for publishing, leading to smoother interactions when navigating between various elements of your site. 

As part of this unification, there’s also an update to the layout and design of the publish flow with more prominent displays for the title, publishing status, and featured image.

For all the plugin and theme developers out there, this particular update also makes it easier to extend the editor. Both the post/page editor and Site Editor now use the same slots and extensibility APIs. 

For users, this means a lot more plugins will be able to bring exciting features into the editor. For plugin developers, it means that it’s easier to implement your code to extend the editor’s capabilities.

Override synced patterns with custom content 

This new feature allows for editing specific blocks even when you’re utilizing synced patterns and styles. For example, if you have a pattern for a stylized button CTA, you can use this override feature to use different copy or even colors for different pages and button locations, while maintaining common elements. 

You can “Enable Overrides” from the “Advanced” section of the Paragraph, Heading, Buttons, and Image blocks, with more block support planned for the future.

Automatic plugin rollbacks 

When it comes to plugin management, WordPress.com offers unparalleled reliability and redundancy. In addition to the scheduled plugin updates that we recently introduced, WordPress core now offers automatic rollbacks when a plugin update fails. 

If you don’t utilize scheduled updates, your plugins will update automatically when new versions become available. 

In the past, if a plugin update failed, WordPress would leave the plugin inactive, which might render some parts of your website unusable or broken. In WordPress 6.6, the plugin is rolled back to the previous version, ensuring continuity with your site until you can diagnose and fix the issue. 

New design elements

WordPress 6.6 offers a handful of new customization options for designing and stylizing your site. Let’s explore the most impactful new features. 

Site background image 

Make an immediate visual splash with the new site-wide background image option in the Site Editor. Whether it’s a striking full-bleed photo or a whimsical graphic pattern, you have the freedom to choose size, position, and repetition. 

Negative margins 

You can now set negative margins for any block, allowing for more granular margin control. This enables users to more easily create overlapping design elements. Note that negative values must be entered manually rather than with the slider. 

All-new grid support 

With the Grid and Grid Layout blocks, you can quickly create professional-looking grids for your images, testimonials, videos, and more. The “Auto” option automatically generates mobile-responsive rows and columns while the “Manual” option provides more granular control. 

Custom default shadow styles 

From the Styles menu, you can now edit shadow effects, including changing the default shadow style for images, buttons, and more. You can also add your own shadow styles, giving your total control over this subtle and powerful design element. 

Section-specific styles

Here’s one for the theme builders out there. With WordPress 6.6, you have the option to define style variations for specific sections of a site, not just the theme as a whole. To enable this, you’ll have to edit your theme’s theme.json file and declare the style variation (click here for instructions). Once that’s set up, you will be able to quickly modify the styles of several blocks for areas like headers, footers, content sections, and more. 

As a bonus, section styles also work flawlessly with content imported from our public pattern collection.

Block Bindings API upgrades 

This release makes Block Bindings easier to use and more powerful. Originally available since WordPress 6.5, this feature allows users to connect (or “bind”) the content of a block to the data of a custom field. Here’s how to create that in a post. WordPress 6.6 takes it one step further by enabling the option to edit custom field data by just updating the block in the editor.

And more! 

There are hundreds of updates to WordPress in the 6.6 release. What we’ve highlighted above is a just taste of the most notable and visible features. If you’re a developer and want to look under the hood a bit more, you can find the full slate of goodies in this WordPress 6.6 Field Guide.  

Click below if you’re a developer and want to leverage the benefits of hosting your sites with WordPress.com:

*Photo and video credit: WordPress.org