How to buy Shopify (SHOP) shares from Australia

• The merging of the retail industry and online commerce industry has been a boon for Shopify.
• The company is capitalising on the growth in revenues and merchant numbers to offer faster, better and more flexible merchant and check out solutions.
• See where it’s listed and how to set up an order for shares.

Shopify Inc is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SHOP) and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: SHOP). It is named after its proprietary e-commerce platform that offers online stores and retail point-of-sale systems to sellers from across the globe.

Read on for our step-by-step guide to buying Shopify shares from Australia.

Company overview

Despite great uncertainty for many independent merchants that use the Shopify e-commerce platform, the pandemic has proved to be a boon to the company. The company has three key revenue streams: subscription solutions, merchant solutions, and monthly recurring revenue. All these recorded growth during 2021 as have the number of sellers on Shopify. The company has over 1.7 million businesses in its e-commerce platform, representing over 175 countries.

To capitalise on the growth trends Shopify is offering more flexible and customisable shop fronts and faster, scalable, more customisable checkout features.

Step 1: Choose a broker

Find an online broker that allows you to access the US markets. There are many options that you can access from Australia. Next, consider the features that you want from a broker. These are some of the most important:

Commission-free trades

This feature is offered by many platforms that offer access to US stocks. You can save money on share trading by not paying commissions.

Fractional share investment

Fractional share investment means you can buy a portion of a share, rather than the entire thing. This is something you might consider because Shopify shares can be very expensive.

User-friendly interface

It doesn't have to be difficult to trade shares. Make sure you choose a platform that is easy to use. New investors can benefit from educational guides and the ability to open a demo account.

Research, analysis, and reporting

A platform with a strong research and reporting section will provide you with important information about Shopify such as company overview, price history and recommendations, and forecasts.

Step 2: Fund your investing account

To buy Shopify shares, you will need to fund the account. Keep in mind that it typically takes some time for your funds to clear into your trading account and you will not be able to buy shares until it does.

Step 3: Set your budget for investing

It might be a good idea to start with fractional shares as a first step. You can also make a profit regardless of shares dropping, as you can buy in at the average share price.

Step 4: Decide whether to invest in shares or via an ETF

Investing via an ETF is widely regarded as more diverse compared to investing your entire outlay on a single share. If this is your decision, ETFs with exposure to Shopify are not difficult to find. Options include ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), Franklin Disruptive Commerce ETF (BUYZ), and Simplify Volt Fintech Disruption ETF (VFIN).

Step 5: Configure your order

You can choose from a variety of order types to customise when and how much you want to buy each share. These are the different order types.

Market order

Market orders are orders that can be purchased or sold at the current market price. However, the price that you are looking for may not match the one you receive. You may order Shopify stock at US$1430. The price of the Shopify stock may drop to US$1427 or rise to US$1435 by the time the trade is executed.

Limit order

Execution-only orders for buy limit orders are executed at the price quoted or less. You may wish to buy Shopify shares at US$1428 per share. You can submit a limit order for this amount. It will only be fulfilled if the Shopify share prices fall below US$1428.

Stop limit

This type of order allows you to sell your shares at a certain price if the share price starts dropping. Let's suppose you want to sell your Shopify shares if the price falls to US$1430 per share. Your stop limit order is executed if the shares drop to this price.

Stop loss

Another mechanism aimed at preventing you taking a hit on your shares if the price drops. You nominate a price at which you want to sell your Shopify shares — say US$1425 per share. Your stop loss order will be executed if the price falls to that level but your order will be filled at the next available market price.

Step 6: Place your order

After you've chosen a broker and decided how you want to invest, you can place your order through that broker.

Step 7: Track your investment

When you invest in shares, it is necessary to watch share price movements and follow the company’s performance.

Track Shopify’s performance

Regardless of whether you are buying shares with a speculative motive or for holding them, keeping an eye on your investment is important.

Watch for developments in retail and e-commerce

When you invest in companies like Shopify, it is equally important to watch what happens in their industry and sector. The pandemic has led to a merging of retail and e-commerce due to the lockdowns. More and more people turned to online shopping as a result.

Watch how the e-commerce industry performs in the post pandemic era. What key moves are larger players making? How are they increasing their competitive edge? What steps and measures are other, smaller competitors taking?

Competition

Top Shopify competitors and alternatives include BigCommerce, Adobe (Magento), Salesforce, Oracle, SAP, eComchain, Kibo and Intershop.

Tech behemoths Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) are all likely to encroach onto Shopify’s turf in the future.