Shopify provides the e-commerce software that lets merchants of nearly any size build and run an online store, from individual creators to large retail brands, without needing to build the underlying technology themselves. Beyond the core storefront software, Shopify has expanded into payments processing, shipping logistics and lending to merchants, each an additional revenue stream layered on top of the same merchant relationships. The company's growth is closely tied to the health of small and medium-sized businesses and to overall consumer online spending, since its subscription and transaction fees scale with merchant sales. Shopify competes with a mix of other e-commerce platforms and the in-house technology that some very large retailers choose to build instead of outsourcing to a third party.