Shopify sees strong revenue as e-commerce business grows despite tariff gloom

By Deborah Mary Sophia

(Reuters) - Shopify is seeing steady growth in the number of merchants signing up on its e-commerce platform and no weakness so far in consumer demand, the Canadian company said on Thursday, easing some investor fears of a tariff-induced hit.

The company also said it expects no meaningful impact to its business from the expiration of the "de minimis" policy that allowed import packages valued under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free.

Only 1% of its overall gross merchandise volume (GMV) - the total value of goods sold on Shopify - is related to imports from China that were subject to the exemption.

Shopify forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates, as its platform upgrades and AI features help pull in more sellers.

Sidekick, the company's AI assistant for merchants, has doubled its monthly average user count since the beginning of the year, Shopify said.

"Our business model is built for this (uncertainty) ... it's precisely in times like this that we can demonstrate that those building on Shopify are simply better prepared than those that are not," President Harley Finkelstein told analysts on a call.

Shopify's U.S.-listed shares pared some premarket declines, and were last trading 3% lower. The company forecast second-quarter gross profit below estimates, owing to higher cloud infrastructure costs and changes in pricing of its subscription services and trial periods.

"Investors are very concerned about what happens with e-commerce in a new global tariff regime, so they're very sensitive even to the smallest miss right now," D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said.

A slew of companies have lowered or withdrawn outlooks recently, as Corporate America scrambles to adjust to trade tensions brought on by U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff plans.

Meanwhile, Shopify forecast second-quarter revenue growth in the mid-twenties percentage range, above analysts' average estimate of 22.4% growth, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It expects gross profit to grow at a high-teens percentage range, while analysts were expecting a 20.2% rise.

Ken Wong, analyst at Oppenheimer, said: "The quarter was arguably good enough, but I think just given the backdrop ... there's still some concerns that further headwinds could potentially put the numbers at risk."

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)