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SHOP · Forward model · Merchant solutions · Bull case

What has to happen in Merchant solutions

Model as of

This page changes Merchant solutions inside the complete SHOP model. Every other vertical, corporate programme and valuation assumption stays in the selected portfolio case.

SHOP forward model
Horizon
Consolidated fair value $224.60 all other verticals held in this portfolio case
Final-quarter revenue $9.62B 85% of company revenue
Explicit segment contribution $39.85B EBITDA less segment capex, before corporate items

Both drivers were still accelerating at the basis quarter and management beat every line it guided. In May it guided 2026 Q2 revenue to a high-twenties growth rate, operating expenses to 35-36% of revenue and free cash flow margin to mid-teens; it delivered 34%, 34.05% and 18%. Payments penetration added three points in a year to 68% of global GMV, so the attach rate has runway outside North America even as the United States matures. Operating expense fell 3.67 points of revenue year over year on headcount discipline, and this case takes overhead toward 25% - carried as a 2.3-point margin credit because the engine has one overhead rate, not a glide. The scenario tilt is +0.8% a quarter on revenue, which the control panel reads as GMV growth of 7.2% rather than 6.4%; the discount rate eases to 8.5% and the exit holds a 9x growth multiple. Fair value $224.60, 50% above the price.

Merchant solutions

Basis quarter$2.78B
Final quarter$9.62B
Implied CAGR+28%
Final revenue mix85%

The success-based half and the engine of the company: $2,781M of the $3,583M basis quarter, 77.6% of revenue, growing 37% year over year. Its volume constraint is disclosed every quarter - GMV, $115,567M in the basis quarter, up 32% - and its price is the attach rate, merchant solutions revenue per dollar of GMV, 2.406% as reported. Both halves compound: deseasonalised GMV has grown 7.0% a quarter over the last eight quarters and the deseasonalised attach rate has risen about 1.1% a quarter as Shopify Payments penetration climbed to 68% of global GMV, three points in a year. The unit driver carries deseasonalised GMV as units and the deseasonalised attach rate as unit price, because runUnitCurve ignores the vertical's base and the engine reapplies the calendar factor afterwards.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $2.15B Reported
2025 Q4 $2.90B Reported
2026 Q1 $2.42B Reported
2026 Q2 $2.78B Reported
Shopify Payments processing and currency-conversion feesShopify Capital lending and merchant cash advancesReferral fees from partnersShipping label salesPoint of Sale hardwareShopify App Store advertising and Shop Campaigns buyer acquisition
Units 119957400000/qtr growing +6.4% per quarter Deseasonalised GMV: the reported $115,567M divided by the derived 0.9607 Q2 factor, because the unit curve ignores the base.
Price per unit $0 drifting +1.0% per quarter Deseasonalised attach rate, 2.41318% of GMV, against the 2.4064% the basis quarter reports on raw figures.
Merchant solutions

Latest: $9.62B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2023Q1 $1.13B
2023Q2 $1.25B
2023Q3 $1.23B
2023Q4 $1.62B
2024Q1 $1.35B
2024Q2 $1.48B
2024Q3 $1.55B
2024Q4 $2.15B
2025Q1 $1.74B
2025Q2 $2.02B
2025Q3 $2.15B
2025Q4 $2.90B
2026Q1 $2.42B
2026Q2 $2.78B
2026Q3E $2.93B
2026Q4E $4.02B
2027Q1E $3.35B
2027Q2E $3.77B
2027Q3E $3.93B
2027Q4E $5.34B
2028Q1E $4.41B
2028Q2E $4.92B
2028Q3E $5.10B
2028Q4E $6.88B
2029Q1E $5.65B
2029Q2E $6.26B
2029Q3E $6.45B
2029Q4E $8.66B
2030Q1E $7.08B
2030Q2E $7.82B
2030Q3E $8.02B
2030Q4E $10.72B
2031Q1E $8.74B
2031Q2E $9.62B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • The units trace reads DESEASONALISED GMV of $119,957M, not the reported $115,567M. runUnitCurve emits units x price and ignores the vertical's base, so the deseasonalisation has to be baked into the inputs; projectVertical then reapplies the calendar factor. Check: 119,957 x 0.0241318 x 0.9607 = 2,781, the reported quarter.
  • Unit price is the deseasonalised attach rate, 2.41318% of GMV, against a reported 2.4064%. It is disclosed by arithmetic - merchant solutions revenue over GMV - not published as a metric, and it has risen in eight of the last nine quarters.
  • Seasonality [0.918, 0.961, 0.935, 1.187] is the clearest signal in the company: amplitude 0.269 index points against a worst observation spread of 0.030, and all three Q4 observations land between 1.164 and 1.194. The company states the mechanism in its own 10-Q - merchants process additional GMV during the fourth-quarter holiday season, so merchant solutions revenue is historically higher in Q4.
  • 6.4% is a deseasonalised TREND rate for GMV, below the observed 7.01% eight-quarter mean because the path decays toward 3.2%. Over twenty quarters it compounds deseasonalised GMV 2.63x, more conservative than a flat 5.5% would be. The reported sequential step is the trend times the calendar factor, which is why the projected December quarters print roughly 30% above their Septembers.
  • No revenue split is published between Payments, Capital, shipping, POS hardware and advertising, so the model cannot and does not show which of them is lifting the attach rate.
  • Shopify stopped publishing GPV as a key performance indicator after 2024; the 2026 10-Q names only MRR and GMV. Payments penetration of 68% comes from the earnings call, not from a filing, so the attach-rate drift has no disclosed saturation point to glide toward.
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