Analyzing the 100 Biggest Brands on Shopify

We have a list for the ages: a quick profile for each brand on the Top 100 Shopify Brands list.

Author

Jeremy Horowitz
November 12, 2023

TLDR;

- Report Takeover Edition: The 100 Largest Shopify Plus Bizs!

LBAB Community: Our Special Top 100 Shopify Biz Report

This week, we’re not Buying, Fixing, Merging, Spinning Off, or Selling any bizs. 

It took awhale (sorry not sorry), but we’re pumped to share a Let’s Buy A Bizticle for the ages: every one of the Top 100 biggest brands on Shopify, each with a mini-profile. 

You’ll see the brands, categories, year founded and link to check out their site. How did we determine Top 100 Brands. We looked at the top est. order volume for the brands with a Shopify Plus domain. The current list is an the list of brands with the highest order volume rank order from #1 → #100.

Now...

Talking Shop: The Top 100 Biggest Brands on Shopify

Coming up are the 100 largest brands on Shopify by estimated order volume. For each, we included their vertical, a TLDR, and the founding year. 

In this research, we were trying to understand more about which brands are succeeding. 

What are their verticals? Which verticals are most common? How many are celeb-backed? 

As it turns out, there were 23 categories across all 100 stores, and the Top 5 Verticals are:

  1. Apparel - 27%

  2. Beauty & Cosmetics - 19%

  3. Skin & Nail Care - 9%

  4. Food & Bev - 8%

  5. Home & Garden - 7%

That puts Apparel/Beauty & Cosmetics/Skin & Nails at 55% of the total, which eCommers might expect, but it’s certainly not the whole story. Not every brand has fit-fluencer or celebrity faces on their HPs. 

Celeb brands are the minority. (Although, BTW, did you know that Reese Witherspoon has a brand, Draper James?)

Consider, e.g., True Leaf Market at #73, an agriculture/forestry brand that’s going strong after 50 years. There are plenty of other surprises in there, too. 

There’s more than one way to build a brand. And there’s no right way to build one, either.

The Top 100:

Vertical: Cosmetics, Beauty, CPG

TLDR: Kylie Jenner’s cosmetics and skincare empire. Added a line of baby products (Kylie Baby) focused around shampoo and lotion in 2021. 

Founded: 2014

Vertical: Toys & Hobbies

TLDR: Kawaii as an Omnichanel Biz. Their most successful creation (by far) is Hello Kitty, though they have created over 450 characters.

Founded: 1960

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Kim Karfashion. Inclusive shapewear for a wide range of body types and skin tones. Tons of celeb collabs, e.g. SZA, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks. 

Founded: 2019

Vertical: Footwear

TLDR: True Omnichannel footprint. Has made several acquisitions, most recently, Almost Famous.

Founded: 1990

Vertical: Supplements/Apparel

TLDR: PE-owned, bro-approved suppserstore. Once-famous (and notorious) broscience forums. Now sell every supplement under the sun (and now meals, too).

Founded: 1999

Vertical: Beauty

TLDR: Tryna “make up” for an early ‘23 ch 11. Has collabed with numerous celebs and makeup influencers. Launched Morphe-2, a vegan beauty line.

Founded: 2008

Vertical: Beauty

TLDR: Facing bumps in the omnichannel road, has had some bad PR. Popular among younger Millennials and Gen Z. 

Founded: 2014

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Eco-Fashion N-Oh-vish. Sells a full women’s catalog, including swimwear. Claims to have a number of active sustainability practices, e.g., low-impact materials.

Founded: 2015

Vertical: Haircare

TLDR: Stronger hair with science. Has a virtual salon, which is interesting, and we’d love to see the impact on the biz.

Founded: 2014

Vertical: Shaving & Hair Removal

TLDR: The complete package? Dialed in on their demo and leans into the puns. Will they expand the brand more extensively into lifestyle?

Founded: 2016

 Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Selena Gomez’s cosmetics brand. Has a mission around mental health and shares an annual social impact report.

Founded: 2019

12) Cupshe

 Vertical: Swimwear

TLDR: Inclusively sized fast (beach) fashion. All about the Southern Californian beach style, though they also sell light fall wear and dresses.

Founded: 2015

13) 4Ocean

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Unplasticking the ocean. Turns collected plastic into bracelets & other merch to fund their ocean cleanup efforts.

Founded: 2017

Vertical: Toys & Hobbies

TLDR: Games. Like, the old kind. Now omnichannel. Popular with parents and schools. 

Founded: 1988

Vertical: Home & Garden

TLDR: Sells their portable blenders and smoothie packs, also has their own marketplace where they sell products from, e.g., Sunwarrior & Happy Viking (Venus Williams’ brand)

Founded: 2017

Vertical: Food & Bev

TLDR: For the (kitchen in the) great outdoors: sells grills and pizza ovens. Also offers seasoning and sauces for recurring rev. 

Founded: 2005

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Hat’s amore. A go-to hatmaker, over 500 licenses, including in internationally popular sports (e.g., rugby). 

Founded: 1920

Vertical: Accessories

TLDR: Holy! Every piercing, for every part, for every occasion. 

Founded: 2006

19) Zippo

Vertical: Smoking & Vaping

TLDR: Light art. 

Founded: 1932

20) Milani

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Brands itself as selling high-quality and luxury products at an affordable price point. 

Founded: 2001

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: The 2000s called; will the 2020s answer? Bought and sold a few times, now owned by Authentic Brands Group (also owns Forever 21, Nine West).

Founded: 1997

Vertical: Swimwear

TLDR: If it belongs in or near water, they sell it. 

Founded: 2000

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Their Insta bio is: “We love 3 things. Freedom. Bacon. Whiskey.” Basically, ‘Murica apparel.

Founded: 2009

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Wednesday, every day. Slightly kitschy horror-goth apparel and decor. 

Founded: 2010

25) Truly

Vertical: Skin & Nail Care

TLDR: Body/personal/self-care & vegan as a lifestyle + perfumes. 

Founded: 2013

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Pushing the edges. Provocative, sexy apparel, costumes, intimates for out and in. 

Founded: 2006

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Bonjour, la beauté. Sells the makeup gamut + skin & body products. 

Founded: 1996

28) Ooni

Vertical: Home & Garden

TLDR: We’ll take a slice of this. Famous for the pizza oven, but sells pizza ingredients DTC: frozen dough, sauce, cheese, meats.

Founded: 2012

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Little markup for this makeup. Surprisingly large owned retail presence (30+ stores). Will the margins keep working? 

Founded: 2013

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: The fastest fashion. Mostly a DTC powerhouse but has 5 owned retail locations in LA.

Founded: 2006

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Non-toxic, cruelty-free products (no animal testing), toxic workspace.

Founded: 2014

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Not actually vintage. Sells new clothes & shoes in the style of different decades, from the 20s through the 70s.

Founded: 2000

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Gaffe-filled marketing, dabbled in cultural appropriation in the early 2010s, vegan/cruelty-free makeup. 

Founded: 2008

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: 80s-ish California vibes, plus the latest trends, founded in the U.K. Sells tops, shorts, swimwear, and accessories.

Founded: 1999

Vertical: Swimwear

TLDR: Women-led, swimwear (as in the name), but also sells loungewear and activewear with LA country club vibes.

Founded: 2012

Vertical: Skin & Nail Care

TLDR: Vegan/cruelty-free, clinically tested, and plastic neutral. Skincare, makeup, perfume, and haircare.

Founded: 1996

Vertical: Footwear

TLDR: From Poshmark to ASOS; UK fast foot fashion. Also sells dresses, clothes, and bags.

Founded: 2014

38) Giadzy

Vertical: Food/Bev

TLDR: Giada De Laurentiis’ pan-Italian DTC shop (+ meal kits). 

Founded: 2016

39) Ilia

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Cleaner makeup and skincare, with 1% For The Planet. Leaping Bunny certified.

Founded: 2011

40) Pixi

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Still growing, 25 years on. Makeup, skincare, launched a major collab with #2 on this list (Sanrio!).

Founded: 1999

41) Sullen

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: A nearly full men’s wardrobe but tatted. T-Shirts and some staple bras/bottoms for women.

Founded: 2001

Vertical: Skin & Nail Care

TLDR: A nail salon shipped DTC. Sells individual products, but leads with bundles that enable complete nail care.

Founded: 1992

Vertical: Eyewear

TLDR: 100s of their own options for sunglasses and snow…glasses. Offers prescription and custom builds. No Ray-Ban here.

Founded: 2012

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Skull & Crossbuns for a new take on mainstream styles. Almost exclusively geared toward men and boys, women’s is “coming soon.”

Founded: 2005

45) Vessi

Vertical: Footwear

TLDR: Waterproof of concept: dry socks. Men’s, women’s, kids shoes for the streets to the trails. 

Founded: 2018

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: For the provocative night out wardrobe. Fits somewhere in and among datewear, festivalwear, beachwear, and clubwear.

Founded: 2012

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Clothes, accessories, and decor for a quirky WFH aesthetic. 

Founded: 2008

48) NRS

Vertical: Sporting Goods

TLDR: “Bass Pro Shop for cowboys.” 

Founded: 1989

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: KPop merch for days. Albums, accessories, figurines, keychains, prints, and more by group.

Founded: 1999

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Truly all-natural beauty, skincare, and hair care. Fruit Pigmented® makeup, no artificial colors.

Founded: 2005

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Beauty from Korea. Dozens of brands under the umbrella with dozens of product types. 

Founded: 2012

52) Mint

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Hamptons vibes at less-than-Hamptons prices. Tops, bottoms, accessories, fragrances, candles, bath & body. Geared exclusively toward women.

Founded: 2004

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Started with lingerie, now some additional women’s going-out clothes + a smattering of men’s (with tasteful floral vibes). 

Founded: 2012

Vertical: Skin & Nail Care

TLDR: A-peeling skin care, plus hundreds of products, ranging from sunscreen to eye care. 

Founded: 2000

Vertical: Home & Garden

TLDR: Seal, tape, patch, repair, as seen on TV. Leaks’ and storms’ worst enemy.

Founded: 2011

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Kinda the 2020s update to Christian Girl Autumn. Wardrobe staples, from jeans and tees to outerwear.

Founded: 2012

Vertical: Cards & Greetings

TLDR: Don’t compare them to Hallmark. 3D greeting and occasion cards in line with the times. 

Founded: 2014

Vertical: Headwear

TLDR: Forever hats (check the year founded). From truckers, to beanies, to fedoras. 

Founded: 1895 (!!)

59) Anova

Vertical: Home & Garden

TLDR: In your favorite cooking show’s kitchen: sous vide, precision ovens, and other fancy chef products.

Founded: 2013

Vertical: Toys & Hobbies

TLDR: Toys, nerdom, and joy. For shelves, for the office, licensing fandoms from Marvel to Dr. Who to Disney. 

Founded: 2001

Vertical: Toys & Hobbies

TLDR: Men’s, women’s, kids’ lifestyle & toys with an eye toward Japan. 

Founded: 2005

Vertical: Movies

TLDR: It’s all in the name. As many posters as you can eat. 

Founded: 1960s

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Rejection of fast fashion; luxe-glam at a moderate range price point. 

Founded: 2007

Vertical: Skin & Nail Care

TLDR: B-Corp, female-founded and owned, human right advocates. Sells the gamut of skin care at a mid-range price point.

Founded: 2009

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Modern vintage makeup. The usual eye and lip suspects in containers that harken back to the first half of the 20th century.

Founded: 2004

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Parent company may file for chap. 11. Sued by Mike Tyson. Hats, shoes, accessories, jewelry, coats, hoodies.

Founded: 2008

Vertical: Power Supplies

TLDR: Solar, charging stations, generators, preparation.

Founded: 2012

Vertical: Food/Bev

TLDR: Yes, the iced tea brand. They sell a ton of stuff via DTC: snacks, merch, energy drinks, juices, and…lip balm?

Founded: 1971

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Founded by Cashmere Nicole, a breast cancer survivor. Inclusive lip, eye, face, makeup offerings.

Founded: 2011

70) Dermae

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: From a small boutique store in California to a natural beauty powerhouse. Conduct clinical trials and are (actually) dermatologist-recommended. 

Founded: 1984

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Older-more-expensive-sister to Forever 21. Dresses, tops, bottoms, swim, prom, party. 

Founded: 2008

Vertical: Food/Bev

TLDR: From beans to cold brew to matcha. Cute branding, accessible entrypoint to the early coffee enthusiast. 

Founded: 2020

Vertical: Agriculture & Forestry

TLDR: Hundreds of seeds, sprouts, and garden supplies.

Founded: 1974

Vertical: Travel

TLDR: Lonely bags and items from lost luggage looking for a safe home.

Founded: 1972

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Mario Dedivanovic’s cosmetics brand. For the everyday runway. 

Founded: 2020

76) Boomf

Vertical: Cards & Greetings

TLDR: Personalized gifts & marshmallows for a “bomb” of joy.

Founded: 2013

77) Muji

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Minimalist full lifestyle brand from Japan. Clothes, luggage, office supplies, and speciality dried & canned Japanese food items/spices.

Founded: 1980

Vertical: Food & Bev

TLDR: Sweets without sugar. Uses monk fruit to sweeten candy, syrups, jams, and more for the sugar-conscious or keto-kind. 

Founded: 2016

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Cruelty-free cosmetics, in line with trends. Collabs with popular TikTok makeup influencers for separate product lines. 

Founded: 2013

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Athleisure x nutrition founded for women. Sells supps and everything from yoga pants to powdered greens. 

Founded: 2015

Vertical: Food & Bev

TLDR: Pushed, not shaken or stirred. Get your cocktails from a machine, and complete your bar while you’re at it. 

Founded: 2014

Vertical: Home & Garden

TLDR: An entire home in a brand. Furniture, toys, instruments, games, outdoor, pet supplies, house necessities, and almost everything else.

Founded: 2002

Vertical: Food & Bev

TLDR: Classic brand, modern additions. Dried spices for every cuisine and every recipe. 

Founded: 1957

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Going all out for the ‘Gram. Dresses, bodysuits, poolwear (though not really swimsuits). 

Founded: 2013

Vertical: Toys & Hobbies

TLDR: Leatherworking & awl that. Raw leather supplies and tools for serious leatherers. 

Founded: 1973

Vertical: Food & Bev

TLDR: From Boston restaurant to DTC dreams. The restaurant went under several years ago, but their food lives on. 

Founded: 2019

Vertical: Hygiene & Toiletries

TLDR: Plant-derived feminine care.

Founded: 2014

Vertical: Flowers

TLDR: Valentine’s Day in a brand. Their Eternity® Flowers last more than a year! Plus candles, frames, drinkware, and more. 

Founded: 2015

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: Josie’s own makeup. Body and face, and building rituals based on skin type. 

Founded: 2017

Vertical: Apparel

TLDR: Reese Witherspoon’s brand. From office wear to holiday card clothes to what you’d wear while apple picking. 

Founded: 2015

Vertical: Pet Food & Supplies

TLDR: The first human-grade food & supplements for dogs and cats.

Founded: 2002

Vertical: Beauty & Cosmetics

TLDR: From the runway to the home. Became emblematic of 90s supermodels, now popular with everyone. 

Founded: 1994

Vertical: Hair Care

TLDR: Wigs, extenders, hair styling for every occasion and season. 

Founded: 2019

Vertical: Hair Care

TLDR: DTC hair care with salons in NYC & Miami.

Founded: 2016

Vertical: Skin & Nail Care

TLDR: Skin care by type & need. Leans hard into product recs based on 4 potential options: balanced, dry, oily, sensitive.

Founded: 2019

Vertical: Skin & Nail Care

TLDR: Organic, PhD-chemist-developed beauty, makeup, haircare, and skincare.

Founded: 2005

Vertical: Home & Garden

TLDR: Vanity furniture and lighting with stunt collabs.

Founded: 2014

98) Blissy

Vertical: Home & Garden

TLDR: Silk-based clothes, fabrics, and accessories.

Founded: 2019

Vertical: Face & Body Care

TLDR: Skin care for the most sensitive skin.

Founded: 2013

Vertical: Face & Body Care

TLDR: Under Construction. Oop. 

Founded: 2014

Final Thought

On our end, what did we learn from this exercise?

We’re more convinced than ever about the promise of eCom on Shopify and being able to turn DTC dreams into Enterprise powerhouses. 

A 19th century biz (Goorin Bros @ #58) is there. 

As are previously tiny (Dermae @ #70) or family-run (The Spice House @ #83) stores. 

As are inclusive, health- and body-positive stores (The Honey Pot @ #87). 

As are cultural juggernauts (Kylie Cosmetics @ #1) and those well on their way (MANSCAPED @ #10). 

There’s no right type of biz, and there’s no single formula for success. 

As always, it comes down to tenacity, vision, and knowing thy customer.

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