FisherLeadsThe State of New Ecommerce
A monthly census of new commerce. Every month FisherLeads watches stores and businesses go live and records where they launch, what they are built on, and what they sell, drawn from public signals the day each site appears. This is August 2026, our first full month of coverage.
new stores and businesses went live in August 2026 and were caught by FisherLeads as they launched. Every figure in this report is a share of that set.
- Online stores
- 86.5%99,493
- Service businesses
- 13.5%15,512
- New sites a day
- ~48
- On Shopify or WooCommerce
- 69.6%80,000
- Led by Shopify
- 50.7%58,265
- Top market, United States
- 41.4%47,589
- Categories classified
- 46.7%
- Country resolved
- 96%
- Avg catalog size
- 114products
- Avg domain age at launch
- 115days
- .com share
- 76.2%63,513
Two platforms carry two thirds of everything new.
Two platforms now carry more than two thirds of every new store FisherLeads tracked. Shopify leads at 50.7%, the fastest way for a founder to be selling by the afternoon. WooCommerce follows at 18.9%, a sign the open source, WordPress native route is still thriving.
Everything else, from fully custom builds to Squarespace and Wix, splits the remaining 30.4% across a long tail of platforms.
| # | Name | New sites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shopify | 58,265 | 50.7% |
| 2 | WooCommerce | 21,735 | 18.9% |
| 3 | Custom / other | 12,937 | 11.2% |
| 4 | WordPress | 7,317 | 6.4% |
| 5 | Wix | 5,440 | 4.7% |
| 6 | Squarespace | 4,579 | 4% |
| 7 | OpenCart | 656 | 0.6% |
| 8 | Magento | 573 | 0.5% |
The United States is the launch capital.
New commerce is not spread evenly. The United States alone produced 41.4% of every launch FisherLeads saw in August 2026, more than double the next six countries combined. The United Kingdom, Germany and Canada follow, but no single market comes close to the American share.
For agencies and app makers, that concentration is the map: the majority of fresh demand still originates in one market, even as the long tail spreads worldwide.
of all new launches came from the US, 1.9× the next six countries combined.
| # | Name | New sites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 47,589 | 41.4% |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 5,592 | 4.9% |
| 3 | Germany | 4,870 | 4.2% |
| 4 | Brazil | 3,963 | 3.4% |
| 5 | Australia | 3,667 | 3.2% |
| 6 | India | 3,284 | 2.9% |
| 7 | France | 3,186 | 2.8% |
| 8 | Canada | 3,129 | 2.7% |
Apparel leads what the new stores sell.
When FisherLeads can read what a store sells, one category stands out. Apparel is the runaway leader among classified stores, ahead of beauty, food and jewellery. Fashion remains the easiest thing to start selling online, and founders still reach for it first.
| # | Name | New sites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apparel | 16,024 | 29.9% |
| 2 | Beauty | 4,478 | 8.3% |
| 3 | Jewelry | 4,257 | 7.9% |
| 4 | Home decor | 4,009 | 7.5% |
| 5 | Food & beverage | 3,940 | 7.3% |
| 6 | Outdoor & sports | 3,564 | 6.6% |
The first thing new founders buy is an audience.
Before a review app or a loyalty program, new stores wire up ads. Meta Ads is the single most common tool FisherLeads detects on a new site, ahead of Google Ads and Print on Demand. Paid acquisition, not organic patience, is how most founders plan to win their first customers, which is exactly the moment an agency or app is most useful to them.
| # | Name | New sites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meta Ads | 10,851 | 49.2% |
| 2 | Google Ads | 4,557 | 20.7% |
| 3 | Print on Demand | 2,686 | 12.2% |
| 4 | Cash on Delivery | 2,324 | 10.5% |
| 5 | TikTok Ads | 1,200 | 5.4% |
| 6 | Dropshipping | 316 | 1.4% |
| 7 | Shopify Plus | 113 | 0.5% |
The themes new Shopify stores launch on.
Most new Shopify stores do not commission a custom build. Dawn and Horizon, Shopify’s own free themes, dress the majority of them. For theme and app makers, that is the canvas your product has to live on, and the default most founders never move off.
| # | Name | New sites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dawn | 6,536 | 42.8% |
| 2 | Horizon | 4,897 | 32.1% |
| 3 | Craft | 836 | 5.5% |
| 4 | Refresh | 755 | 4.9% |
| 5 | Sense | 680 | 4.5% |
| 6 | Spotlight | 612 | 4% |
| 7 | Updated copy of Dawn | 496 | 3.2% |
| 8 | Tinker | 450 | 2.9% |
What the new stores charge.
Among new stores that expose a catalog, most launch at entry-level prices. The cheapest product is under $30 for the majority of them, a reminder that new commerce still competes on affordable, impulse-friendly goods, even as a fifth of stores reach for the premium end.
| # | Name | New sites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Under $15 | 19,276 | 43.9% |
| 2 | $15 to $30 | 7,545 | 17.2% |
| 3 | $30 to $60 | 4,990 | 11.4% |
| 4 | $60 to $120 | 3,028 | 6.9% |
| 5 | $120 and up | 9,070 | 20.7% |
What the month says.
Shopify and WooCommerce are the new default.
Together they carry 69.6% of every new store and business launched this month. Everything else splits a long tail.
The United States is the launch capital.
The US produced 41.4% of all launches, 1.9× the next six countries combined.
Apparel still leads what they sell.
Among the stores FisherLeads could classify, apparel is the runaway category, ahead of beauty and food.
FisherLeads Index reflects new stores and businesses FisherLeads detected via public signals (newly-issued SSL certificates and domain records), not a claim of every store launched worldwide. August 2026 is FisherLeads' first full month of coverage, so no month-over-month comparison is drawn; trend data begins with the next report.
Snapshot generated 2026-08-03. “Launched” is measured by a domain’s first observed public SSL certificate, not by when FisherLeads discovered it. Figures are frozen at publication and will not change.
FisherLeads’s Index: The State of New Ecommerce, August 2026. FisherLeads, LLC. fisherleads.com/reports/state-of-new-ecommerce-august-2026