By Adriano Marchese

Shopify said it is helping merchants stay ahead of fluid trade policies, but downplayed broader economic negative effects that tariffs have had on business.

Meanwhile, the e-commerce platform's first-quarter gross merchandise volume came in just shy of expectations, underscoring margin pressures even as the company posted solid revenue growth and an upbeat guidance.

"It's still early to assess the full impact of the current trade environment," President Harley Finkelstein said on a call to investors. But the e-commerce platform is still making sure its merchants are one step ahead of the changing trade climate, for instance by helping U.S. merchants collecting and remitting duties and taxes while managing other markets independently.

Finkelstein said a small percentage of its business is affected by the termination of the U.S.'s de minimis exemption, which allowed for imported goods valued at $800 or less to enter the country duty-free--often from major exporting countries like China.

"The recent expiration of the de minimis exemption for goods from China is not expected to have a meaningful impact on Shopify in the near term, as only 1% of our overall gross merchandise volume is related to imports from China that were subject to the exemption," he said.

Still, gross merchandise volume narrowly missed Wall Street projections in the quarter. Gross merchandise volume grew 22.8% to $74.75 billion, compared with $74.8 billion, or a 22.9% growth expected by analysts.

GMV is a key metric for Shopify because it tracks the total value of sales flowing through its platform and reflects directly how much business its merchants are doing, and ultimately how much it can monetize.

Shares fell 2.8% to $91.82, easing from earlier lows in the morning. The stock has been under pressure throughout the year, falling about 14% since the start of 2025, but it is still up 47% over the last 52 weeks.

The e-commerce platform's first-quarter loss widened to $682 million, from $273 million a year earlier. Revenues rose to $2.36 billion from $1.86 billion, in line with analyst expectations, led by a 29% jump in merchant solutions and a 21% rise in subscription revenue.

This metric is closely tracked, given uncertain global trade dynamics that have stemmed from President Trump's tariff policies.

Shopify said that its GMV growth was driven by same-store sales growth of existing merchants, as well as growth in the merchant base globally, with continued strength in Europe, where it saw more than a third higher growth.

The softer GMV prompted Citi analysts to call the quarter's performance mixed, coupled with a narrower revenue beat than previous results.

"Shopify delivered mixed top-line results with GMV slightly missing expectations and a weaker first-quarter revenue beat magnitude," Citi analyst Tyler Radke said in a report.

Shopify struck a positive note for the second quarter, calling for revenue to grow in mid-twenties percentage rate. According to FactSet consensus, analysts peg revenue to grow to $2.53 billion from $2.05 billion a year earlier, a 23.4% increase.

Gross profit dollars are projected to grow at a high-teens percentage rate, Shopify said.

For operating expenses, this is expected to be between 39% and 40% of revenue, with stock-based compensation of about $120 million.

Free cash flow margin is expected to be similar to the first quarter, in the mid-teens range.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 08, 2025 11:08 ET (15:08 GMT)

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