Building Neutral Checkout Infrastructure
Jordan Gal, CEO of Rally, on building the Switzerland of checkout
The key strategic issue is that platform ecosystems help apps get distribution, then squeeze them once they become important. Shopify gives an app instant access to merchants, but it also controls ranking, checkout surfaces, APIs, billing rules, and the roadmap. That means an app can win customers on top of Shopify, then see margins compressed by revenue share and product scope narrowed as Shopify adds native features around checkout, post purchase, and automation.
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This pattern is strongest at checkout because that is where money and customer identity sit. Larger merchants often use NetSuite, Klaviyo, ShipStation, 3PLs, and custom storefronts, but still depend on the platform owned checkout. That makes checkout the control point where the platform can keep taking a toll even as the rest of the stack unbundles.
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The same fear shows up across the ecommerce tooling layer. Integration companies describe Shopify as a useful channel with thousands of apps, but also a place where discoverability can change overnight and where native products can move into adjacent categories. That is why neutral infrastructure positions itself as connective tissue rather than another app inside the platform.
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The Apple analogy is about economics and dependence, not identical fee structures. Apple formalized commissions of 15% for qualifying smaller developers in its Small Business Program, while Shopify’s current App Store revenue share pays developers 85% only after very large scale thresholds. In both cases, the platform sets the tax, the rules, and the default user path.
The direction of travel is toward more composable commerce, where merchants keep swapping out storefront, data, marketing, and fulfillment layers while fighting to avoid platform lock in at checkout. The company that becomes the neutral checkout and data coordination layer will capture the most leverage, because it can sit between many merchant tools without becoming just another tenant inside someone else's garden.