This was going to be a post about the Shopify developer DotDev conference.

We were going to share what we learned, talk about the announcements, and reflect on where the platform is heading next.

Instead, it has become a thank you letter.

During the keynote address, Atlee Clark (VP, Partners at Shopify), mentioned Total Commerce alongside a small group of long-standing New York Shopify agencies.

Collectively, the group represents around 150 years of Shopify experience, all gathered in a room of more than 2,000 developers, agencies and app partners. They are also know as the New York Five Families aka the New York eCommerce mafia.

As Atlee said, it was a very New York meeting. 

It was a wonderful moment for Total Commerce to be recognized at one of the largest gatherings of developers and builders in the world, not simply because our name was mentioned, but because it reflected something we have believed for a long time.

Shopify Agencies are not just implementation partners.

We are often the people closest to the problems merchants are trying to solve. We see where systems fall short, where operations become difficult, where customer experience breaks down, and where businesses need the platform to do something it was not originally designed to do.

We spend our days asking difficult questions, finding practical answers, and pushing Shopify further. But none of that happens without our clients.

You are the ones who bring us the interesting problems.

You bring us the complicated platform requirements, the operational challenges, the unusual integrations, the ambitious ideas, and the questions that begin with, “Is this even possible?”

Those are the projects that make us better.

They force us to think differently. They give us the opportunity to explore the limits of the platform, challenge assumptions, speak directly with Shopify, and advocate for the needs of the merchants we work with every day.

So this is really a thank you to you.

Thank you for trusting us with the difficult work.

Thank you for inviting us into the conversations that matter.

Thank you for bringing us the problems that do not have obvious answers.

Please keep bringing them.

Keep bringing us the unusual requests, the complex challenges, and the ideas that have never quite been done before.

We will keep taking those challenges to Shopify. We will keep pushing the boundaries of what the platform can do. We will keep asking for better tools, stronger functionality, and more flexibility for the businesses building on it.

One of the strongest themes from DotDev was that Shopify is listening.

For years, agencies have been on the front lines of ecommerce. We hear merchant pain points early. We know where projects slow down, where teams get frustrated, and which improvements would make a meaningful difference.

It is encouraging to see those conversations becoming more collaborative.

The progress across B2B, developer tooling, extensibility, storefront flexibility and AI increasingly feels informed by the people building, maintaining and growing Shopify stores every day.

That matters.

The best platforms are not built in isolation. They are shaped through constant feedback between the platform, the agencies implementing it, the app developers extending it, and the merchants relying on it.

Tobi Lütke (Shopify CEO) spoke at the conference about building the impossible.

We may not be able to see exactly what the future looks like, but we can build seemingly impossible things today, right here and right now.

That is the work we want to keep doing.

Together.

To our clients, partners and friends across the Shopify ecosystem, thank you for giving us the opportunity to do work that challenges us, strengthens the platform, and helps move ecommerce forward.

We are incredibly proud to have you as part of the story.

With gratitude,

The Total Commerce Team