no barrier reef
letter nº 24 2026 · 02 · 12 / ≈ 3 min read

The Plus merchants nobody's targeting (and where to find them)

Subject Line: The Plus merchants nobody’s targeting (and where to find them)

[4 minute read]

Hey

Most Shopify app founders only run ads in the US.

Which means they’re ignoring 17,000+ Plus merchants sitting in Europe and Canada.

I pulled the data from Store Leads (storeleads.app/reports/shopify/list-of-shopify-plus-stores). Filtered by plan type and country. Then cross-referenced with EF’s English Proficiency Index (ef.com/epi) and Shopify’s market share data.

Some of this surprised me.

Germany is almost neck-and-neck with the UK for Plus merchants. 4,418 vs 4,803.

Everyone assumes the UK is way ahead in Europe. It’s not.

Here’s the real number: Germany has 96,761 total Shopify stores. The UK has 217,497. Do the math. 4.6% of German Shopify stores are on Plus, vs 2.2% in the UK.

Germany’s Plus merchant concentration is double the UK’s.

The Netherlands has 2,231 Plus stores and ranks #1 in the world for English proficiency (EF English Proficiency Index 2025). Nobody’s thinking about the Netherlands.

Denmark has 1,371 Plus stores. For a country of 6 million people, that’s wild density. More Plus stores than Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, and Austria.

Sweden has around a third of all online stores running on Shopify (Statista, 2023). One in three. Higher platform share than most European markets.

I broke this into three tiers based on Plus merchant volume, English proficiency, and how many of your competitors are already advertising there.

Tier 1 - Launch Immediately:

  • UK (4,803 Plus stores)
  • Germany (4,418 Plus stores)
  • Canada (2,731 Plus stores)

These are the big three outside the US. High Plus merchant density. English works in all three (Germany included - most business owners speak it). Your competitors may already be here, but the volume justifies it.

Canada especially. 31% Shopify market share (Statista). It’s Shopify’s home market. If you’re not running ads there, you’re leaving money on the table.

Tier 2 - High Value, Low Competition:

  • Netherlands (2,231 Plus stores)
  • Denmark (1,371 Plus stores)
  • Sweden (501 Plus stores, but 33% Shopify market share)

Real merchant quality. A fraction of the ad competition. Almost nobody’s targeting them.

The Netherlands is the standout. Best English proficiency on the planet, 24% Shopify market share (Statista), and over 2,200 Plus merchants. If your app works for English-speaking merchants, test here.

Tier 3 - Test With Small Budgets:

  • Belgium (640 Plus stores)
  • Ireland (349 Plus stores)
  • Austria (348 Plus stores)
  • Norway (193 Plus stores)

Smaller markets. Still viable. Test with small budgets once Tier 1 and 2 are working.

Skip These:

  • France (3,470 Plus stores on paper, but weak English proficiency kills conversion if your listing isn’t translated)
  • Switzerland (complexity not worth it)
  • Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg (too small)

You don’t need a research team to pull this yourself.

Store Leads (storeleads.app) has Shopify store counts by country, filtered by plan type. That’s where the Plus merchant numbers come from. BuiltWith (builtwith.com) tracks Shopify market share by region.

English proficiency rankings are from EF’s English Proficiency Index at ef.com/epi (updates every year). Ad competition you can check in Google Ads or Meta Ads Manager by switching your target location.

None of this is hidden.

Match your app category to the market.

High-AOV apps (upsells, bundles, checkout optimization): UK, Canada, Germany. That’s where the Plus volume is.

Logistics and shipping apps: test Nordics early. Sweden and Denmark have high Shopify adoption. Merchants care about delivery.

Apps with English-language content (SEO, reviews, email marketing): Netherlands, Ireland, Scandinavia. English proficiency is near-native.

Need translation to convert? Skip non-English markets until you localize. France and Southern Europe will burn your budget.

If you’re only running ads in the US, you’re competing with everyone.

Cost per install keeps climbing. The merchants you’re reaching have seen dozens of other apps this week that do something similar.

Europe and Canada? Most of your competitors aren’t there yet.

Same quality merchants. Lower cost. Less noise.

Sources:

  • Plus merchant counts: Store Leads (storeleads.app/reports/shopify/list-of-shopify-plus-stores)
  • English proficiency: EF EPI 2025 (ef.com/epi)
  • Shopify market share by country: Statista, BuiltWith

If you test any of these markets, reply and let me know how it goes. I’m tracking what works for different app categories.

Ohad