Shopify to open first bricks and mortar space this year
TORONTO — Shopify Inc. unveiled a host of new features and its intent to open its first brickand-mortar location in a bid to attract — and keep — more retailers on its e-commerce platform.
The Ottawa-based company revealed at its Unite conference in Toronto on Tuesday that the location that will act as a hub for its retailer clients to get support for growing their business will open in 2018, but did not say where.
It also announced a new tap-and-chip payment reader that accepts contactless options including Apple and Google Pay, single-tap payments through a “dynamic checkout” system and expanded language, marketing and tipping features.
The company’s focus on physical support for retailers comes amid slowing growth — albeit at a rate that still hovers around 70 per cent — and questions about its customer retention as curiosity has grown over how many merchants open stores through Shopify only to shut them down later.
The company also announced upgrades to its point-of-sale support at its annual conference, including tipping, in-store pickup and multi-channel return and exchange options.
Shopify will also update its technology to accept local, cashless payment methods available overseas and offer a beta version with extended capabilities for merchants running their operations in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese and Portuguese.
The company has also been toying with the idea of using virtual reality and augmented reality to surmount one of the e-commerce market’s biggest barriers: getting customers to buy products without insisting on first seeing them in-person. It’s developing tech that lets shoppers wander around a virtual store with a phone or tablet.