Shopify plans new building, hiring spree as it grows new platform

Shopify Inc. is planning to add a new Waterloo, Ont. building to house new hires that will more than double its workforce in the region and help the company attract large clients.

The Ottawa-based e-commerce software provider plans to hire between 300 and 500 new staff over the next two to three years, opening a new Waterloo building near its current one to house them. The new hires will focus on growing Shopify Plus, the firm’s platform designed to accommodate the world’s largest retailers.

Loren Padelford, vice-president of Shopify Plus, said the company chose the new location to take advantage of the talent pool in the Toronto-Waterloo corridor. “As we thought about our future, we thought continuing to invest in this region was our best path to the best and brightest in the world,” Padelford said. “What we look to do with this new building and this expansion is continue to promote and support and develop this ecosystem here in Canada and hopefully give Canadian talent a reason to stay here.”

Shopify found success by helping small businesses sell products online without the technical knowledge to build a website. It is growing quickly, with second quarter revenues of $151.7 million representing a 75-per-cent increase compared to the same quarter the previous year.

With Shopify Plus, the firm has its sights set on larger companies. Plus, launched two and a half years ago, offers more services for retailers dealing with complex global supply chains and distribution networks.

Shopify Plus customers can keep their own domain names for checkout, get a dedicated support person and have the ability to create “store clones” targeting different countries. Plus also allows customers to automate certain back-end functions, such as automatically ordering new inventory when it gets low.

“This is a logical extension of Shopify, to solve problems for larger complex merchants just like we’ve been solving them for small startup entrepreneurs for over a decade,” Padelford said.

Shopify has about 2,500 Plus customers, a small subset of the firm’s 500,000-plus stores. Padelford said the service is growing quickly, however.