Shopify Inc. SHOP-T is launching new point-of-sale hardware in Canada, as it aims to widen its offerings for brick-and-mortar stores amid a slowdown in e-commerce growth that has weighed on the company’s results.
The retail technology, dubbed POS Go, was first introduced in the United States last year. It will be made available for Canadian businesses starting this week, with an option for translation services in French geared toward merchants in Quebec.
“Gaining share in offline commerce is one of Shopify’s top strategic priorities,” said Arpan Podduturi, vice-president of product for the Ottawa-based company, adding that demand for physical retail has increased steadily as of late.
Transactions made through Shopify’s point-of-sale system grew 31 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, according to figures from the company, suggesting in-person shopping trends are slowly bouncing back after plunging earlier in the pandemic. That’s why Shopify has been “heavily” increasing its investments in this area of growth, Mr. Podduturi said.
“Today, we know that consumers will often have researched their purchase online before going in store, and so, it’s up to retailers to capture that foot traffic,” he said. “POS Go gives merchants a full view of their business and their customers, while allowing them to capture sales from a single device.”
Shopify’s new handheld machine is the latest entrant in the exceedingly crowded payments sector, which includes point-of-sale players such as Square, Stripe and Montreal-based Lightspeed. Much like those competitors, the Shopify terminal functions with the ability to process and pay for transactions, access real-time information about sales, and to track other metrics, such as inventory levels.
Prior to its partial launch last year, Shopify had not updated its point-of-sale product lineup since before the pandemic. But the company, which unveiled its first retail hardware in 2013, has accelerated its pace of upgrades over the past year, Mr. Podduturi said. This has included new customizations, tools to manage up to 1,000 physical locations, the ability to measure staff performance in stores and other improvements to integrate Shopify’s online network with in-person retail.
“Despite macroeconomic headwinds around the world,” Mr. Podduturi said, “our job is to make it easy for merchants to sell across all channels.” Prominent companies such as October’s Very Own from Toronto-born rapper Drake have already started to use POS Go, he added.
Shopify has recently become vocal about finding new ways to boost profitability. Earlier this month, quarterly financial results showed the company is posting revenue growth but struggling on the bottom line, as chief executive officer Tobias Lütke slashed nearly 20 per cent of Shopify’s global work force and sold off its entire logistics operations. Shopify is renewing its focus toward its core lines of business, Mr. Lütke said.
Shopify shares plummeted by nearly 80 per cent year-over-year in 2022, after some consumers began to cut back on discretionary spending and turned away from online shopping habits. But so far this year, the stock has rallied, as investors have applauded the company’s moves to become more focused and nimble.
Temur Durrani