More than a 100 new tools were unveiled on
Wednesday, including ones to support its plans to push into
business-to-business, for shoppers to connect their crypto wallets to a store
and Apple's "Tap to Pay" feature on iPhones.
Shopify, which helps businesses set up
their online stores, hit the jackpot during lockdowns as global brands and
mom-and-pop stores alike turned to selling online directly to consumers while
their shops were shut.
With the economy reopening, however, investors
are starting to question Shopify's future, sending the company's stock down 76
percent this year and erasing a big chunk of its pandemic gains.
Shopify's answer to the slowdown is
expanding into the wholesale market, a far bigger avenue than
direct-to-consumer and with "billions in untapped revenue", according
to President Harley Finkelstein.
Businesses are looking to move from
direct-to-consumer to "connect-to-consumer", which makes it easier
for people to shop through social media platforms and pay using their phones,
Finkelstein said in an interview.
"This is the next phase of retail...
In many ways, shopping has become a vote with your wallet to support that
brand... And that's what I think connect-to-consumer is all about," he
said.
The post-pandemic world has thrown up
challenges for Amazon as well, Shopify's biggest rival, as it fields massive
losses after building more warehouses than needed during the boom.
In a podcast earlier this month, long-time
Shopify investor Mawer Investment Management's Vijay Viswanathan said it was
exiting the stock on concerns of slowing growth and competition. "The
internet is getting crowded... It became harder and harder to justify the
valuation." © Reuters
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