Tag: Shopify

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Shopify breaks Black Friday record with $3.36 billion in sales

Canadian e-commerce company Shopify reports its merchants made $3.36 billion in sales on Black Friday.

Transactions increased by 17 percent compared to Black Friday 2021.

Toronto, Calgary and Montreal were the top-selling cities and apparel and accessories were the top product categories.

That didn’t change much throughout the Black Friday weekend. Shopify reports Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal were the top-selling cities between November 24th and 28th.

Apparel and accessories remain the top categories. Electronics is number five on the list.

“Black Friday Cyber Monday has grown into a full-on shopping season,” Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s president, said. “The weekend that started it all is still one of the biggest commerce events of the year, and our merchants have broken Black Friday sales records again.”

Globally, the top-selling cities were London, New York, and Los Angeles. Apparel and accessories remained the top trending categories.

Source: Shopify

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Mobile Syrup

Shopify found to be infringing Mobile Express’ patents

Ottawa-based e-commerce platform Shopify is reportedly down a $40 million ($52 million CAD) hole.

As reported by Reuters, Shopify owes Express Mobile $40 million ($52 million CAD) for infringing three mobile-website technology patents belonging to Express Mobile, as concluded by a Delaware jury verdict made public on Thursday, September 1st.

Express Mobile owns several internet and mobile technology patents that were developed by the company’s founder and former IBM engineer Steven Rempell. According to Express Mobile, Shopify infringed on patents related to the software used for providing content to mobile devices.

Express Mobile has reportedly sued multiple other tech companies for infringing its patents, including Google, Meta and Amazon, Ebay, Expedia, and more, all of which happen to be ongoing cases.

Shopify argues that Express Mobile’s patents are invalid and that it didn’t infringe any of them. According to a Shopify spokesperson, via Reuters, the company feels “disappointed and surprised” by the jury’s verdict, and that it will “pursue the matter in the district court or, if necessary, on appeal.” On the other hand, Express Mobile’s attorney Jay Nuttall said that the company’s patented technology is “an important and valuable improvement that was being used by Shopify.”

Source: Reuters

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Mobile Syrup

Shopify cutting 10 percent of its workforce by the end of the day

Shopify is set to lay off nearly 1,000 employees by day’s end, a memo from the company’s CEO, Tobi Lütke, states.

The move to cut 10 percent of the roughly 10,000 employees working at the Ottawa-based company is necessary as the demand for e-commerce, fueled by restrictions brought on by COVID-19, dies down.

Lütke said Shopify “threw away our roadmaps” to help businesses throughout the pandemic. Before COVID-19, Lütke said growth in e-commerce was steady, and it raised questions if the surge in demand experienced during the pandemic was temporary. If it weren’t, the company would have to expand to keep up with demand.

“It’s now clear that bet didn’t pay off. What we see now is the mix reverting to roughly where pre-Covid data would have suggested it should be at this point,” Lütke wrote.

“Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong. Now, we have to adjust. As a consequence, we have to say goodbye to some of you today and I’m deeply sorry for that.”

Shopify will pay impacted employees 16 weeks of severance pay. Tenure employees will have one week added for every year of tenure. The company will also offer outplacement services, including career coaching, and cover internet costs for this period.

You can read Lütke’s full memo here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Shopify

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Artists can now sell merch on Spotify thanks to a partnership with Shopify

Spotify and Shopify are teaming up to make it easier for musicians to sell their merch on Spotify instead of relying on tour merch tables and websites.

This is a significant update for artists since it earns them more revenue through the music streaming service. A few years ago, Spotify started selling concerts tickets through its app. This update helps the platform become an even more robust one-stop-shop for all things music.

Spotify says that artists can start learning about the new sales feature in the Spotify for Artists app. If you want to see the new feature in action, pop artist Remi Wolf has a few items on her page.

Source: Shopify