Tobias Lutke, Co-founder & CEO Mobile buying and marketing is blooming and customers are going global with the advent of online shopping. With everything online, the retail industry is undergoing a dramatic shift and the customers now have more power than ever before. E-commerce is capturing a larger share of sales compared to physical stores. This market today is categorized into online stores, Point of Sale (PoS) systems, buy button systems, social networking shops, and high volume enterprise stores. Each category serves as a platform and online merchants are challenged at scores of fronts akin to integrating available platforms, combining content and commerce, adding more responsive design to their online stores, and international orders and supply chain integration. “We really want to make it a lot simpler to start E-commerce business,” says Tobias Lütke, Co-founder and CEO, Shopify.
Based out of Ontario, Canada, Shopify is a multichannel E-commerce platform that helps businesses in setting up online stores to sell goods. Focused on making E-commerce better for everyone, the platform facilitates online selling through dedicated websites, PoS, Buy buttons, and Social Networks. Users can use the Shopify platform to design, set up, and manage their stores across multiple sales channels including web, mobile, social media, marketplaces, brick-and-mortar locations, and pop-up shops.
“Shopify significantly simplifies the process of getting your business started,” points Lütke. Providing back-office services and a single pane of glass to view for online businesses, it also offers users a complete control over the structure, interface, secure payments, logistics and supply chain. The platform automatically syncs products with inventory; manages orders of all types in one place, and measures sales across all channels.
Shopify significantly simplifies the process of getting your business started
“By using our product, this is probably for the first time that people who are running an online store are also structuring it,” quotes Lütke.
Security, Logistics and Store management are important aspects of an E-commerce business. Shopify facilitates secure E-commerce. The transaction information is protected by a 256-bit SSL certificate and the platform is certified Level 1 PCI compliant. Shopify manages users logistics by providing automatic shipping rates from major shipping carriers, multiple language store checkout options, and automatically handling major country and state tax rates. On account of store management, Shopify maintains database related to customer profiles, accounts, drop-shipping, refunds and fulfillment centers. Shopify also bequeaths its customers with marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
The company is focused on growth and building new revenue streams. Shopify’s new product, ‘Sello’ is an application built for individuals interested in online retail. The application, allows any user to take a picture of an item, price it, choose shipping options, and push a link t o social media channels, as well as other platforms that use share extensions. Interested consumers can click the link to purchase the advertised items and pay with PayPal, a credit card, or even cash.
Forecasting increased customer expectations in online retail the team looks forward to an exciting time in the industry. “Our focus is, to allow more E-commerce business to be created,” comments Lütke. The team is committed to provide seamless experience across all channels to its users. “The core competency of our business is to thrive in chaos and to react quicker than anyone else,” concludes Lütke.
