Ottawa-based e-commerce company Shopify (SHOP) is moving to focus on the offline retail
sector with electronic point-of-sale hardware that allows merchants to accept payments, monitor
sales, and manage their inventory.
Announcing that “retail is back,” Shopify said that it is pivoting to now focus on brick-and-mortar
retailers coming out of the pandemic with the introduction of “POS Go,” a physical point-of-sale
device that looks like a card reader and will help merchants manage their business operations.
Shopify said that in the first half of this year, sales made by merchants using Shopify’s point-of-
sale technology grew about 60% year-over-year.
However, the renewed focus on offline retail is the latest attempt by Shopify to right its business
amid a steep downturn coming out of the COVID-19 crisis.
While Shopify thrived during the pandemic as businesses rapidly moved their operations online,
the company has seen growth slow dramatically this year, resulting in disappointing earnings.
Two months ago, Shopify announced that it is laying off 1,000 workers, equal to about 10% of
its staff.
Shopify said that its POS Go device will cost $399 U.S. and is now available for pre-order in the
United States. The company did not specify when the technology will be available in Canada.
Shopify’s stock is down 75% this year at $38.32 a share.
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