As an Ottawan living in the Bay Area, and a very happy customer, I couldn't feel more proud. Tobi, Harley, Mark, and everyone else, keep being awesome!
Shopify Raises $100 Million
11–20 of 55 posts
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#12Great news. Shopify is the one piece of ecommerce software we use that isn't completely maddening. (Having a fantastic API is a large reason why.) I was struck by this comment, though: "Using Shopify and Shopify POS together reveals our true ambition: To be the first company in the world that fuses all the distinct parts that are needed to run a complete modern commerce business - all in one amazing product." If anyo…
I built a private app for fulfillment using their API and EasyPost. That was just a day project thanks to two very simple-to-use APIs.
Shopify's missing a lot more than that for retail. I wouldn't use their current POS app for running more than a flea market table or street vendor. It's just too basic even for the smallest store.
You can't handle hundreds of SKUs by paging through product thumbnails at checkout; you need barcode scanning, and from experience, iPads and bluetooth scanners are a real pain to work with. Shopify also has no real inventory management (figuring out what to reorder, entering in the new orders as they get delivered, tracking cost of goods sold and spoilage, printing price tags and barcodes, etc). The couple of reports they've built are inadequate for proper accounting.
I hope they get there eventually, but the number and complexity of features they need for a small shop to run their POS on Shopify means they're at least a few years out.
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#13As someone who hails from Ottawa, where Shopify is headquartered, this is wonderful news. From my perspective, they have contributed more to the tech and startup community in Ottawa than anyone since Nortel. Kudos to them on their success!
I wish they would just re-implement the whole thing on top of a hybrid API with reference FOSS implementations of web client servers and client apps so that programmers can pick-and-choose how much PaaS they need. Please get the "apps" on the backburner by letting FOSS compete head-to-head with the little mini-ISV's and their inevitable hodge-podge. Payments and 90% of inventory schlogg can take a hike, but when it c…
> working on one's own source is so much better that I would use a fully FOSS solution and self host it if I ever needed to do an e-commerce site again
Except now instead of focusing on the other aspects of your business you need to focus on the infrastructure as well. What if your products get super popular? Not you'll need to work on scaling out your store which will cost a boatload in equipment and specialization.
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#14As someone who hails from Ottawa, where Shopify is headquartered, this is wonderful news. From my perspective, they have contributed more to the tech and startup community in Ottawa than anyone since Nortel. Kudos to them on their success!
As fellow Ottawans, I think we all really appreciate hearing that. We all benefit from a stronger tech community here.
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#15Congratulations to Shopify. As an e-commerce agency it's going to be remarkable when we can offer our clients a relatively low cost solution that also improves their bricks and mortar situation. I know Shopify PoS already helps with this, but there's a long way to go and I imagine this is where much of the money is going.
It would also be good to see Shopify Payments launch in the UK - hopefully this money will speed that up. Our clients are often concerned about the double commission (payment gateway + Shopify) on the lower plans, though I know it's money well spent and an equivalent bespoke/self-hosted ecommerce solution would be orders of magnitude more expensive. We have to explain this to our clients a lot though and a simplified and cheaper setup via Payments would be great.
We've watched Shopify since 2009 when we started our business and even in that short time the progress in what the platform offers has been outstanding, as has the support. Today we rarely use anything else for our clients as we don't need to, even 'high end' features are available when you take in to account the app store.
A lot of people here are commenting on the limitations of Shopify, which I agree exist, but the key thing is that they don't matter to a huge number of small/medium businesses. Shopify has enabled so many fantastic businesses that would have been otherwise stuck on crap platforms.
All this from a RoR developer that was dissatisfied with the existing market offering.
If you watch Tobias speak - interview on TWIT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxBaDs0sGPw - you'll be enamoured with his vision, which this funding will let Shopify pursue.
This is a refined and enlarged version of a comment I posted on the OP.
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#16I don't work at Shopify, but I've been grateful to them for allowing many of the local dev meetups here in the Ottawa area to use their fantastic space for our meetings. So I am glad to see things going so well for them.
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#17Great news. Shopify is the one piece of ecommerce software we use that isn't completely maddening. (Having a fantastic API is a large reason why.) I was struck by this comment, though: "Using Shopify and Shopify POS together reveals our true ambition: To be the first company in the world that fuses all the distinct parts that are needed to run a complete modern commerce business - all in one amazing product." If anyo…
I built a private app for fulfillment using their API and EasyPost. That was just a day project thanks to two very simple-to-use APIs. Shopify's missing a lot more than that for retail. I wouldn't use their current POS app for running more than a flea market table or street vendor. It's just too basic even for the smallest store. You can't handle hundreds of SKUs by paging through product thumbnails at checkout; you…
Agreed 100%. I was just touching the surface, and by "shipping" I really meant inventory management, purchase orders, and everything else involved in stocking physical goods.
It's clear the POS app is a test product for them, and I'm happy to see them experiment. I just wish they'd put a little more love into the core functionality. Even for ecommerce, Shopify is lacking some really basic things:
- Editing orders (e.g. marking an item canceled)
- Editing tracking numbers (fixing typos -- not allowed today)
- Allowing coupons to offer both a discounted price and free shipping (today they're mutually exclusive)
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
I built a private app for fulfillment using their API and EasyPost. That was just a day project thanks to two very simple-to-use APIs. Shopify's missing a lot more than that for retail. I wouldn't use their current POS app for running more than a flea market table or street vendor. It's just too basic even for the smallest store. You can't handle hundreds of SKUs by paging through product thumbnails at checkout; you…
Agreed 100%. I was just touching the surface, and by "shipping" I really meant inventory management, purchase orders, and everything else involved in stocking physical goods. It's clear the POS app is a test product for them, and I'm happy to see them experiment. I just wish they'd put a little more love into the core functionality. Even for ecommerce, Shopify is lacking some really basic things: - Editing orders (e.…
I don't know about the other two but I updated a tracking number in my store for a customer just this morning.
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#19As someone who hails from Ottawa, where Shopify is headquartered, this is wonderful news. From my perspective, they have contributed more to the tech and startup community in Ottawa than anyone since Nortel. Kudos to them on their success!
Agreed. Not only more R&D in Ottawa but the fact that a a tech company's HQ is here is a positive. So many tech in Ottawa for R&D, but with their leadership silo'd in Toronto or another hub. Kudos to Shopify on this.
Re: Shopify Raises $100 Million
#20I don't work at Shopify, but I've been grateful to them for allowing many of the local dev meetups here in the Ottawa area to use their fantastic space for our meetings. So I am glad to see things going so well for them.
Agree, if you're 20's geek in RoR space - you'll enjoy mingling at Shopify ghetto :)