Ottawa’s Shopify, fresh off its $100 million series C funding round from last month, is now enabling its merchant clients to sell their products in-store, online and literally anywhere in between.
Along with a complete iOS app overhaul, clients can now accept mobile payments from its free card reader to accept cash or credit card payments from directly inside the app. It’s called Shopify Mobile.
“This is great news for retailers who sell on weekends at places like farmers markets, trade shows or pop-up stores,” wrote Shopify’s Chris Long. “Once payment is accepted you can send custom email receipts to your customers and your inventory will be automatically updated across the entire Shopify platform.”
It could be seen as a response to US-based Square’s aggressive Canadian expansion with its Square Reader mobile payments system. Or it could simply mean the company had planned to implement a mobile reader immediately after receiving its payday.
The slightly annoying catch? It’s only available for the (Canadian-based) Shopify’s US customers, but other regions will be added “soon”.
Much like Square CEO’s Jack Dorsey’s insistence on his product being an analytical play first and a retail play second, Shopify Mobile takes any data it receives and automatically syncs it between Shopify Mobile, the user’s online store and their Shopify POS system.
The app can be used to fulfill orders, contact customers and update product info and prices, and users get a notification every time a new order comes in. Shipping notifications can be sent to customers right from the app and it also gives users the freedom and flexibility to manage inventory from anywhere.
