Black Friday translated into plenty of green for e-commerce behemoth Shopify and the companies that use it to sell their goods.
Ottawa’s software darling, which helps merchants around the world build and maintain their online storefronts, has crunched the numbers from what’s become one of the biggest shopping days of the year – and they are eye-popping.
Shopify said the more than one million global users of its platform sold a combined $2.4 billion worth of goods on Nov. 27, a 75 per cent increase over last year. The average consumer cart price was $90.70, an 11 per cent jump from 2019.
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The company said about two-thirds of all Black Friday purchases on its platform were made on mobile devices, down slightly from last year’s 69 per cent. The top merchandise categories were apparel and accessories, followed by health and beauty and home and garden.
In a statement, Shopify president Harley Finkelstein said the company expected the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend to be “one of the biggest e-commerce events in history.”
Soaring revenues
That means big business for Shopify, which generates fees from its merchants that vary depending on the amount of online spending.
It’s also the continuation of a monumental 2020 for the downtown Ottawa firm, which has seen its revenues – and its stock price – soar as more consumers than ever embrace e-commerce during the pandemic.
Shopify reported record revenues of nearly $770 million in the third quarter, more than $100 million above most analysts’ expectations, and the company has signed a litany of new partnerships over the past several months with enterprises as diverse as retail giant Walmart and social media platform TikTok.
Investors appeared to be impressed with Shopify’s big weekend. The company’s stock was up nearly $55, or roughly four per cent, Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, closing at $1,397.77.
