Ottawa’s Shopify has established a series of high-profile partnerships with some of the planet’s biggest tech firms. From its first partnership with a Tel Aviv firm to its most recent integration with Amazon’s sale channels, here’s a look at some of the biggest deals the e-commerce firm has ever locked down.
July 2011: Zibaba
The first of its many partnerships came in the form of Tel Aviv-based Zibaba, which helped Shopify’s merchants establish stores on Facebook. In what would become a theme for the company, this deal marked its initial foray into social-based commerce.
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October 2012: Canada Post
Closer to home, Shopify partnered with Canada Post to create an app allowing its merchants to print their own shipping labels. The two companies followed up with another collaboration this past year to give merchants discounts when ordering labels through Shopify.
June 2014: Google
Google tapped Shopify, along with website builders Squarespace, Wix.com and Weebly, to help design its Google Domains registration service. The aim with this venture was to make purchasing, transferring and managing domains simple.
June 2015: Pinterest
Shopify broadened its reach into social with “buyable pins” on Pinterest. The result gave Pinterest users access to products from brands such as Macy’s, Nordstrom and Michaels, and gave Shopify users another sales channel to advertise their wares.
June 2015: Facebook
Facebook was next to join Shopify’s buy button bandwagon. This partnership continued to grow later in the year, with the social media platform adding a Shop section to merchants’ Facebook pages through Shopify. This past year, Shopify also launched commerce through Facebook’s Messenger service after an acquisition helped the company employ messaging bots on the platform.
September 2015: Twitter
Following the buy button trend started on Pinterest and Facebook, Shopify teamed with Twitter to add a “buy now” button to merchant’s tweets, allowing customers to make purchases within their Twitter timelines.
October 2015: Uber
Merchants in a select few U.S. cities got the chance to pilot UberRUSH in 2015, a same-day package delivery service from a partnership between ride-sharing app Uber and Shopify. Users were given the option of having a parcel picked up and delivered by an Uber driver, with the ability to track the delivery through the app.
Fall 2016: Apple
Shopify brought Apple Pay to its merchants this past fall, allowing for a more “seamless”vendor experience aimed at developing a stronger mobile presence. Apple Pay provides a secure way to check out of e-commerce stores, whether purchasing on web or an iOS mobile device.
January 2017: Amazon
Shopify may have announced its integration with Amazon this month, but connecting with the enormous online marketplace has long been a facet of Shopify’s business model. Amazon named Shopify its preferred migration partner after shutting down its Webstore. The company has also allowed Shopify merchants access to its enormous warehouse inventory in the past, and officially launched an integration of its sales channels with users’ accounts in December.
