Shopify Capital launches to help SMEs during COVID-19

Multinational e-commerce company Shopify has announced a financing platform (Shopify Capital) to help SMEs struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With consumer habits limited by the effects of coronavirus lockdown, companies, particularly small brick and mortar (B&M) stores, are experiencing challenging financial straits which may permanently reshape the market.

Seeking to mitigate the effects of this on Canadian business, Shopify Capital has been conceived to provide fast financial relief to struggling companies. 

“Canada holds a special place in our hearts at Shopify,” it said in the press release. “It’s where we’ve established roots as a company and it’s where so many of us call home.”

Providing services to help business

Acknowledging that loans and the idea of debt can be a daunting prospect, particularly in the current climate, Shopify instead offers cash advances which are subsequently recouped via future sales.

Allocations of CA$200 to $500,000 per merchant are available and can be received following an online application process.

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This innovative and timely offering is Shopify’s latest development to help address Canada’s management of the pandemic. 

Some which were demoed last year have found greater applicability in the new, remote-based work/consuming paradigm, particularly Shopify Email. 

A marketing tool designed to increase visibility for merchants and develop customer relationships remotely, Shopify Email has been made ‘free to use’ until the start of October 2020.

“COVID-19 has forced many retailers to re-think their marketing strategies and get creative with how to reach their customers,” commented Satish Kanwar, VP of Product.

“We want to do everything we can to help these businesses thrive. As consumers spend more time online than ever before, email marketing becomes critical in preserving and building customer relationships.”

Designed to be an intuitive and fluid platform for all email-based customer marketing, Shopify Email could represent the beginning of a new general focus for modern business as it adapts to the ‘new normal’.

For more information on business topics in the United States, please take a look at the latest edition of Business Chief North America