Shopify to double its stores to 10000 in India by 2015
New Delhi, India, June 30, 2014: Shopify (www.shopify.in), the leading e-commerce platform used to create and power online stores, sees strong business potential in India. The company which already has more than 1 lac active stores across 100 countries is looking to double its stores in India by 2015. Shopify is fast gaining popularity with more than 5000 merchants operating on its platform in India such as Fabmart, Madinindia, Insaraf etc. In sync with its international strategy to double the number of merchants worldwide on its platform by 2015, the company seeks to achieve a target of 10,000 stores in India during the same period.
To achieve this objective Shopify has announced a suite of initiatives to attract more retailers on its platform. The company is already supporting Merchants through local offices offering set-up-support and free consultation on running their online store. Shopify has also invested heavily in educating small medium businesses through running over 100 eCommerce workshops and webinars last year.
The platform is integrated with local payment gateways such as PayU India, Direct Pay, Citrus Pay and major credit cards. Merchants can also choose receive payment via money order, bank deposits and cash-on-delivery. Shopify merchants will soon be able to offer their customers the option of paying by installments via the EMI facility. Shopify partners with local logistics firms such as Delhivery, Aramex to help merchants manage their orders seamlessly and cost effectively.
The Shopify platform comes with customizable, contemporary design templates that are easy-to-use, supports mobile commerce and backed by a whole suite of apps that allow merchants to enhance the functionality of their store anytime. Almost anyone can now launch a visually spectacular, well-designed and user-friendly online store in mere minutes. Shopify is one of select few ecommerce platforms that allow merchants to manage their business on-the-go from a smart phone.
According to Google, India is currently home to an estimated 8 million small medium businesses, yet only 5% have a website. Shopify aims to help millions of small businesses and individuals in India create beautiful, high scalable and profitable online stores with the support of Airtel as a key channel partner.
Chief Platform Officer at Shopify Harley Finkelstien said, “We are very confident about the growth potential of ecommerce in the India, due to a growing middle class and increased penetration of internet and smartphones. The internet retailing in India during 2013 was INR 170 billion and this is expected to grow at 12% per annum. Our objective here is to help unleash the dormant entrepreneurial talent of India and ensure that they succeed, by providing an easy-to-use, customised, economical and feature rich platform to get started.”
The EMI facility
This facility is typically enjoyed by big retailers will soon be made available to smaller retailers through partnership with leading payment gateway ATOM. Customers can pay for their purchases via monthly installments. This helps the merchants to increase their sales conversion with products being made more affordable to their customers.
Manage your store on-the-go
Shopify Mobile is a free app that allows merchants to view and manage their entire online shop from their mobile devices. Merchants can stay up-to-date with sales orders and ensure their customers’ needs are met. Currently this app is available to iOS users, the Android app will be launched soon.
Shopify POS (Point of Sale System)
The Shopify POS is a revolutionary introduction in the Indian retail industry. The Shopify POS app allows merchants to manage all aspects of their business from one place. They can add a product or update inventory on one side of the system, and it is instantly updated across their online and offline inventory. Merchants will have to pay USD 49 to enable the POS app on their store and purchase hardware such as credit card reader, barcode label printer, barcode reader, cash Drawer and printer.
Strategic Partnerships
Shopify has already tied up with leading telecom service provider Airtel to reach out to SME customers. Customers are now able to purchase a Shopify plan bundled with Airtel data plans at attractive rates.
Shopify is strongly committed to India and is making every possible effort to help build a strong support ecosystem for entrepreneurs in the country. Ever since its launch in 2013, the company has been introducing innovations, best-in-class systems and sharing international learnings for the benefit of Indian entrepreneurs. The current initiatives are part of an ongoing endeavour to provide a dynamic and robust platform that acts as a spring-board to launch businesses and transform ideas into opportunities.
