Harley Finkelstein

Grove Collaborative has migrated to Shopify. What other retailers can learn from this: you’re probably underestimating the true cost of building in-house. One of the most important things every founder and retailer should be doing right now is being extremely precise on where they are spending their time and resources. If you’re a best in class CPG company, spend your time innovating, making incredible customer experiences and products. Not building software. Grove’s CTO and co-founder Chris Clark said it best: “We’re in the business of offering the best assortment of healthy, sustainable CPG products to our customers — we’re not in the software development business. This replatform allows us to focus on that mission.” Instead of focusing on maintaining Google best practices, updating code, or integrating with platforms like TikTok, Grove’s internal team can put all that time and those resources into innovation and building better products for their customers. Don’t forget: Engineering teams that are focused on reinventing the wheel instead of creating differentiated customer experiences quickly turn into a multi-million dollar opportunity cost. The best brands in the world know this, and they are all building on Shopify. Read more 👇 https://lnkd.in/ez6tQkHE

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It’s official: Shopify is the first commerce integration partner on Roblox. This year we’re piloting integrating Shopify’s world-class Checkout into Roblox, with a larger launch coming in early 2025. Soon, you’ll be able to shop physical products like clothing, accessories and collectables designed by your favourite creators and brands, all within Roblox, powered by Shopify. This means that developers, creators, and brands who are on Shopify, can sell DIRECTLY within their Roblox games. My favourite part is this is a brand new path to entrepreneurship for Roblox creators and a new path for Shopify brands to engage and sell to a massive audience of nearly 80 million daily, highly-engaged Roblox users. Together, we’re shaping the future of immersive commerce. This is the next iteration of what retail shopping experiences look like; and it’s powered by Shopify and the best-converting checkout in the world. More spaces to connect with fans means more opportunities to succeed as an entrepreneur, and that is what we are powering at Shopify. See you soon on Roblox 🚀

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Hate to say it but this seems like a big “nothing burger.” For a number of reasons: 1) Walmart announced something quite similar back in 2020 (https://lnkd.in/gRarmX-C) and we haven’t heard word one about it since. 2) Target already has a full functioning marketplace, so what added value does the Shopify connection really provide? Good merchants should already be finding and sourcing these products. 3) The idea that Shopify vendors can go into stores long-term is also a bridge too far. Again, if the digital marketplace and merchandising teams are functioning and coordinating properly, the infrastructure should already exist to take in new brands based on their marketplace performance and/or these brands should already be on the radar screens of the merchants deciding the stores' assortments. 4) Any new Shopify vendors that aren’t already on the Target marketplace are probably not there for a reason and also likely not ready for the prime time effort it takes to place your products wholesale in actual mass market stores throughout the country, which in Target’s case is approximately 2,000 stores, if this strategy is to have any material impact on revenue. #retail #retailing #grocery #cpg #branding #advertisingandmarketing #onlineshopping #shoppingandtheretailindustry #supplychainmanagement #fashionretail #luxuryretail #beauty https://lnkd.in/gxNf8iGY

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When I say "Costco", what's the first word (or sentence) that comes to mind? * * * * I'm updating my "The Essential Components of a Strong Retail Brand" lecture for next week's Retail Marketing Strategies class at Schulich School of Business - York University, and using Costco Wholesale as an example of a strong retail brand. Your response to the question above will be helpful in an exercise I'm planning... so thanks in advance to everyone participating in the comments! #Costco #Retail #Brand

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Shopify is making history. We put Shopify’s Live Globe on the Exosphere in Vegas. What’s different: Shopify is the FIRST brand EVER to share a live, real-time data visualization on the Exosphere Sphere Entertainment Co. You can see sales happening on Shopify right now. Every single arc you see is an order on Shopify. The fireworks show a merchant's first order (ever) on Shopify. Since 2018, we have built our annual “Live Globe” which shows a live view of global commerce happening on Shopify. We share key sales states like real-time orders, sales per minute, unique shoppers, trending products, front and back-end stats, and more. It’s a massive engineering feat and one of my favourite things we build. This year, we went big. We reimagined how we could show JUST how powerful entrepreneurship is by putting our Live Globe on the Exosphere. As the largest spherical structure in the world, combined with the world’s largest LED screen, the Exosphere is the perfect canvas to showcase the power of entrepreneurship and our merchants. We are making history showing the world all the orders happening on Shopify in real-time. This is a Vegas show you want to see. This is extra special because it is the first time Sphere is partnering with a brand to deliver dynamic API data visualization. The activation is powered by Unreal Engine and connected to Shopify’s own live data source making this a truly live experience. We’re constantly pushing the bounds of innovation and we put the biggest weekend of the year for our merchants on the largest LED screen in the world.  Commerce happening on Shopify right now is illuminating Vegas on the largest LED screen in the world. Watch the world show live 🌎​👇​  Bfcm.shopify.com

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Read the latest article on the topic - Transforming Retail The Rise of Hyperlocal Delivery in Canada.

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Guest Feature: Transform Your Brand Engagement with a Referral Program 🏡🌟 We're thrilled to have Lianne McOuat, VP Strategy and Principal at McOuat Partnership, share her expertise in our latest blog. With years of experience in new home marketing, Lianne explains how a well-executed referral program can really improve brand engagement. In today’s competitive market, it’s important to stand out—especially for new developments. A strong referral program can help by: 🛠️ Making referrals easy 💰 Stretching your budget 🎁 Rewarding loyalty 👥 Building connections Don't miss Lianne’s tips on how to take your real estate marketing to the next level! https://hubs.ly/Q02LXGG30 #RealEstateMarketing #GuestBlog #ReferralPrograms #BrandEngagement #Locorum #McOuatPartnership

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There’s a handful of venture firms that focus on working with founders in Alberta and across the Canadian Prairies, but what makes Metiquity Ventures different? Well, co-founding partners Bryan Slauko, CFA and Jacques LaPointe MBA, PEng have highlighted some unique elements that make the Calgary-based pre-seed venture firm stand out. While a number of Albertan startups have the potential to grab headline news and attention—“which is great for momentum,” as Bryan notes—not many investment companies or venture firms are focusing on early-revenue companies that need capital to unlock their potential for growth and disruption. Find out what else Metiquity Ventures brings to the next generation of local, early-stage companies and founders in Alberta and across the Canadian Prairies via our blog: https://lnkd.in/gB-NjXDg #earlystage #startups #vcs #abtech #yyctech #albertatech #angelinvesting #microfund #founder #techcommunity  #yyc #yycliving #yycnow #calgary #yycbusiness

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IDC’s latest report is out: Shopify is #1 for worldwide digital commerce applications software. Also, we added more brands than everyone else. So why is everyone coming to Shopify? At Shopify, we understand our responsibility to drive innovation for consumers and businesses in commerce. That’s why we spend 35% of our Opex on R&D. With over 4,000 engineers focused on unifying and driving commerce forward, we are powering 18.4% of the digital commerce applications segment to grow our merchant’s businesses, according to the IDC report. Our laser focus on innovation and drive to make commerce better for everyone is reflected in our over 23.4% YoY growth… the highest of all other applications. Businesses at every stage of growth and scale are coming to Shopify - I’m on here nearly every week announcing a new brand that’s joined the platform. We are the go-to platform of choice for businesses that want to grow across online, in-store and every surface where their customer spends time. There is so much more to come from us. Just wait.

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Some more thoughts on why we think SecondShop.com is one of the more ambitious investments we've made.

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Are early-stage investors pushing Canadian startups toward short-term exits? Eva Lau, co-founder of Two Small Fish Ventures, wants founders to avoid the obvious when it comes to M&A. Our Investor Deck series shares tips from top Canadian VCs, presented by Sage. In our latest piece, Lau reflects on Wattpad’s $754M acquisition by Naver and the value of forward looking acquisitions. “Founders need to focus on becoming the crown jewel of an acquirer’s vision,” Lau says.

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Threats and Opportunities- Fascinating How Everything Converges And The Smartest Retailers Are Usually Ahead Of The Curve. This is not a full version of “The Business Brief” but a very abbreviated one. The idea for the cover comes from an article I wrote for the Toronto Star in March of 2020, with the beginning of the pandemic, where I said that the transformation of the retail sector was going to move faster because of fear. Inflation and higher interest rates also induce fear. Which pushes retailers with foresight to take their strategic games to a higher level. And the lessons are clear. Being a company that is technology first is a given now. And yes I am referring to AI. But what has hastened my views is the recent announcement from OpenAI preparing to launch SearchGPT, the implications are staggering. But is every retailer or company for that matter ready to be a technology first company? Get ready to lead or chase the future. #retailing #strategy #ceo #technology #innovation

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Mental Health and Stress Management are so important topics for #startups and #corporate to consider. It drives culture. Working hard and long hours is one, but stress and depression come from a bad culture. Have a look at Kanpassorn Eix CEO and Founder of ooca - อูก้า แอปฯจิตวิทยา at this talk at my beloved #SiamParagon! #nofear #culture #depression #stress #innovation #startups

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🛑 How are you earning the trust of your customers⁉️ According to this PwC Canada report, retailers who prioritize transparency, data protection, and sustainability are seeing stronger consumer loyalty and increased spending. In an era where consumer trust directly impacts the bottom line, understanding and addressing these key areas is more critical than ever. 🔑 Key Takeaways: • Protecting consumer data is crucial, with 83% of Canadian consumers citing it as a key factor in their trust of brands. • Despite inflation, consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products—highlighting the importance of integrating sustainability into retail operations. • The demand for in-person interactions remains strong, but technology can enhance these experiences, creating opportunities for retailers to innovate. 📍At SensorMedia, we understand the importance of trust and sustainability in retail. Our SmartCircle™ technology helps retailers maintain customer trust by providing in-store pricing visibility remotely, allowing you to ensure in-store communications are compliant, while it also optimized on-screens energy usage reducing environmental impact. How are you addressing these consumer priorities in your retail strategy? Share your insights and experiences! For more insights, subscribe to our newsletter and learn how SmartCircle™ can support your retail operations. Visit SensorMedia.com and book a demo today! . . . #ConsumerTrust #RetailStrategy #Sustainability #SensorMedia #SmartCircle

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Custom stacks can lead to two very real problems: depending on custom development and increased tech debt. Combined, your pace slows and ultimately, your trade-off is innovation and growth. That’s why Mejuri went from a fully custom stack to Shopify. Before Shopify, Mejuri was on an entirely custom stack: custom ecommerce, payments service, and middleware that was built to connect their custom ecommerce site to their point of sale system [POS]. This led to a ton of challenges. They were spending too much time building and maintaining 3rd party integrations to coordinate channels, data, and functionality between systems. With limited resources and team members, the trade-off of building custom features was they were not able to address their mounting technical debt. Addressing those issues in-house, slowed down their pace of innovation making them unable to deploy features as fast as they needed to. That’s the ‘invisible’ cost component with a custom stack. You spend an inordinate amount of time building custom features at the cost of innovation. Brands can avoid that with Shopify. Shopify is a natively unified ecommerce and POS system so everything just works together really really well. It doesn’t require middleware or integrations. Your customer, order, and product data flows to both channels from a single source of truth. It’s simpler and allows you to move faster. Hear about from Mejuri yourself. Rohit Nathany, the Chief Digital Officer sat down with us to talk about the pain points they faced on a custom stack. As Rohit says, what better way to simplify than to have a unified ecommerce and POS solution? See the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eyCSdVgf

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Have you changed how you are grocery shopping?How you are spending? Canadians grocery shopping behaviors are changing. If you are working in the grocery space you should see our latest food study. Don’t rely on a focus group of 1 ! Let’s talk.

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Katherine’s drive to create more resilient and sustainable materials, with the aim of revolutionizing the apparel industry, has led her to build one of Canada’s most impactful tech companies. In a recent interview with BetaKit’s Siri Agrell, Endeavor Entrepreneur Katherine Homuth explains her commitment to build a company in response to an obsession with solving an unmet need. “I started to become extremely jaded that so many people I was chatting with seemed to be doing what I call ‘technology for technology’s sake…Tell me the problem you’re actually trying to solve.” While many founders aim to build businesses based on prevailing tech trends or as derivatives of products and services that already exist, Katherine’s success with SRTX is proof of the value of focusing on the problem and building what needs to be built to solve it. Check out the full article here: https://bit.ly/3YgU0Yv

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Two big things we are seeing at Shopify: a resilient consumer and the rise of entrepreneurship. 1️⃣​ The consumer remains resilient People are still buying from brands they love like Alo Yoga, SKIMS, BARKBOX, INC. and Glossier, Inc. all of which are all powered by Shopify. 2️⃣​ More people are choosing to be entrepreneurs.  At Shopify, we’ve seen the volume of entrepreneurs starting new businesses has more than doubled in recent years. There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur - that’s why everyone is choosing to build on Shopify. This afternoon on Fox Business Network 👇 📺

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This deal happened a little under 2 months ago, and I'm excited to share that OffChance has made its first acquisition: Supercrush, a Canadian-based ecommerce brand in the beauty and hair care/accessories space! This journey has been a whirlwind, and I wanted to share some insights on the acquisition process: Legal complexities: With a six-figure deal, we had to balance thorough due diligence with keeping legal costs reasonable. Initially, we aimed for perfection, which pushed legal fees into the five-figure range—a cost that didn't make sense for this deal. We shifted our focus to essentials in the contract and handled most of the due diligence ourselves, which kept costs in check and allowed us to move forward efficiently. Inventory transfer: Moving inventory across borders was more challenging than expected. Customs clearance delays and coordinating shipping schedules added complexity. This taught us to build in more flexibility and have stronger contingency plans. Next time, tighter coordination with logistics partners will be key. Canadian customer base: With 80% of Supercrush's customers in Canada, we prioritized maintaining their experience but underestimated the costs. Shipping, duties, and broker fees were more than expected. We learned the importance of understanding local logistics and negotiating better rates upfront. External factors: The Canada Post strike and potential tariffs hit us harder than expected, causing shipping delays and increased costs. The ongoing strike has impacted our holiday sales, with Canadian customers unable to receive their packages. This affects not just us but businesses across Canada during this crucial season. Our products are manufactured in Canada, and while we planned to continue R&D there, potential tariffs have us considering a move to US production for sustainability. Timing: We aimed to close by September to capitalize on the holiday season. Delays set us back, and we had to scramble to get things in place just as the holidays began. The intensity made it harder to solidify team roles, but we learned a lot and feel confident in our path forward. Despite the lessons and challenges, we'd do this deal 10 out of 10 times. We're excited to grow Supercrush further and take it to the next level. The previous owners built a great foundation, and we're ready to build on that. I'll be sharing more about this journey here! If you're in the US (Sorry Canada! It's not our fault!) and need some Christmas gifts, check out supercrush.com and make bad hair days a thing of the past!

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