Shopify has introduced Shopify Finance, a hub housing all of the eCommerce platform’s financial solutions.
“Practices like rigid repayment terms, credit history requirements, or months-long loan approvals have stifled innovation for too long,” the company said Tuesday (Oct. 29).
“That’s why, for years, we’ve enabled entrepreneurship with powerful financial offerings so merchants don’t have to depend on lengthy, opaque, and complex processes from traditional banks to keep their business running.”
According to an announcement posted on the company website, this new offering lets merchants access Shopify Balance, Shopify Credit, Shopify Capital, Shopify Bill Pay and Shopify Tax from one place built into the Shopify admin.
This gives merchants faster access to funds, automatic rewards, flexible repayment terms and simplified tax compliance, the company adds.
Shopify noted in its announcement that the launch is happening ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two shopping days that might seem a lot different this year, as PYMNTS wrote earlier this month.
“While Black Friday remains the crown jewel of sales days, the once-dominant Cyber Monday is losing its luster as consumers favor convenience and look for deals beyond the traditional shopping weekend,” that report said. “The day before Thanksgiving has also emerged as a noteworthy shopping event.”
Bain & Company has projected a 5% year-over-year growth for this crucial period, surpassing the overall holiday season growth estimate of 3%.
Aaron Cheris, partner in Bain’s Retail practice and one of the authors of the research, shared his insights on this trend during an interview with PYMNTS.
“The holiday calendar is a key driver, with a later Thanksgiving and the couple of days before Christmas not landing on prime shopping days of the week, there is less time to shop between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which has driven higher Black Friday sales based on our analysis of credit card data,” Cheris said. “Additionally, based on our latest consumer surveys, approximately 55% of consumers plan to do most of their shopping in November.”
As Cyber Monday becomes less important, he added, the question will be how changing shopping habits shape retail strategies.
“Moving forward, a critical retail strategy will be personalization, and this will be most applicable online first, where retailers who have great data and the decision engines to apply it well can better tailor marketing messages, gift lists, email campaigns, and offers to individuals to ultimately drive inspiration and conversion,” Cheris said.
“Retailers can no longer think of online as fully separable. They need omnichannel offerings and strategy throughout the season versus being able to run a discrete online promo calendar.”
