This is the 6th edition of our Shopifreaks newsletter – all the latest Shopify happenings in a short e-mail each Monday.
What do you think of this newsletter so far? This is the 6th edition to go out. Please hit ‘Reply' after you read today's e-mail and let me know what you think about the Shopifreaks newsletter and how it could serve you better as a Shopify store owner.
And now, onto this week's Shopifreaks newsletter….
? Stock News
Mon, Feb 22nd – Open: $1,397.78 – Close: $1,381.30
Fri, Feb 26th – Open: $1,254.68 – Close: $1,280.97
Today (Mar 1st) – Open: $1,315.00
1) On Thursday, Feb 25th, 2020, Shopify completed a public offering of 1,180,000 Class A subordinate voting shares at a price to the public of US$1,315 per share (a 4.8% discount to Monday’s closing price at $1,381.30), resulting in gross proceeds to the company of US$1,551,700,000. Whew, that's a big cash infusion! They plan to use the net proceeds from this offering to strengthen their balance sheet and fund their extensive growth plans.
2) The announcement of the public offering last Monday followed by the completion on Thursday sent Shopify's stock into correction territory, dropping nearly 10% from its Monday open. Are you going to buy the dip?
3) This is the second time in six months that Shopify has turned to public markets for additional financing. In September, Shopify raised US$1.1 billion after issuing roughly 1.2 million Class A subordinate voting shares to investors.
4) Shopify's competitor BigCommerce also reported better than expected 4th quarter financial results (just like Shopify last week) with fourth quarter revenue of $43.1 million, up 39% from a year ago and ahead of the Wall Street analyst consensus estimate of $38.6 million. Sounds like it was a great year for e-commerce in general! But we didn't need analysts or 4th quarter earnings to tell us that…
? Shopify News
1) Looking for new items to sell in your store? Shopify shared 12 trending items to sell in 2021 which include: doormats, storage containers, kitchen towels, bike saddles, handheld device accessories, toy kitchens, car carpet and upholstery, bookcases and shelves, bookends, temporary tattoos, needlecraft patterns, and hairstyling tools. So does that mean I should make a Travel is Life doormat or a temporary tattoo next?
2) How about some DIGITAL products instead? Shopify also shared the 6 most profitable digital products to sell in 2021 which include: educational products, licenses to use your digital assets, membership sites, digital templates and tools, music / art, and services.
3) It's not too late to start (or grow) your online store. Stephen McBride says, “The Internet has barely touched the largest, most lucrative pools of spending. For example, Americans spend more money on groceries than anything else besides housing, but the percentage of groceries bought on the internet is little more than a rounding error. Same for trillion-dollar markets like healthcare, autos, and education. And disruptors are finally breaking into America’s most important industries.” In other words, it's not too late to start an online business. You didn't miss it!
4) Shopify's Hiring! They're currently looking for Senior & Director Level Marketing Leaders to help them build and scale their app ecosystem, developer brand, content, and community. If you know anyone who fits the bill (or if you're that person), it sounds like a great opportunity to get involved with an e-commerce company that's clearly here to stay.
? Shopify Apps
Last week Shopify added 24 new apps to the Shopify App store. Here are a few that look promising.
1) Honey – The popular deals finding browser extension (that I've personally used for years), has a new Shopify app that lets you manage the discount codes you share with their members — enabling codes to give shoppers an extra incentive to buy or disabling any codes you want to keep private. Free to install. 5-25% commission.
2) Handprint – Automate contributions to NGOs with every purchase from your Shopify store. Display impactful figures on your shop, cart, and checkout pages such as how much CO2 was captured by trees you've planted or how much plastic removed from coastal areas (or whatever project you support). Free to install. Only pay for contributions.
3) Dark Mode – When your customers are checking out your store late at night – this app will automatically serve a dark mode version of your store based on their mobile or browser preference. You can choose from their dark mode color schemes or style your own. Free to $9.00/month.
4) Sisu Mobile Apps Builder – Transform your store into an iOS or Android app, no coding required. Get the benefit of push notifications on your customers' mobile devices after they install your app. Requires an Apple Business Developer account and/or Google Play Developers account once you're ready to publish your app. Free to $999/month.
5) Fashion Makes Change – Invite your customers at the point of sale to round-up their purchase to the nearest dollar or donate to support women’s empowerment programming. The app is brought to you by Fashion Makes Change, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Free.
6) CreditsYard – Convert returns into revenue by using store credits as a refund option. This app allows you to keep money in your store when offering refunds and thank customers for shopping in your store with credit to build their loyalty. Free.
7) EZ Order Tracking – Keep your customers up-to-date with your product shipping and fulfillment with beautifully designed and mobile-friendly tracking pages that offer them the ability to receive e-mail notifications with shipping updates. Free to $19.97/month.
8) ShopDigits – Add a toll-free or local phone number to your store (separate from your personal line) and then manage customer calls through your Shopify dashboard or ShopDigits app. Allows you to assign multiple employees to a line so that you never miss a customer call. $10 to $40 / month.
9) Feedback Fox – Let customers leave feedback before or after purchase through a floating feedback widget. $2.99/month.
10) Image Square – Automatically crop your uploaded product images into squares, compress the images, and add alt text. Great for stores that are uploading images from various vendors without optimizing prior to upload. $10/month.
? Shop of the Week
Every week in the Shopifreaks newsletter, I'm going to start featuring a Shopify store with a positive mission. If you'd like to nominate a store, e-mail [email protected] or hit Reply to any of my newsletters and share their website and story.
Our first Shop of the Week award goes to NormalBodies.com – a women empowerment focused art shop that aims to normalize normal bodies. Founders, Sophie and Cecilia, believe that all bodies are normal and that we all deserve to feel empowered, worthy, and seen. Their shop features a series of paintings, prints, and stories inspired by real people from around the globe. Check out their shop and show them some love on Instagram.
? Community Talk
1) Shoutout to Aditi, the Product Marketing Manager from Baaz, who reached out to me to share their live video shopping app. Baaz allows Shopify store owners to add a layer of live video shopping to their online stores as well as host archive videos on their site. Thanks for the e-mail Aditi and good luck with your app — it looks great!
2) Thank you to Daniel Sigal who runs the Millennial Wall Street Facebook group for sharing the Shopifreaks newsletter with your community week after week and being an avid supporter of the project. Daniel's group is a great community to keep in the know about investments and technology, and occasionally joke and chat about meme stocks.
? Thanks for being a Shopifreak!
If you have any Shopify related news that's worthy of sharing in our next newsletter, e-mail [email protected] or hit ‘Reply' to this e-mail.
If you found this newsletter valuable, please share it with your favorite Shopify communities and help us grow.
See you next Monday!
PAUL
Paul E. Drecksler
www.shopifreaks.com
[email protected]
PS: Did you hear that everyone at the US Treasury went on strike? They wanted to make less money…