Ecommerce platform provider Shopify, which has already dramatically increased its headcount in the past few years is on a hiring spree in its native Canada as it eyes further, future growth. But the recent acquisition of its smaller competitor Megento by Adobe this week has also dented its stock price, but that’s not expected to stifle their development plans. Doubtless, it probably makes them more urgent.
In Q4 2017, they reported that they have a total of nearly 3,000 employees all told, up 50% when compared to the end of 2016. In Montreal they will be opening a new office with a capacity of 450 and hiring 120 new staff there to join the 150 already located in the city. And in their office in Waterloo, South Ontario they expect to add and additional 300-500 people to the team in the next few years.
Part of the need for a bigger team and larger premises lies with Shopify’s desire to grow internationally, and part of that currently involves translating its merchant platform into French, Japanese, Spanish and several other languages. And there is also a strategic need, when offering the product to merchants in more nationalities, the added challenge of accepting new payment methods and offering local option.
For example in India, cash-on-delivery is a lot more popular of a way to transact than credit cards. Well, that’s not even a translation thing. Now I have to add this idea of cash-on-delivery if I want to do really well in India. So part of the translation isn’t just changing words, it’s figuring out the cultural nuances.
– Harley Finkelstein, Chief Operating Officer, Shopify
The Magento acquisition by Adobe does open up the intriguing possibility that the battle between these two players in the ecommerce sphere will now increasingly hot up and now it seems possible that Magento will have the greater resources. And there is huge opportunity and untapped potential so doubtless space for both players, even in the long-term.
