Shopify acqui-hires Primer

SaaS
Written By Rick Watson

Shopify announced that it is investing in augmented reality applications by adding the small Primer team. Only an 8 person team.

Acqui-hires like this are difficult to judge from my experience.

On the plus side:

  • Primer is only 2 years old. This is interesting tech-led by (I'm sure) interesting people with a vision for how eCommerce could change.

  • Teams that are given free rein and allowed to innovate within a larger platform can have a big impact.

On the downside:

  • The company has only been around for 2 years.

  • Often a smaller company is fueled by only 1-2 key people and if those people cash out and leave (creatives often like doing new things, not filling out a roadmap they dreamed up 2 years ago) Shopify loses most of the value.

Curious:

  • The other companies that have invested in AR are Facebook and Apple.

William Gibson famously said in 2003: “The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed." I believe that applies here. Shopify sees a future where a great many stores have AR applications, but merchants are slow to adopt. By accelerating that, it could stay ahead of growing competition in the space.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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