Shopify’s Pressure on Other Companies Creates Issues

SaaS
Written By Rick Watson

Lightspeed is the latest company to feel the pressure of Shopify Plus' (I would call modest) advances in POS and its threatened B2B expansions.

Shopify's pressure is continuing to lead to consolidation and disruption. So much that it took Lightspeed - a well-regarded POS - $450M to acquire NuOrder - the company who made it because of Nordstrom years ago - and $500M for Ecwid, the long-time SaaS SMB eCom platform. I view this as a defensive maneuver by Lightspeed.

Likely, POS is coming as part of a stack and Lightspeed was not getting invited to the dance.

It's pretty well known in the agency space that Shopify punches far above its weight in terms of consideration in re-platforming. Many IT firms, agencies, and consultants feel irresponsible by not inviting them to the dance, even in the complex Enterprise space.

Again, regardless of the technical capabilities, Shopify remains juuuuust good enough for many, and simplicity/ecosystem often wins over the rest of the concerns. The dynamics are a clear flywheel in my mind - forget about the technical specs for a moment.

This is the reality of the current space.

Wonder why the SMB and mid-market "operations" platforms all got acquired in the last 2 years? Same Shopify pressure.

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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