Why I don’t like Shopify’s messaging - what is the value?

SaaS
Written By Rick Watson

A few weeks ago Shopify COO, Harvey Finkelstein was on CNBC SquawkBox talking about - well Shopify. I came to talk about messaging though. And that term they keep using "retail operating system".

"We are not just an eCommerce platform, we are a retail operating system."

I don't love it.

Why?

  • It sounds similar. Who knows what the difference between a platform and an operating system is? Bueller?

  • It's opaque. No one outside of a developer really has any idea what an operating system does.

  • As someone who has developed multithreaded operating systems in grad school, no one cares to know what it means. Catch an interrupt, push the stack, switch to the other process, pop the stack. Uh, right.

  • Doesn't communicate any new information. After reading the term, do you learn more? Or are you just as confused about what Shopify does? A hint is it's always followed up by "what that means is..."

The best part 

It doesn't communicate value. Any OS is essentially free, in case you hadn't noticed. Linux won that battle and now even Microsoft can't charge for its operating system.

Tying yourself to a "free" idea may also not be the best way to communicate value.

Shopify is an eCommerce service provider.

"Shopify: Retail is Dead. eCommerce is the future. Get with it."

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/
Previous

About That Microsoft & FedEx Partnership
Next

Target’s execution is on point, which gives them a bright future