Shopify invests in wholesale platform Faire

• Shopify invests in wholesale platform Faire

• WPP & Shopify partner up

• PayPal hit with anti-trust lawsuit

Shopify invests in wholesale platform Faire

Some interesting news that slipped under our radar last week was Shopify’s investment in Faire.

Faire is a wholesale marketplace that was founded in 2017 and is already valued at $12.6 billion. The biggest market is the United States but Europe is a fast-growing geography after Faire launched in 15 European countries in 2021.

Both Faire and Shopify have declined to mention the value of the deal or how big of a stake Shopify is taking with its investment.

The deal is expected to make Faire the recommended wholesale marketplace for Shopify merchants. In addition, Faire's existing sellers will also get access to Shopify’s POS system.

Aneeqa Khan, Shopify’s director of product, says that the partnership would make it easy for Shopify merchants to find wholesale buyers. While also enabling retailers to source from Faire’s network of brands.

This is another move that’s in line with Shopify’s drive towards making B2B commerce better for their merchants. Looking forward to what comes next!

WPP & Shopify partner up

Global marketing company WPP and Shopify have announced the launch of a strategic partnership to bring the value of Shopify’s platform to WPP’s enterprise clients.

The press release reads “This partnership brings the companies together to jointly develop products with shared insights, and pairs WPP’s network of over 13,500 commerce experts with Shopify’s platform to help ambitious brands scale faster and reach more customers.”

The main action items are:

1. Shopify and WPP will collaborate on developing targeted solutions across sectors like CPG, health & wellness, and fashion.

2. Roll out a global customized certification for WPP employees, with the goal to create 300 certified Shopify specialists across WPP’s network in the first year of partnership.

3. WPP & Diff (acq by WPP in 2022), will also participate in Shopify’s Operation Hope Program which aims to start & grow 1 million Black-owned business in US by 2030

PayPal hit with anti-trust lawsuit

In major non-Shopify e-commerce news, a class action lawsuit has been filed against PayPal by consumers.

The lawsuit alleges that PayPal’s “anti-steering” rules stifle competition against lower-cost payment platforms like Stripe and Shopify (Shop Pay). This is done while PayPal subjects consumers to extra charges when purchasing from online merchants via PayPal or Venmo.

PayPal makes all merchants that want to use their platform to sign an agreement.

The agreement includes a rule that a merchant offering PayPal or Venmo for payments cannot offer any discounts to consumers to use another payment platform that has a lower cost.

Further, merchants also cannot tell their customers that other payment methods are more cost-effective / preferred.

This means consumers end up paying more for all transactions, which clearly wouldn’t be the case if they were aware of a cheaper alternative without the excess fees.

Pulse Check ⚡️

1. Gift cards can now be previewed in the Shopify admin before sending them via email or SMS.

2. Shopify Flow gets a few upgrades, including using more complex data in triggers and a “dev” command to preview tasks.

That's a wrap for this week! Join us over on Twitter to chat about all things e-commerce. It's like attending the coolest virtual shopping party – no long lines, pushy salespeople, or shopping cart collisions in sight (@theshoppulse)