Shopify COO Tells Cramer Company Helps Small Businesses Compete With Big Retailers

Canada-based Shopify Inc SHOP has a clear vision: help small businesses compete with big retailers.

What Happened

Shopify allows e-commerce entrepreneurs to better design, set up and manage their online stores. The more than 820,000 merchants on its platform — if combined into one "big bucket" — make it the third largest e-commerce retailer in the U.S., COO Harley Finkelstein told CNBC's Jim Cramer in a Tuesday interview. 

Shopify is able to take the large economies of scale of the nearly 1 million merchants on its platform and deliver added benefits to its users, the COO said.

This translates to superior shipping and processing rates and even access to raise capital, Finkelstein said. To date, the company has facilitated $500 million in capital to small business owners, since it can better understand a business versus a traditional bank, he said. 

"Now all of a sudden these small businesses can compete with the biggest retailers and brands in the planet." 

Why It's Important

At its core, Shopify is a "retail operating system" that not only facilitates online shopping, but can cross-sell on social media platforms, the COO said. No matter what plans an entrepreneur has, it all "feeds back into one simple and centralized back office," he said. 

"If you are a merchant in 2019, you have to sell everywhere." 

What's Next

Shopify is in the early stages of building out its business, Finkelstein said.

When asked by Cramer if Shopify will ever consider selling itself, the COO's answer was a clear no.  

"We want to build a 100-year-old company, he said. "We think we are just getting started."

Related Links:

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Photo courtesy of Shopify.