Last week, Barcelona brought together senior managers from the commerce sector at the Shoptalk congress, held for the first time at the Fira de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat. Among the congressmen who have attended the meeting, Bobby Morrison (51), one of the top managers of the e-commerce giant Shopify, has traveled from the United States.
What is the reason for your visit?
We are holding meetings with companies that use our software to digitize their internet sales. In fact, we have just closed an agreement with Fútbol Club Barcelona and we have also collaborated with Zara, as well as other fashion and logistics companies. Some of them, PdPaola, Pompeii, Pukas and Barner Brand.
What do you think of the city’s digital ecosystem?
Barcelona is very attractive due to its ability to create and attract professionals in the technological world. In fact, we are evaluating the option of opening a digital hub in the city.
Why in Barcelona and not in Madrid?
We have studied both options and have concluded that the talent supply in the Catalan capital best suits our needs. We work remotely all the time, but in the Catalan capital we see that there is a greater critical mass of professionals.
What other cities are key in Europe?
On this European tour, we also visit Hamburg, London and Paris. We are studying the investment that we are going to dedicate to each country. Activity on this continent is growing at rates higher than those of the United States and Canada. It is a strategic region.
In what year does Shopify land in Spain?
The software has been global in scope since we were born in 2006. However, we began to actively invest in this country in 2020, just before the pandemic broke out.
How much revenue does Shopify generate in this country?
Being a firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange, we do not share this figure, nor can we give details of the number of clients.
And what is the turnover in the whole of Europe?
The continent, along with the Middle East and Africa region, contributes 16% of revenue. Last year they reached a total of 5,600 million dollars, which is equivalent to about 5,100 million euros.
Has the company noticed the slowdown in e-commerce after the end of pandemic restrictions?
Absolutely. The business continues to grow at double digits. Last year the group scored a rise of 21%.
According to the presentation of its annual accounts, growth in previous years was 57%, in 2021, and 86%, in 2020.
During the pandemic, global electronic commerce grew very rapidly and the company knew how to take advantage of this pull. We are optimistic as we continue to record double-digit growth around the world.
Despite this, last week Shopify announced a 20% cut in the workforce, which is equivalent to laying off about 2,000 workers. The company also announced the sale of logistics company Flexport and logistics robot firm 6 River Systems. What are the structural adjustments due to?
We have redefined the business strategy. From now on, we are going to dedicate ourselves exclusively to the development and distribution of software. It is the activity that we know more deeply 17 years after our birth in the city of Ottawa, in Canada.
Because?
Clients ask us for increasingly specialized solutions that make use of cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence or blockchain. We have to move fast to stay competitive in this market. For this reason, we abandon businesses that are not at the heart of our activity.
Have you had pressure from Wall Street investors? Last year, Shopify went into the loss, posting a loss of $3.4 billion, compared to net profit of $2.9 billion the year before.
We have not had pressure. We have redefined the strategy to be more competitive in the face of future technological challenges.
So do you think the company hasn’t made any mistakes?
No. Now we have changed our strategic vision. But it is also true that last year we admitted that we had overstated the growth capacity of electronic commerce. Our CEO, Tobias Lütke, acknowledged that we had increased the structure with the expectation of maintaining the same rates of increase once the health crisis was over. For this reason, he announced a first 10% cut in the workforce last July.
How does the company project in three years?
We see a bright future after having implemented the new growth model.
Because?
Our software was born to digitize the sales of small and medium-sized businesses, but over the years we have realized that there are more business opportunities in large companies. Among our clients are large companies such as Netflix, Heinz, HelloFresh, Allbirds, Heineken, Mattel and many others that we cannot reveal due to confidentiality agreements.
What is your differential service compared to the competition?
Shopify offers a platform that allows you to open and manage online sales in a simple and integrated way. In addition, it has an ecosystem of more than 8,000 complementary service applications. And most importantly, the group is in charge of maintaining the technology, so that clients can forget about hiring technical profiles.