With 2Checkout Enabling International Payments, Shopify Hopes To Keep Its Growth Going

Shopify Inc. can eliminate learning new languages from its list of objectives. The online-commerce company announced this week it was adding 2Checkout’s payment technology, which processes payments in 26 currencies in 196 countries, to its POS software.

The move does not displace the back-end payment-processing compact between Shopify and Stripe, a San Francisco online processor, started when Shopify launched its payments service in 2013, says Louis Kearns, Shopify director of payment.

The 2Checkout deal with Ottawa-based Shopify is meant to aid Shopify’s efforts to offer international commerce services, Kearns says. Columbus, Ohio-based 2Checkout is available in 15 languages and via eight payment methods.

“Traditionally, while several markets such as Australia or the United Kingdom had adequate payment coverage from the integrated solutions Shopify already supported, there remained many underserved markets without the same satisfactory mix of providers, which consequently resulted in inferior subscription conversion and higher churn,” Kearns says. “With 2Checkout, we are able to board merchants from underserved countries worldwide, while at the same time offering their customers a localized and optimized purchasing experience. Now, Shopify can viably expand its reach into to more than 196 different countries.”

Merchant setup requires no extra steps and no paperwork, says Kevin Gallagher, 2Checkout senior vice president of business development. “We can quickly set up the merchant account and the merchant inputs their identification and credentials into Shopify and they can start selling immediately,” Gallagher says.

A transaction might work like this. A Japanese consumer buying from a Shopify merchant sees the purchase page displayed in Japanese and the purchase total valued in Yen, which is the same amount to be billed to their payment method. “No more guessing what the conversion rate will be and how much they will actually pay when they get their bill,” Gallagher says.

Kearns says this international availability is essential to Shopify’s growth. “Accessibility to new market segments is a key driver for our continued growth and success,” he says. Now Shopify is able to offer payment options where no viable options existed before.

Shopify has payment deals with more than 80 payment providers globally, a list that includes independent sales organizations, payment aggregators, merchant acquirers, payment gateways, hosted payment pages, and alternative payment providers, Kearns says.  Those relationships continue. Currently, more than 100,000 merchants in 122 countries use Shopify. 2Checkout says more than 50,000 merchants use its service.

International is not Shopify’s only growth market. Mobile POS, a service it introduced in January, is another. Shopify says it has a fast-growing base of customers looking for mobile-acceptance capability.