HomeAmazon NewsIn the competition to Shopify, Amazon acquires online platform Selz

In the competition to Shopify, Amazon acquires online platform Selz

Amazon, a multinational technology corporation based in Seattle has recently closed a deal to acquire a 7-year-old Australian startup – Selz, a company that enables e-commerce firms to advance digital sales. In simple words, it is a startup that assists entrepreneurs that sells products online. The deal signals Amazon’s continued focus on third-party sellers as it faces potential competition from Shopify, in January but it has not announced the acquisition. The deal was first noted in a blog post published last month by Selz CEO and Founder Martin Rushe.

The terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed yet. A spokeswoman for Amazon said the deal, which Selz announced on its website about a month ago, has been completed and nothing will change for Selz’s merchants or their customers.

“We have signed an agreement to be acquired by Amazon and are looking forward to working with them as we continue to build easy-to-use tools for entrepreneurs,” wrote Rushe. “Nothing is changing for our customers at this time, and we’ll be in touch with customers as and when we have further updates.” Selz’s founders mentioned.

Founded in Sydney (2013), Selz serves as an online platform providing various services that provide technology to help small businesses operate e-commerce sites and process payments. It’s a market dominated by Canada-based Shopify, which has seen its stock soar amid the pandemic with the acceleration of e-commerce and more people launching online businesses. The private company employs more than 30 people with total funding of $11 million, according to data firm PitchBook. Previous backers include Macdoch Venture and Adcock Private Equity, PitchBook said.

Shopify helps power more than one million businesses across 175 countries, including large brands such as Allbirds, Heinz, and Staples Canada. It also has a bevy of partnerships with other large platforms and retailers; last week it launched its payment processing system Shop Pay on Facebook and Instagram.

Shopify and Amazon are different — customers don’t buy products on Shopify.com, for example — but in many ways, they are competitors as both caters to small businesses and online merchants. However, Amazon has heightened its efforts to match fast-growing Shopify, which also aids small merchants in creating online shops. Last year, Amazon created a secret team named “Project Santos” to replicate part of Shopify’s business model.

Third-party sellers help Amazon offer a wide selection of products to customers on its marketplace, beyond items sold by Amazon itself. Those sellers are responsible for more than 50% of the tech giant’s “total paid units,” a percentage that has steadily increased over the past decade.

Sanna Sharma
Sanna Sharma
Sanna Sharma is an emerging freelance content writer, specializing in content relating to e-commerce news. She is working with Ecommercenext.org currently. It is a platform that provides the latest e-commerce news, events, blogs, webinars, reviews, job postings, and analysis from around the world. She is a keen individual with competitive writing abilities and is always working on herself to become a better her.
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