Shopify Acquires Montreal’s Return Magic
Shopify has announced that they have acquired the Montreal-based Return Magic.
This is the latest in a string of moves by the Ottawa-based e-commerce behemoth that outlines the importance of their post-sale ecosystem. At their most recent Unite conference, Shopify unveiled a slew of features such as Fraud Protect and Ping that would help merchants better manage their relationships with customers before and after a sale has been made.
Return Magic offers a custom return model for over 2,000 e-commerce merchants right now, with a vast majority of those merchants residing on the Shopify platform. Return Magic boasts a fully-branded return portal along with custom emails and a trusted rapport with consumers and merchants.
“This is an acknowledgment from Shopify that returns are incredibly important,” says Louis Kearns, Shopify’s GM of shipping. “We need to be able to equip our merchants with some simple and powerful functionality for them to provide experiences that their buyers are expecting.”
Shopify was particularly drawn to Return Magic’s team of founders—CEO Guillaume Racine and CTO Raff Paquin—and their previous work with retailers like Amazon and Frank + Oak. So far, Return Magic has processed over 200,000 returns and currently works with mid-sized retailers like K-Swiss and OBEY Clothing, and Shopify thinks the company can grow long-term within their ecosystem and scale to deliver their solution to even more merchants.
“We really like the product that the Return Magic team has brought to market over the past few years,” says Kearns. “Looking at some of the solutions that they have brought to market over the last while coupled with how much they’ve been able to ship with a very small team in a short period of time, coupled with their location in Montreal where we have an existing presence focused on the buyer experience, this was a really good fit for us as an acquisition.”
As Return Magic is located in Montreal where Shopify has a beautiful office, Return Magic’s team will integrate with the existing Shopify squad and move into their office. The Return Magic app will still be live on Shopify and open to new and existing merchants, though the company will stop accepting new e-commerce clients that are not based on Shopify. Kearns outlined a desire for the Return Magic team to help build their platform into the main Shopify platform over the long-term as well.
“This is a win-win,” says Kearns. “This group was solving real problems very effectively for our merchants. There was a lot that was already proven and established, so that made this a simple transaction for us to move forward with. We’re happy this is a Canadian success story and that they can continue to work in the same city they found their success in.”
