Shopify, one of the best ecommerce platforms, is combining all of the financial data its users need to manage their businesses in the new Shopify Finance platform.
Built within the Shopify admin dashboard to consolidate financial management for merchants, Shopify Finance is designed to help entrepreneurs access funds, manage payments, and maintain tax compliance—all within Shopify’s ecosystem.
Shopify Finance is part of Shopify’s efforts to appeal to business owners who feel hemmed in by restrictive lending options from traditional banks. Instead of a hodge-podge of places to look for relevant details, Shopify Finance centralizes the dashboard where all its tools can be found. This way, businesses can view and manage their finances simultaneously instead of hopping from window to window.
One example is Shopify Balance, which serves as a business account providing next-day access to sales revenue to businesses. It also rewards merchants on Shopify’s standard plans with a 3.39% APY on funds held in the account, rising to 4.43% APY for Shopify Plus users who also get perks like increased automated clearing house (ACH) limits and default next-business-day payouts.
Shopify Finance’s suite of tools includes a way for business owners to get the cash they need to operate as soon as they need it. That includes Shopify Capital, which provides qualified merchants with up to $2 million without credit checks. Payment plans are designed to match the revenue flow of an individual business, and merchants can repay the money based on a percentage of daily sales instead of a fixed amount. They can even repay it sooner to reduce total costs with the Shopify Credit Business Visa card.
Organized payments
Shopify Finance also brings together the tools for paying other bills. The aptly named Shopify Bill Pay feature gives merchants more control over their business payments, adjusting each to be paid by whatever means works best for them, be it a credit card, debit card, bank transfer, or direct debit from their Shopify Balance accounts. Merchants can also batch and schedule recurring payments, potentially saving time and reducing transaction fees.
When tax season comes, Shopify Finance can help with the Shopify Tax tool. As tax compliance is frequently called out as a time and resource sink by businesses, anything to simplify this requirement is going to appeal. Shopify Tax automates the filing and remittance of sales tax returns for eligible merchants. Business owners can also use it to make sales tax withholdings automatic within their Shopify Balance accounts, which ensures they can allocate funds for taxes without more work.
As more entrepreneurs cite financial risk as a barrier to starting or expanding their businesses, Shopify Finance provides an alternative to traditional banking practices, with streamlined, flexible solutions suited to modern commerce. By amalgamating Shopify’s new and previously available financial offerings, Shopify Finance could save business owners a ton of time and money they might otherwise need to devote to filling out and double-checking hundreds of forms.
