Shopify Inc. is launching POS Go, a piece of retail hardware that allows merchants to accept payments, monitor sales and manage inventory.

In a press release Tuesday, the company said “retail is back” and it’s looking to start “powering the growth of offline retail.”

“Offline retail is all the way back, and we’re investing heavily in hardware that’s fit for the fastest-growing, most innovative retailers in the world,” said Arpan Podduturi, vice president of product at Shopify.

TURNING FOCUS TO PHYSICAL RETAIL

The announcement of Shopify’s big push into brick-and-mortar comes just two months after the company announced it would lay off 1,000 workers, which at the time was about 10 per cent of its staff.

In a press release on July 26, Tobias Lütke, chief executive officer of Shopify, said his team thought “the share of dollars that travel through e-commerce rather than physical retail - would permanently leap ahead by five or even 10 years.”

“It’s now clear that bet didn’t pay off,” Lütke said in a press release.

The Ottawa-based business said “in the first half of 2022, sales made by merchants using Shopify’s point-of-sale grew nearly 60 per cent.”

The company's website said the POS Go will cost US$399 and it’s currently available for pre-order in the United States.

The company didn’t specify when the technology will be sold in Canada.