Shopify constantly tries to create equal opportunities for sellers irrespective of colour, race and gender. Recently, the Canadian e-commerce giant created a Build Black group and asked all community merchants to join for the best of benefits.
“Paging all Black business owners. have you joined our Build Black community yet?” asked Shopify in a tweet.
In another tweet, Shopify explained what ‘Build Black with Shopify‘ actually means. It is “a team and program at Shopify dedicated to empowering Black entrepreneurs and businesses.”
what is Build Black with Shopify?
— Shopify (@Shopify) February 16, 2023
a team and program at Shopify dedicated to empowering Black entrepreneurs and businesses. we're intentional about providing Black entrepreneurs with:
-critical resources
-educational programming
-opportunities to start, build & scale a business
Shopify further spoke about its intent to help Black entrepreneurs with benefits like:
1. Critical Resources
It means the members of the community will get access to resources that help them sell online, without facing many difficulties.
2. Educational Programming
The community not only helps the merchants with critical resources but also provides guidance from industry experts. Successful Black merchants share stories of inspiration and advice aspiring merchants to start a business.
3. Opportunities to Start, Build & Scale a Business
Build Black with Shopify provides timely opportunities for Black business owners, who can further use this association to build new products and scale existing businesses.
According to its official website, Shopify Build Black Community helps Black merchants connect and learn from fellow merchants. “We can’t wait to build with you! This community is intended for existing Shopify merchants who identify as Black,” Shopify states on shopifycontent.typeform.com.
Shopify shared baseline requirements for participants to join the Build Black Community.
1. Paid Users
The first requirement is to have a paid Shopify plan as Build Black with Shopify is not for those who are using free plans (trial plans) or have paused their existing plans.
2. Black Business
Another requirement to join the group is to have at least 50 percent ownership by a person belonging to the Black community.
3. Terms And Conditions
In the third requirement, Shopify shared a link to its terms of service in regard to the Build Black with Shopify initiative. “Everyday language summaries are provided for convenience only and appear in bold near each section, but these summaries are not legally binding. Please read the Terms of Service, including any document referred to in these Terms of Service, for the complete picture of your legal requirements. By using Shopify or any Shopify services, you are agreeing to these terms. Be sure to occasionally check back for updates,” states Shopify.
Challenges For Black Merchants
Merchants belonging to the Black community have faced historical biases in every aspect of life. They also lack a proper representation in the business world. In comparison to other communities, Black merchants face hurdles to accessing mentorship, knowledge and resources on a daily basis.
Black merchants also face institutional biases contributing to a racial imbalance in credit denial rates. Interest rates are higher for Black and Latinx borrowers. There are many more factors that have acted as a hindrance to the entrepreneurial growth of the community.
According to the United States Small Business Administration, only 9.5 percent of businesses are represented by Black. The National Bureau of Economic Research says that during the COVID-19 pandemic, a decline of 41 percent was witnessed in Black ownership in the US.
Shopify’s Intent
Shopify is one such tech giant that continuously works to promote entrepreneurship among Blacks. It has a directory that allows you to discover 971 Black-owned online stores that are supported by Shopify. Created by Black employees of Shopify, the directory offers customers around the world to easily shop from Blacks every day.
ALSO READ: How Shopify Is Helping Black-Owned Businesses
Shopify has also partnered with several companies that work to bring Blacks to the fore. From HOPE One Million New Black Business & New Black Entrepreneurship Initiative (1MBB) to joining hands with TikTok, Shopify is helping open new business opportunities for black communities around the world.
Shopify also hosts an annual event called Build Black Virtual to engage with Black entrepreneurs and lend support to their businesses. It offers them a common platform to share their thoughts, and insights along with stories of success and lessons learned during the journey. The event also acts as a catalyst for Black entrepreneurship. According to Shopify, Build Black is an ‘encompassing, educative and engaging conversation series that brings leading, multi-faceted business minds together’.
What Research Says
Recently, Shopify conducted research titled ‘In Pursuit of Equitable Commerce: Insights on Black entrepreneurship in 2023 and beyond‘ to find out how black entrepreneurs have performed on Shopify and what challenges they face on a daily basis. As part of the survey, Shopify interviewed over 500 established and aspiring black-owned businesses based in North America.
Talking about a two-pronged approach used in the survey, Shopify said: “We analyzed sentiments and behaviors of over 500 aspiring and established Black business owners across the United States and Canada from February to March of 2022”.
The research was conducted in two phases — Qualitative Discovery and Quantitative Validation. In the first phase, Shopify interviewed black entrepreneurs and aspiring black entrepreneurs to find out what factors they consider while making business decisions, what influences the community and what are the critical issues they face.
For the Quantitative Validation phase, Shopify surveyed 402 aspiring entrepreneurs and 109 established entrepreneurs to validate the hypotheses. The research study came up with three critical issues that black entrepreneurs face on a daily basis.
- No Capital Access: Shopify found in its survey that around 61 percent of black entrepreneurs face difficulty to get access to capital. Nearly 60 percent face trouble securing grants meant for Black businesses. Most black entrepreneurs have to rely on personal savings, expensive credit cards and hard-to-access grants to run their online businesses.
- Inequity: As many as 78 percent of black entrepreneurs told Shopify in the survey that they face difficulties to attract non-black customers to buy from their stores. Economically speaking, this inequality costs $190 billion to the national economy. Shopify cited data from McKinsey and Company’s Institute for Black Economic Mobility to support its research.
- Social Hurdles: The Shopify research also cited 56 percent of Black entrepreneurs admitting to running a business in an uneven field. They believe that working harder and smarter will help them succeed. As many as 81 percent of the sample would prefer to ignore the stigma associated with racism to run their business effectively.
However, things are changing for good, claims Brandon Davenport, Head of Equitable Commerce for Shopify. “The public’s increased awareness of social justice movements like Black Lives Matter has led to more tangible support for Black businesses, which has Black entrepreneurs optimistic,” he said in a statement.
“For all my fellow dreamers who are sitting on an idea and waiting for the right moment, that moment is now,” Davenport added.
