Three weeks after IPO, shares of Shopify hit new highs

Three weeks after its blockbuster dual-listing IPO on the NYSE and TSX, Shopify (Shopify Stock Quote, Chart, News: TSX:SH, NYSE:SHOP) is still proving popular with investors.

Shares of the company are hitting new highs today. On the TSX, the company this morning hit a high of $41.50, more than ten dollars higher than its closing price on May 21, its first day of trading.

Much of the recent optimism on Shopify’s stock is probably coming from what was its first substantive press release. On June 2, the Ottawa-based company said it had launched an offering with Pinterest that would allow merchants to sell goods through a buyable “pin”.

The news came just days after Facebook said it was testing an offering with Shopify that would allow it users to buy items without leaving the site. Facebook’s long-rumoured “Buy Button”, which we first heard rumblings of last July, will soon be matched by similar offerings from Google, Twitter, and Instagram.

The ease of use of a system that stores user’s credit card info and allows for one click purchases is seen as a game changer for social media sites, which are sometimes criticized for pursuing eyeballs without a clear plan to monetize them.

“From apps to social media to websites, the success of online shopping lies with whether or not you can persuade someone who might be interested in buying a product to actually carry out the purchase,” says writer Megan Breinig. “Generally the check out is accompanied by a long series of steps that brutally cut down potential customers. The most deterring steps are getting the potential buyers to find the right product, continue to the checkout screen, and laboriously enter their card information.”

But one click buying isn’t exactly new. Amazon’s one-click patent, filed in 1997 and granted by the USPTO in 1999, is widely considered to be one of the most valuable in the world.

At press time, shares of Shopify on the TSX were up 7.6% to $40.50.