The Ottawa-headquartered commerce company increased the monthly cost of its basic plan for new clients from $38 to $51; its regular package from $99 to $132; and its advanced tier from $389 to $517. Existing merchants will be able to keep the old rates if they opt to pay yearly by late April. (The Logic)

Talking point: The price hike will primarily impact the independent and direct-to-consumer brands that make up much of Shopify’s traditional clientele; the bills for its enterprise-grade Plus and new Commerce Components plans tend to be tailored to the size of customers’ businesses. The firm hasn’t upped its subscription fees much for 12 years, even as it’s added features to the software set that forms the backbone of merchants’ webstores, COO Kaz Nejatian said in a blog post. Shopify has long made a lot more money from charging fees for add-ons like payment processing, shipping and cash advances. Such merchant solutions accounted for US$2.77 billion of its US$3.86 billion in revenue in the first three quarters of 2022. But the software subscriptions that make up the rest are typically higher margin. Shopify’s shares closed up 10.87 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.