Online commerce platform Shopify is now moving into the U.S. CBD space, expanding its hemp-derived CBD product movement in Canada and harnessing the momentum behind the 2018 Farm Bill’s passage.
CBD product manufacturers and retails in the U.S. will now have access to Shopify’s suite of marketing tools, including online features like Store Design Experience, Reliable Payment and Shipping Providers. All told, CBD sales will join the platform’s 800,000+ merchants worldwide as hemp-derived products quickly grow more popular among mainstream consumers.
Regulatory uncertainty abounds in the CBD space, of course, but the legal underpinnings are there for an e-commerce company to find room to grow. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp and its whole-plant chemical constituents.
“It wasn’t that we had to adjust Shopify,” Loren Padelford, general manager of Shopify Plus, told Adweek. “It was this industry adjusted itself where Shopify made the most sense.”
The platform pointed to Josie Maran Cosmetics as an early entrant into Shopify’s CBD offerings. “This is an exciting time for the CBD skincare industry. Consumers are eager to connect with us and try our Skin Dope products. Until recently, we didn’t have a simple solution to manage and sell our CBD Oil and Hemp Seed Oil assortment online,” Roger Wason, director of e-commerce for Josie Maran Cosmetics, said in a public statement. “Shopify has helped us focus more on our relationships with our consumers and growing our business.”
