RetailInvestment

Shopblocks plans to hire 100 staff with £1 million of funding as it expands its eCommerce website platform around the world.

Shopblocks provides websites to all types of business, but specialises in online shops with a feature-rich platform which it says is flexible enough to handle the complex needs of larger businesses.

The workforce will be grown across all divisions, including the current 50-strong team based in Greater Manchester, its growing US operation and new Australia office.

The equity investment was led by Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and a group of private investors.

“A few years ago, as businesses outgrew basic template-driven platforms such as Shopify, Wix and Squarespace, their only option was to have a specialist digital agency create a bespoke solution for their needs which requires a lot of time and a huge budget,” said Stewart Reynolds, chief commercial officer.

“For businesses taking the next step on their ecommerce journey, Shopblocks provides custom online shops at scale, without the need for one-size-fits-all templates or developers, at a fraction of the cost of a web development agency.”

Shopblocks

Shopblocks has more than doubled revenue in each of the past four years. Each day, millions of transactions are processed via the platform for merchants in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries around the world.

“The pandemic has accelerated the already booming drive to online commerce. Despite the challenges, Shopblocks has doubled in size through the lockdown period and this investment will see us grow faster than we’ve ever grown before,” said Kevin Jones, CEO.

“The shift to ecommerce has been brought forward a full decade. We’ve seen thousands of businesses re-platform to Shopblocks and benefit from our advanced features for both B2C and B2B organisations. Good things come to those who migrate.”