WATERLOO — E-commerce provider Shopify says it terminated thousands of accounts last month for profiteering or making false claims, while many other merchants offered discounts to try and boost sales as retailers struggled to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an update posted on the Shopify website, the company outlined the ways it is helping merchants and customers cope, including offering gift cards or local pickup and delivery, $200 million in loans called Shopify Capital (only available to some U.S. and U.K. clients), and an extension of the company's 14-day free trial to 90 days.

The Ottawa-based company, which has more than a dozen global offices including Waterloo, Vancouver, Ottawa, San Francisco and Berlin, also acknowledged social distancing measures and the shutdown of non-essential businesses means many of its approximately 1.5 million merchants are "pivoting online as consumer demand shifts."

In a statement to the Record, Shopify said global online store creations increased 20 per cent week-over-week for the last two weeks of March, and from January to the end of March merchants offered more than 27,000 discount codes related to COVID-19.

Shopify has also taken a firm stance against anyone making false claims or trying to profiteer off the sale of pandemic supplies such as hand sanitizer or face masks by terminating as many as 5,000 merchants last month.

Data collected by the company offers a glimpse at how shopping trends have changed amid COVID-19.

Shopify said that for the first three weeks of March sales of food, beverage and tobacco products grew by 14 per cent, 46 per cent, and four per cent respectively. Other essentials such as toilet paper, water filters and baby formula also outperformed expected sales.

Other items such as attachable bidets for toilets, work-from-home supplies, home workout equipment and entertainment products like video games and crafts all saw increases.

Shopify didn't provide an update on its financial position since the pandemic was announced, but on its website the company did say it ended 2019 "with momentum that continued into January and February of 2020."

This momentum should allow the company to report revenue and adjusted operating income for the first quarter of 2020 that is "within the range of expectations" provided during the 2019 fourth quarter conference call on Feb. 12.

"Given the uncertainty surrounding the duration and magnitude of COVID-19, Shopify is suspending the financial expectations provided for full year 2020," the statement added.

Financial results for the first quarter ending March 31 will be announced before markets open on May 6.

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jjackson@therecord.com

Twitter: @JamesDEJ