By Jeff Domansky, Jan 8, 2021
Shopify closed two Trump brand stores on its e-commerce platform yesterday in response to the Wednesday violence at the Capitol building in Washington DC.
The Ottawa, Canada e-commerce giant powers e-commerce stores for more than one million merchants online. It removed the two online shops because it said President Trump violated its Acceptable Use Policy that prohibits the promotion of organizations or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause.
“Shopify does not tolerate actions that incite violence. Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms, or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause,” a Shopify spokesperson wrote in a statement to TechCrunch. “As a result, we have terminated stores affiliated with President Trump.”
Online shoppers and Trump supporters who Googled TrumpStore.com and shop.donaldjtrump.com saw identical messages that the sites were “unavailable.” The company also recently closed stores affiliated with the notorious Proud Boys, but Breitbart and Black Lives Matter-related stores are still live. It has also closed many stores selling fake COVID-19 products.
Talk about a management and reputation challenge for e-commerce!
Two large Trump e-commerce shops closed
The two online Shopify Trump stores had substantial monthly traffic and likely strong sales given recent website visits.
One shop – Shop.donaldjtrump.com – run by the Trump campaign, sold familiar campaign paraphernalia such as MAGA hats, T-shirts, apparel, posters and signs, and other campaign trinkets. The site also actively solicited Trump campaign donations. The campaign store had peak website traffic of 2.6 million visits in November, which dropped to 560,000 in December.
TrumpStore.com featured Trump-branded, more expensive gift collections, golf clothing, home decor and ornaments, skincare and beauty products, and other Trump signature gifts. Similar Web tracking shows the site had 200,000 visits in November during the height of the election, which dropped to 166,800 monthly visits during peak December holiday shopping.
What’s the Trump brand’s future?
Shopify was not the only company to respond to the DC Capitol building’s tragic riot and desecration. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter shut down Donald Trump’s accounts, citing violations of terms of use as well.
It raises an interesting debate about the crossover between business and politics, the importance of brand and reputation, and the Trump brand’s potential future value.
It’s interesting that American e-commerce giants Amazon and eBay have not responded in a similar way to Shopify. A spokesperson for eBay did say it would remove products promoting violence.
“At eBay, we have a strict policy against hate and discrimination to ensure our platform remains a safe, trusted and inclusive environment for our global community of buyers and sellers,” a spokesperson told Recode. “While we are not removing politically affiliated merchandise from the site, we will remove any merchandise glorifying the violence incited on Capitol Hill.”
The soon-to-be-former President will undoubtedly be actively defending himself from many legal challenges as he looks at the rumored possibilities of a role on FOX News, a return of The Apprentice or a different reality show, or even a new startup TV network.
Thousands of Trump-related products of all kinds remain for sale through third-party vendors on both US e-commerce platforms. Removing products could be a near-impossible task. Or, could it be the looming threat of the review and investigations of big technology by US regulators?
For the moment, it’s a business school case study in the challenges that arise when politics, e-commerce, brands, and business collide. The Pillow Guy would be wise to take notes.
The future value of the “Trump” brand is very much a question mark today with just 13 days to go before the Jan 20 inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
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