Government inks deal with Shopify to run online cannabis sales

The Ontario government has teamed up with Ottawa-based company Shopify to sell legal recreational marijuana.

The Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation, a subsidiary of the LCBO, will use the company’s e-commerce platform for its online and mobile sales. The technology will also be used in stores.

Transactions will be processed on iPads and digital screens that will show product and health information.

Online distribution will be available across the province in July 2018. Forty stand-alone stores are also set to open the same month, with 150 expected to open by 2020.

The government previously announced that Hamilton, Brantford, Burlington, Niagara Falls, and St. Catharines were chosen to have one or more standalone cannabis retail stores that will open this summer.