Forage Now Enables Shopify Merchants to Accept SNAP EBT Online

App streamlines compliance process, boosts food access

7/14/2022

Forage Shopify EBT Screenshot Main Image

The Forage app has become Shopify’s first payments gateway for SNAP EBT online.

Payments processor Forage has revealed that its app is now available to all retail customers of e-commerce company Shopify as a way to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) online. Forage is Shopify’s first payments gateway for SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) online.

Forage is now guiding various Shopify customers through the process of getting government approval to accept SNAP online. Forage’s payment and PIN technologies, which power its app, simplify a retailer’s ability to process EBT-compliant transactions. Shopify retailers can meet most compliance requirements, among them producing compliant receipts, split tender and calculating the proper EBT amount to charge, just by installing the Forage EBT Gateway at their stores.

The first Shopify customers are expected to go live with online acceptance of SNAP EBT in the next few weeks. Other e-commerce companies helping grocers to accept SNAP EBT online include eGrowcery, Instacart and Rosie.

“At the core of Shopify’s ecosystem is our community of developers who give merchants access to critical commerce technology,” noted Sid Murlidhar, director of partnerships at Ottawa, Ontario-based Shopify. “We're happy to welcome Forage to the Shopify App Store, bringing its insight and experience in SNAP EBT acceptance to Shopify’s merchants.”

“Grocers that want to future-proof their business by launching their own e-commerce store need to be able to process SNAP transactions online. Thanks to Forage, now they can,” added Matt Smith, COO of Grocerist, a Toronto-based provider of integrated e-commerce solutions for midsize and smaller grocers, and the first complete solution for grocers built on Shopify.

One in eight Americans receive government assistance to purchase groceries. However, while 250,000-plus brick-and-mortar locations accept SNAP benefits via EBT in-store, only a fraction have been approved for online EBT.

“Forage is all about increasing food access in underserved markets,” said Ofek Lavian, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Forage. “Our new Shopify app not only helps more merchants accept SNAP online, it also improves access to food for the millions of people receiving food assistance. We are at the very beginning of this journey, and excited for the potential in this market.”