In the month of July, news across different digital domains brings a wave of innovations and updates
July 2025 Canadian SME newsletter: AI pricing shifts, Shopify updates, CRA online mail, security alerts & SEO trends; insights with KBC.
Google Workspace: pricing shift for “very small business” takes effect; AppSheet AI Tasks and NotebookLM upgrades arrive
Google confirmed that its previously announced Workspace pricing update for very small business customers took effect July 7, 2025, while July also delivered AppSheet’s Gemini‑powered AI Tasks to general availability (automatic extraction from images/PDFs and request categorization) and NotebookLM’s Video Overviews to help teams turn source material into narrated explainers. For SMEs, that’s a nudge to revisit licensing/TCO and pilot no‑code automations for invoice intake, ticket triage, and internal training.
Shopify Summer ’25: 150+ updates with Canada‑specific shipping gains (Purolator), better Flow troubleshooting, and POS/dev upgrades
Shopify’s Summer ’25 Editions landed with 150+ updates, including new carriers in Canada (Purolator), carrier preferences, 14‑day Flow logs and enhanced “for each” loops, plus storefront/POS and developer improvements—practical levers to shave picking/packing time and reduce fulfillment errors. Canadian merchants should enable the new carrier, tighten Flow automations, and map one checkout or fulfillment win to revenue.
Payments: Interac e‑Transfer wholesale moves to a flat‑fee model Nov 1—Competition Bureau is monitoring
Canada’s Competition Bureau is monitoring Interac’s commitment to switch e‑Transfer wholesale pricing from volume‑based to a flat fee on November 1, 2025. Banks/credit unions will decide consumer pricing, but SMEs can expect package reshuffles—time to renegotiate.
Compliance: CRA online mail by default for businesses is now live—portal checks are part of bookkeeping
The CRA has transitioned most business correspondence to online mail in My Business Account (Phase 1 new registrations from May; Phase 2 existing businesses from June 16). Notices are considered received when posted, so set notifications and an owner‑bookkeeper review rhythm.
Market signals: CIRA 2025 Internet Trends—AI use rises to ~1 in 3 Canadians; strong “buy Canadian” preference; trust pressures persist
CIRA’s new report shows use of generative‑AI tools has more than doubled, with about one‑third of Canadians engaging in the past year, while 64% prefer Canadian retail sites when given a choice—paired with high concern about misinformation/deepfakes. For SMEs, that’s a mandate to pair AI‑enabled efficiency with .ca trust signals and transparent policies.
Visibility: Google’s June 2025 core update finished July 17—expect ranking movement into late July
Google’s June 2025 core update started June 30 and was completed July 17; industry analyses flagged a sizeable impact across categories. Audit Core Web Vitals, refresh “helpful” content on money pages, and track Search Console deltas against mid‑July to separate seasonality from algorithmic change.
