[jka]

If it's an expense program, then there could be policies and constraints which limit the types of purchases employees can make.

That could make a significant difference in terms of usage and spending of these funds.

There doesn't seem to be any official announcement of the program on Shopify's blog or social media so far.

It's probably best to assume that journalists are acting in good faith to uncover the full story and to discover details which might be relevant for their audience either now or retrospectively when people look back on these events in future.