Canada Post has teamed up with with e-commerce provider Shopify and expanded usage of its epostdigital mail service in Toronto in its latest business development moves.
Canada Post and Shopify have partnered to create an online trade platform with a fullyintegrated shipping solution, granting easy access to the e-commerce market. While Shopify enablesCanadian merchants to quickly create a website and sell their products online, Canada Post’s newapplication upgrades the platform with an easy-to-use shipping functionality that features labelprinting options and automatically calculates shipping rates. Additionally, Shopify offers CanadaPost VentureOne members to set up an online store for free – with no service costs for three fullmonths.
“Nowadays, customers don’t just want to be able to buy your product online – they expect it,”explained Harley Finkelstein, Chief Platform Officer of Shopify. “That’s why this collaborationbetween Canada Post and Shopify is so important. We’ve made it possible for every Canadian businessor entrepreneur to build an amazing online store, with little effort, and at no cost for threemonths.” Shopify currently hosts more than 30,000 active online retailers.
“For centuries, Canada Post has been an enabler of trade and commerce in this country. Andwe will continue to play an even stronger role in this burgeoning digital economy,” said RenéDesmarais, Senior Vice-president Parcels. “And teaming up with leading e-commerce providers canonly help to promote our country’s digital economy in the long term.”
In Canada, physical goods with an estimated total value of C$8 billion are ordered online forresidential deliveries each year, and that figure is expected to rise to more than C$15 billion by2016. Total expenditures on Canadian e-commerce B2C shipping services were more than C$600 millionin 2011.
Separately, Canada Post has expanded the usage of its free digital mailbox ‘epost’ through anagreement with the country’s largest city, Toronto. The city’s municipal authority will use epostto distribute property tax bill statements in addition to the already available utility bill. Withthis further move towards e-billing, the government aims to reduce costs and environmental impactwhile improving administrative efficiency by allowing Torontonians to electronically manage theirbills.
“The City of Toronto is the largest of the 17 municipal government partners of epost and weare excited that it is taking the lead to expand the number of citizen services available throughus,” commented Kerry Munro, Group President, Digital Delivery Network at Canada Post. “ForTorontonians it offers another convenient way to manage household affairs anytime, anywhere andfrom any device while supporting the City of Toronto’s need to be more cost efficient.”
Across Canada, epost enables its more than 7.5 million users to securely manage and pay theirelectronic bills and other household priorities. Canada Post is working closely with municipalitiesacross the country to add more digital services to epost in the future.
