Canada Post express parcels subsidiary Purolator will increase rates by 4.9% on average and update its surcharges as of January 1, 2018, following investments in new services.
The delivery firm emphasised that it is “committed to continually investing in enhancements and solutions that contribute to the success and growth of its customers' businesses. In doing so, Purolator provides solutions that help their customers augment the overall shipping experience with enhanced speed, visibility and convenience”.
These enhancements include several new products and services. The Purolator Express® 12PM service, for example, is targeted at time-definite deliveries required by noon.
Purolator is also signing up more e-commerce partners and “making it easier to enhance your customers’ online experience with accurate shipping estimates, real-time tracking and simple returns”.
In October, Purolator and software company Zenkraft unveiled Zenkraft’s new online shipping application that integrates Purolator’s Canadian shipping services with Salesforce® customer relationship management (CRM) software and cloud computing. In recent years, as more companies have adopted Salesforce CRM, the demand for online shipping apps on the Salesforce AppExchange have increased.
“This work with Zenkraft is part of Purolator’s ongoing commitment to support our customers’ need to seamlessly integrate our shipping solutions into technology solutions to help grow their businesses,” said Ramsey Mansour, Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Marketing for Purolator. “We are helping businesses accelerate their e-commerce strategies by providing more options and greater flexibility for the management of purchasing, order fulfilment, shipping and returns online.”
Through the new app, Salesforce customers can now access Purolator’s shipping services without ever leaving their CRM application. Zenkraft’s new shipping app for Purolator is 100 per cent Salesforce native and integrates directly with the Salesforce Chatter tool to enable shipping and updating of tracking information in real time. App users are able to access accurate shipping estimates, generate international shipping forms, create shipping and return labels, schedule pickups and track deliveries in real time.
Separately, Purolator also said that later in January it will introduce enhancements to its Special Handling (SH) and Dangerous Goods (DG) services. In addition, in a sign of how it is “greening” its vehicle fleet, the firm claimed it has “the largest electric fleet in North America”.
With more than 875 shipping locations across Canada, Purolator is one of Canada’s leading freight, package and logistics solutions providers. In 2016 Purolator generated a revenue of C$1.53 billion and achieved earnings before tax of C$67 million.
