Pitney Bowes opens shipping software to more e-retailers
US-based e-commerce retailers using the Magento software platform can now make use of shipping services from Pitney Bowes. The Connecticut-based company has worked Magento’s developer, Michigan firm Grand River, to build extensions to allow between the Magento system and its own ClearPath suite of shipping software.
Pitney Bowes said today its ClearPath services are now available through the official marketplace for Magento extensions, Magento Connect.
Craig Reed, vice president of ecommerce solutions at Pitney Bowes, said: “We are delighted to join the Magento Partner Program and look forward to helping retailers offer global shoppers a seamless cross-border purchasing and shipping experience to 200 countries worldwide.”
The ClearPath Services Suite offers an array of services to support ecommerce sales to more than 200 countres, including real-time duty and tax calculation, returns management, international address verification and optimised global shipping.
Around 100,000 merchants use the Magento platform as a basis for online retail websites. Retailers using the Enterprise 1.9 or 1.10 editions of Magento, as well as Community 1.4 and 1.5 editions, will be able to use the ClearPath extension.
Pitney Bowes said the system would mean online retailers being able to offer fully-guaranteed product quotes for shipping to more than 90 countries.
Phil Robinson, vice president of business development at Magento, said: “The availability of Pitney Bowes’s international ecommerce solutions through Magento Connect will enable our customers to access affordable global delivery services, customs and brokerage management, and a full suite of logistics web services to help make international selling a simple process.
“These solutions can really help retailers of all sizes reduce the complexity of international transactions and expand their businesses in the global marketplace,” Robinson added.
Pitney Bowes has been working in a similar fashion to open access to its shipping software for online retailers using Wipro’s DCxP system, and earlier this year sealed a partnership with Massachusetts firm Demandware to integrate with its online retail network.
The global e-commerce market is growing dramatically with the spread of broadband and use of the internet. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said earlier this year that the global e-commerce market is likely to grow by nearly 20% over the next three years to a $963bn turnover, with the US market alone growing from around $165.8bn in sales last year to $235.3bn by 2013.
