Canada Post launches ecommerce shipping tools for merchants

Canada Post has launched a new suite of services for retailers, designed to provide a “superior” online shopping experience for their customers. Canada Post Web Services allows retailers to integrate with the Canada Post database to provide a range of features for consumers including alternative parcel collection points, tracking capabilities and a “real-time” rate finder.

Retailers will also be able to allow their customers to download and print a return label directly from their ecommerce websites with the Web Services suite.

Canada Post said the new services were “free, fully-supported and flexible”, allowing merchants to customise how the postal data is integrated into their ecommerce platform, and how it is presented to customers.

René Desmarais, the senior vice president for parcels at Canada Post, said: “This is a three-way win. Consumers benefit from a superior end-to-end shopping experience. Retailers can better satisfy their customers.

“And, services like this encourage Canadians to shop on Canadian sites – which is key to developing a globally competitive digital economy.”

Features

Canada Post said the Deliver to Post Office feature within the Web Services suite allows shoppers to pick up their orders at Canada Post outlets of their choice – with almost 6,500 outlets to choose from across the country, and 78% of Canadians living within 2.5km of a post office.

The real-time rate lookup feature will allow shoppers to determine their shipping rate prior to checkout when purchasing through a website.

And, the tracking capabilities will allow real-time updates and access to information on shipping, processing and delivery status, Canada Post said.

Canada Post is currently prioritising the development of its ecommerce and parcels business, as traditional mail volumes decline.

Volumes from the company’s 20 largest ecommerce customers grew by a double-digit rate in 2011, with growth rates continuing into 2012.