PayPal is launching a new platform for online businesses to manage cross-border shipments between Canada and the US.
“We’re looking to enable more exports and help small businesses become far more competitive in today’s global economy.”
The new solution will allow sellers conducting business on various online platforms to access a single web page to ship items. After importing their sales from e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Etsy, eBay, or WooCommerce into the platform, sellers can then pick and choose the most efficient way to send parcels to customers. Through the platform, tracking links will be made available for each parcel, and deliveries to the United States can be completed in one day.
The company has partnered with netParcel, a Toronto-based startup that offers discounted shipping rates, to allow more than 250,000 businesses that use PayPal to take advantage of aggressive shipping discounts, whether they are shipping parcels within Canada, to the US, or overseas.
“Small businesses need access to better shipping solutions that open them up to global customers,” said Paul Parisi, PayPal Canada’s president. “With this launch, we’re looking to enable more exports and help small businesses become far more competitive in today’s global economy.”
BetaKit spoke with two individuals in the e-commerce space, Mike Van, CEO and co-founder of Furnishr, a home furnishing platform, and Jeremy Potvin, CEO of Weedbox, a retail cannabis brand. Both expressed that, as companies with large logistics operations, this was welcome for businesses, particularly with large logistics operations.
“We do a lot of cross-border shipping, and a large part of how we manage our operational costs of how we make money,” Van told BetaKit. “Being able to lower our logistics costs is a huge win for us, especially as we look at shipping product from Canada to the US or vice versa.”
RELATED: Spocket raises $1.5 million to power dropshipping for retailers
“This whole e-commerce ecosystem has made it really easy for the small business owner, a new young, early-stage entrepreneur, to just take an idea and turn it into a reality. But there are always going to be challenges along the way,” Potvin noted. “It sounds like PayPal has put together some pretty great partnerships here. If you can get good into the US market on a one-day, affordable shipping rate, that’s going to provide a lot of competitive advantages to leading companies.”
PayPal also recently renewed its partnership with Visa to launch a solution aimed to improve cash flow for customers and small businesses. The companies claim Instant Transfer, can move money from customers’ PayPal accounts to their bank account via their Visa debit card.
In the last year, PayPal has made several significant moves in Canada. In May 2018, the company partnered with Visa to brings its digital and mobile payment collaboration to Canada. A month later, it acquired HyperWallet, a digital payout provider aimed at the sharing and gig economies, for $400 million in cash. In December, the company launched Xoom, its international money transfer service, in Canada.