Canada Post announced this morning that it is introducing what it calls a "groundbreaking" e-commerce product line for those businesses wanting to integrate postal data into their online stores or customer applications.
The initiative aims to offer more choice to customers with regard to pickup options, tracking, shipping rates and return labels.
"Consumers benefit from a superior end-to-end shopping experience," said René Desmarais, Canada Post's senior vice-president, parcels. "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."
The features, according to Canada Post, will include:
- real-time rate lookup, allowing shoppers to see shipping rates prior to checkout;
- tracking updates, showing shipping, processing and deliver status in real time;
- delivery to the postal outlet of the customer's choice; and
- return labels, that shoppers can download and print directly from the site.
Anick Losier, spokesperson for Canada Post, explained that the new service is a tool that can be integrated into an existing e-commerce platform.
"Our new web services platform is a complete set of tools for the merchant, the application developer or the platform," said Losier.
These web services are free, and Canada Post said they are customizable to cater to the specific needs of customers.
