PayPal Canada Links Small Businesses To Cross-Border Shipping

PayPal is introducing a new solution for Canadian small businesses (SMBs) to lower their logistics costs when doing business with the U.S.

The company announced on Wednesday (June 12) that it will introduce shipping discounts for Canadian small business customers, as well as one-day shipping to the U.S., in an effort to promote cross-border trade. PayPal Canada will include package tracking links, and will roll out a platform that allows sellers to manage order shipments and logistics from a range of marketplaces.

According to PayPal Canada, high shipping costs are a barrier to cross-border trade for small businesses, and prevent SMBs from taking advantage of growth opportunities in doing business with the U.S.

“Small businesses need access to better shipping solutions that open them up to global customers,” said PayPal Canada President Paul Parisi in a statement. “With this launch, we’re looking to enable more exports, and help small businesses become far more competitive in today’s global economy.”

The platform can integrate orders from a range of eCommerce platforms, including eBay, Etsy, Shopify and others. Small businesses can organize and choose package shipping methods for each order, and provide tracking links.

PayPal Canada is collaborating with netParcel to enable steeper discounts on shipping, the company noted.

In another initiative aimed at expanding its presence in Canada, last year, PayPal announced an extension of its collaboration with Visa to allow digital and mobile payments for consumers and merchants in the market. Their partnership allows PayPal Canada users to access Visa Direct for real-time payments.

In 2016, Melissa O’Malley, PayPal director of global merchant and cross-border trade initiatives at the time, spoke with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster about the logistics and shipping challenges in cross-border commerce, calling shipping logistics “the toughest nut to crack in cross-border trade.”

“Getting a landed cost if you’re a small merchant, and providing that landed cost to an overseas customer, takes a lot of time, and most merchants want to focus on their business, and not being a shipping and logistics expert,” she said at the time.