“I sell a niche product that’s a bit on the higher end, so it’s important to have access to a global market with many buyers,” says Watts, the owner of Cattails Woodworking, said. “I don’t think I’d be successful without exporting, but yet, it’s hard to be competitive when shipping costs are so high.”
Her shipping problems came to a head when postal workers took job action back in 2018. She knew she had to find other shipping options to keep her business afloat during her busiest season.
In the meantime, PayPal Canada was exploring ways to make shipping easier and more affordable for their small business customers.
The company wanted a solution because surveys have found high shipping costs are:
- The number one reason business owners hesitate to export i
- The number one reason customers abandon online shopping carts ii
- The number one reason customers give negative recommendations iii
To find a solution, PayPal partnered with netParcel, a Toronto tech company that provides discounted shipping rates.
As a result, PayPal Canada customers are seeing discounts of up to 75%iv on their shipping costs, whether they are sending parcels across the country, to the U.S. — which is Canada’s number one trading partner — or to other markets around the world.
Watts says in the last three weeks alone she’s saved $600 on shipping, and her busy season hasn’t even started yet. “I expect to triple those savings by late February 2020,” she says.
Watts’ most popular product is an acorn box. With tracking, it would cost $21 to ship to California and $20 to ship to New York. With PayPal, it’s costing her $14 to ship to the west coast and about $10 to New York.
Best of all? One-day deliveryv is an affordable option for her customers.
PayPal Canada customers are seeing discounts of up to 75%iv on their shipping costs, whether they are sending parcels across the country, to the U.S. or to other markets around the world.
“Many of my parcels are gifts and lots of folks leave it to the last minute. I will get requests to rush or send express which costs so much more in shipping it’s unreasonable,” says Watts.
“Some people add the shipping cost to the product price so that it doesn’t deter buyers, but it has to be accounted for one way or another,” she continues. “Now, I can lower my shipping costs on my website. It ups my competitiveness and encourages people to shop. It also allows me the option to occasionally offer free shipping on a certain dollar amount to the U.S. which I could never justify before.”
Watts knew eight years ago that offering shipping to her customers would change her business. Now, she sees how PayPal can help change her bottom line and help secure her future.
Sources
i PayPal survey of small and medium businesses, 2018
ii Insights West; Ayima, Statista 2019
iii UPS; comScore Statista, 2018
iv Of a 2018 sample of 392,735 shipments made either within Canada or from Canada to any other country, a total of 82,272 shipments would have realized freight savings of 75% by shipping with netParcel, as compared to the lowest posted carrier retail rate then available. These rates do not include non-freight surcharges.
v Parcels will be delivered the next business day
