Multichannel communications solutions provider Pitney Bowes, Inc. reinforced its e-commerce presence through three account wins with domestic retailers Billy Reid, Isaay.com, and Rickshaw Bagworks.
“The landscape is changing with mail-related products and Pitney Bowes has been investing heavily in next-generation technology. E-commerce is one of them,” says the company’s e-commerce VP, Craig Reed. “We have some proprietary technology and some assets and capabilities that allowed us to move into this space and start serving customers with international needs.”
The nearly century-old supplier of stamp machines and postage meters now provides consumers and merchants with cost estimates for orders shipping internationally that figure in duties and taxes. “We take retailers’ catalogs and we internationalize them in a real-time web services environment,” Reed says. “So when customers are viewing a Web page or a product page, they can see their costs with duty and tax implications.”
“We’ve been successful with some of the price points and things we’ve brought in now, but we’re looking at how we differentiate ourselves,” says Alex Svoboda, director of marketing for women’s fashion retailer Isaay.com, a Pitney Bowes e-commerce client. “We definitely want to be using new and interesting technologies, and that’s where the Pitney Bowes relationship came in.”
According to Reed, more retailers are targeting international consumers to make up for lagging domestic sales. “International customers want luxury brands, and they have difficulty getting access to them,” he says. “So, what we’re trying to do is provide the tools to give them access.”
