Today Shipwire announced the addition of our first International warehouse — Toronto, Canada. Our in-the-news section has a few links to some of the news outlets which covered and discussed the release.
At Shipwire, we are really excited about what this means for our merchants and their businesses. The addition of the Toronto warehouse allows Shipwire customers to fulfill Canadian orders locally, without sending orders through customs on a per-order basis. Shipwire merchants can now easily move product in bulk into Canada so that Canadian orders can be fulfilled faster, more accurately, with lower per-order shipping costs and without the risk of clearing the customs nightmare on a per order basis. The Toronto warehouse allows Shipwire powered merchants to introduce their products to a whole new market (Canada) without any up-front investment in expensive warehouse and employee infrastructure. We think that is pretty cool.
For example, let’s say you are a UK based merchant selling something like electronics, clothing, or toys. Before Shipwire, if you wanted to sell to U.S. or Canadian customers you had to either 1) Send each order from the UK, with expensive international shipping that took forever to reach the end buyer; or, 2) you had to contract with a warehouse in the U.S. and deal with a warehouse lease and employees. Using this same example, a UK merchant can now enter the U.S. market by shipping inventory to Shipwire’s U.S. warehouses in Los Angeles and Chicago. That same merchant can enter the Canadian market by moving some inventory to Toronto. This U.K. merchant now has international points of presence in the U.S. and Canada that allow for it to act as a local merchant in those marketplaces.
If you”re a U.S. company, that sees 10, 15 or 20% of your orders going to Canada, you have probably had a few frustrations fulfilling your customer orders: Uncertainty as to international shipping rates; problems and questions filling out customs forms for each order; worries on whether your order will make it through customs; and, uncertainty as to shipping times for international buyers. Utilizing the Shipwire Toronto facility allows you to eliminate these business problems. Move a small percentage of your inventory into Canada, clearing customs once with your Canadian Inventory. Once you have inventory in Canada you can fulfill Canadian orders from your Toronto facility with standard Canada Post (or other options) and not worry about clearing customs on a per-order basis.
To start moving inventory to Canada please contact Shipwire support. Also, review our helpful instructions on registering your business with the Canadian Revenue Agency in our help center under “Advanced Use.”
Posted by:
Nate Gilmore
Nate oversees our channel development and developer network, as well as our marketing and public relations. Previously, Nate was at Concentric, acquired by XO Communications, where he ran product management, sales and marketing. Over his six year career with Concentric, he developed dozens of new business channels, by initiating new products for small- and mid- size businesses, developing partner programs for those products, and working with web developers and systems integrators to provide ongoing support of those products. Nate has also held various legal positions in intellectual property and business law. He holds a B.A. in History, and a J.D., from Santa Clara University.
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