Pitney Bowes has stepped up its game when it comes to ecommerce. Typically associated with enterprise shippers, it announced new apps available through its open platform SendPro, which launched in May 2017 but underwhelmed when it came to serving needs of small sellers.
Now shippers using SendPro can offer customers same day delivery in certain key markets thanks to a third-party app from Deliv.
It also added an app from Ordoro for sellers listing on multiple channels including Amazon, eBay, Walmart and their own ecommerce store: “E-tailers can print shipping labels in a single click with a choice of multiple carriers and shipping methods.”
Read the full press release for other new capabilities launched as part of its ecosystem extension.
Press release follows:
Pitney Bowes Inc., a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping, mailing, and data, today announced the launch of new applications to help simplify shipping. This new value, delivered through the SendPro C-Series, was created through an ecosystem of third-party global developers, startups and partners on the Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud. These applications will be delivered in partnership with Google Cloud’s Orbitera commerce platform.
This represents the latest milestone in the company’s journey to reinvent and expand its business into the $40 billion digital commerce and shipping market. Since the launch of the SendPro C-Series Android platform last year, two global Hackathons brought together developers from major technology communities and innovation platforms to focus on simplifying shipping, mailing and related workflows by integrating with Pitney Bowes.
“Our Android sending solution, allows us the flexibility to quickly bring to market a breadth of applications and solutions from not only Pitney Bowes, but from our technology partners as well,” said Manish Choudhary, senior vice president, global SMB products and strategy, Pitney Bowes. “We’ve created a powerful ecosystem that is delivering incredible new value to our clients, helping them simplify the complex world of shipping.”
The SendPro C-Series is a digital multi-carrier platform that enables offices of all sizes to easily select the ideal sending option for every parcel, letter and flat they send. The C-Series leverages the latest cloud technology to securely deliver greater value and convenience to users through a range of apps, analytics and services. Here are some of the applications that have been recently launched to clients:
SendPro Care – SendPro Care leverages IOT & data science to allow all SMB clients to easily diagnose and resolve device related issues. It provides self-serve and an account summary on postage savings, usage, funds and customer support tickets status. The SendPro Care application is available to download on iOS & Android.
SendPro Analytics – Leveraging investments in PB’s cloud and IOT Analytics infrastructure, SendPro Analytics gives Pitney Bowes clients visibility on their spending and provides recommendations on potential savings opportunities.
Shipping Alerts and Reports – This easy to use application is for all shipment reports. It keeps SMBs updated in real-time on delivery status, failed delivery alerts and recommendations to save on shipping costs. Clients can also selectively purchase insurance for packages.
Shipping Calendar – The Shipping Calendar saves on shipping costs by allowing retailers to choose the cheapest shipping option based on target delivery date.
Front Office Assistant – This application manages visitors and appointments, and tracks time for employees and contractors.
Same Day Delivery – This third-party application powered by Deliv, provides same day delivery in 35 markets and 1,400 cities across the U.S. Users can schedule pickups, print labels, track deliveries and get notifications.
Ordoro – This third-party application is for E-tailers selling on multiple channels including Amazon, eBay, Walmart and their own ecommerce store. The Ordoro application aggregates orders from all sales channel in a single dashboard. E-tailers can print shipping labels in a single click with a choice of multiple carriers and shipping methods.
Freshdesk – SMBs can manage customer service efficiently with this third-party application from Freshworks. In the case of failed delivery or return alerts, tickets are created automatically so clients can proactively reach out to their customers.
“The world of commerce is changing every day. It’s all about speed and convenience, and businesses have to keep up,” said Daphne Carmeli, founder and CEO of Deliv. “We’re excited to partner with a leader like Pitney Bowes and make same day delivery available with the click of a button.”
Freshworks provides a state of the art Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform which is integrated with the C-Series. The chatbot, nicknamed Freddy, provides predictive customer service and helps resolve client issues more efficiently. Freshworks was a key partner in the global Hackathons which led to the creation of many new apps.
“We are excited to partner with Pitney Bowes to bring the capabilities of Freddy, our Omnibot AI platform into their Sendpro C-series device. Freddy will be the first point of contact for customers to help resolve their issues faster through self-service as well be available for round-the-clock automated customer support,” said Girish Mathrubootham, CEO of Freshworks
“SendPro and Ordoro solve two different aspects of the same shipping and mailing problem,” said Jagath Narayan, co-founder and CEO of Ordoro. “We’re excited to bring Ordoro’s advanced ecommerce shipping capabilities to the thousands of businesses who already use the SendPro platform.”
This journey began in April 2016 with the launch of the Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud, a commerce enabler that provides access to solutions, analytics and APIs across the full commerce continuum with speed and agility to help clients identify customers, locate opportunities, enable communications, power shipping from anywhere to everywhere, and manage payments.
Additional applications are being developed and are in the pipeline to be launched in the coming months.
SOURCE: Pitney Bowes Press Release
