Pitney Bowes launches new cloud-based payments engine
Global e-commerce provider Pitney Bowes is the latest company to adopt digital payments processing. It has moved away from traditional methods of customer fulfilment with the launch of a cloud-based payments engine that will track business transactions. This engine is part of the plan to utilise e-commerce shipping solutions in response to growing demands from the online market. This holistic platform will enable e-tailers to manage all their deliveries and transactions in a simpler, more efficient way. Pitney Bowes aims to digitise all its processes, including sending invoices and promotional material via online channels such as mobile apps and email, in keeping with increased uptake of mobile and online shopping, giving customers more choices, freedom and flexibility. This one-stop platform is one of several digital strategies, developed to take advantage of changes in customer shopping habits.

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Global e-commerce and shipping solutions provider Pitney Bowes is pivoting further away from its roots in traditional fulfillment to better serve the digital age.

The company is launching a new cloud-based payments engine to keep track of business shipping transactions. This new payments tool is part of Pitney Bowes' SendPro multi-carrier office shipping solution, which helps businesses manage their shipping needs among different carriers.

The company is essentially offering retailers an all-in-one platform to manage their shipments and keep track of associated costs. Pitney Bowes' newest platform is part of a larger push by the company to move to e-commerce shipping solutions to meet the demands of the quickly growing online shopping market.

Last month, Pitney Bowes revealed its intentions to focus on helping e-tailers process orders and ship packages.

The company is specifically working on removing friction from the cross-border commerce market.

Last year, Pitney Bowes acquired Borderfree, a company that specializes in helping major retailers like Macy's, Saks, and Harrods sell and ship products internationally.

As of Q4 2015, Pitney Bowes' revenue from its mailing business declined 6% to $477 million, down from $510 million during 2014.

Meanwhile, the company's e-commerce business grew 11% to reach $215 million, up from $194 million in Q4 2014.

The company has long been a boost for retailers by selling and leasing postage meters — machines that weigh and stamp envelopes at high speed and volume. This means that retailers could produce mass marketing and billing materials at low cost and with low manpower.

However, e-commerce means not only buying products online, but also sending these bills and promotional campaigns through digital channels (i.e. email, mobile apps). So Pitney Bowes is now focusing on how it can provide these same or similar services to brands and retailers now that commerce is largely digital-focused.

The rise of online and mobile shopping has given consumers more choice, flexibility, and often better service, and retailers are shifting their strategies to keep up.

Cooper Smith, senior research analyst at BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on new e-commerce strategies that looks at some of the top trends affecting retailers at each stage of the purchase funnel and how they're responding to those shifts.

BI Intelligence

Here are some of the key takeaways:

Within digital, consumers are spreading out their retail purchasing across channels, forcing retailers to spread out their online marketing budgets. Paid search, affiliate marketing, and email all increased their share of e-commerce referrals last year, according to Custora.

Paid search especially stood out as a major source of spending by retailers. Search ad spending grew 18% YoY in Q4 2015, according to IgnitionOne.

Mobile continues to drive the most sales growth for retailers, but sales still aren't keeping up with retail traffic. IBM found that smartphone traffic beat both tablet and desktop, making up 53% of all online traffic. But mobile still only accounted for 29% of all online sales.

Retailers only have themselves to blame for underperformance on mobile, as many still aren't using best practices for mobile websites and apps. Only 60% of the top 100 global retailers currently have a dedicated mobile website, according to The Search Agency.

The increase in online shopping has put stress on the shipping and logistics industry. The number of UPS ground packages delivered on time during the holidays fell from 97% in 2014 to 91% in 2015, according to ShipMatrix.

Retailers are beginning to explore alternative shipping options. Earlier this year Gilt Groupe switched its primary ground shipper from UPS to Newgistics.

Retailers that can't afford to invest in alternative shipping options are offering consumers more fulfillment options using what many of them do have — brick-and-mortar stores. Buying online and picking up in-store, also called click and collect, made up about 30% of e-commerce sales at Sam's Club in 2015.

In full, the report:

Looks at how retailers are shifting their ad spending and marketing efforts to keep up with online retail behavior

Identifies which channels are top performers for referral traffic and new opportunities for reaching consumers

Analyzes how retailers are responding to the rise of mobile purchasing and where they're falling short

Examines the evolving delivery landscape and the aggressive moves retailers are making to become their own shipping carriers

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