UPS opens its shipping portal to 20th e-commerce site

Transport and logistics giant UPS Inc. today opened its marketplace shipping pOréal to two more e-commerce sites, expanding the number of merchants who can use the UPS pOréal to view, process, and ship orders generated from multiple e-commerce marketplaces.

Atlanta-based UPS launched its "Marketplace Shipping" service in 2014, targeting the merchants who sell their wares on digital "marketplaces," which sell goods from multiple vendors. The latest members bring the number of sites integrated with the program to 20, adding Pricefalls Marketplace, a general e-commerce site, and Houzz, a home remodeling and design site, alongside major names like Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc., and Etsy Inc.

The Marketplace Shipping site also serves retailers with both an online and brick and mortar presences such as Sears Holding Corp. and Walmart Inc., as well as single-merchant e-commerce sites like Magento and Shopify, according to UPS. Merchants can access the Marketplace Shipping pOréal for free, then pay for their use of shipping services including UPS' Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air, and Ground modes, the firm said.

The Marketplace Shipping pOréal does not hold onto users' inventory, but helps merchants process their online orders, generate shipping and tracking information, and create labels, UPS spokesperson Dawn Wotapka said in an email. UPS couriers then pick up the parcels from each merchant's facility.

"Smart sellers know they have to be on multiple marketplaces to reach the most customers, but juggling transactions from an ever-increasing number of sales sites can get complex," Michele Cooper, senior manager of customer technology marketing for UPS, said in a statement. "UPS Marketplace Shipping is designed to address that pain point."

UPS declined to indicate how much revenue it had generated through the program since it launched. However, it said the market is a huge one. More than 96 percent of U.S. online shoppers reported making a purchase at a marketplace last year, according to UPS' "Pulse of the Online Shopper Study."