Shopify links up with Uber

Ottawa technology darling Shopify has announced a partnership with ridehailing service Uber to handle rush deliveries for its merchants.

Uber operates in 60 countries around the world. Shopify supports more than 100,000 businesses in 150 countries globally. By using Uber’s drivers, a business can collect an order online, package it and then toss it in the back of a waiting Uber vehicle for immediate delivery.

Shopify approached Uber earlier this year about co-operating to offer services to retailers, said Janet Park, a spokeswoman for Shopify. The reception, she said, was positive.

“They wanted to focus on small and mediumsized businesses, and they looked to partner with us as we’re the leader in the space.”

Shopify gives business owners the ability to sell goods online. Even a person with no technical skills can use Shopify’s Internetbased offerings to set up an online store and start selling items in minutes.

While the company has always offered sellers the ability to easily integrate shipping options such as Canada Post or FedEx on a Shopify-made website, it hasn’t, until now, been able to provide rush deliveries. The partnership with Uber fills that gap.

Shopify said the Uber RUSH service will be offered in select cities in coming weeks. It did not name the cities.

Uber RUSH takes advantage of Uber’s growing fleet of drivers to offer express courier services within a city. Any driver who wants to to participate can sign up, download the Uber RUSH app, see what needs to go where and start picking up packages. Shopify merchants and customers can track shipments and monitor their delivery in real time.

Shopify has been steadily expanding services. It recently announced “buy now” buttons for Facebook and Twitter that allow vendors to sell products straight from social media news feeds.

In 2014 it introduced a payment-processing service and added in-store point-of-sale terminals, making it possible for online sellers to set up anywhere — at a farmers’ market, for instance — and still accept credit card payments.

For Uber drivers, the service offers another avenue for generating income at a time when the controversial company is becoming more accepted by lawmakers. The City of Ottawa is in the middle of a review of taxi bylaws that could allow services such as Uber to operate within city boundaries.

Shopify shares reached $33.71 U.S. Wednesday afternoon, up 59 cents from a day earlier.