(Adds executive comments, details on tie-ups)
By Euan Rocha and Anet Josline Pinto
Oct 14 (Reuters) - Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify Inc
SHOP.N SH.TO said on Wednesday it was partnering with
taxi-hailing service Uber UBER.UL to help merchants deliver
goods to customers on the same day in New York City, Chicago and
San Francisco.
Shopify said the UberRUSH delivery service will be available
to its merchants in the three cities immediately. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw212FlKa
U.S. department stores such as Kohl's KSS.N and Macy's Inc
M.N offer same-day delivery services via a tie-up with Deliv,
an Uber-like startup that contracts drivers to pick up ordered
items from stores and deliver them to customers. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N12C49K
The agreement with Uber is the latest in a series of major
tie-ups announced by Ottawa-based Shopify. Last month, it inked
a tie-up with the U.S. Postal Service, making it more attractive
for smaller U.S. retailers to use its software to power their
e-commerce sites. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N11U0QG
Just prior to that, Amazon.com AMZN.O also made Shopify
its preferred partner for smaller vendors that are seeking to
sell their goods via the online retailing giant. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N11O1Q4
Although the rapid delivery services appear to compete with
Amazon's own speedy shipping options, the tie-ups with Uber and
USPS will not put Shopify on a collision path with Amazon said
Brennan Loh, Shopify's head of product partnerships, who added
that smaller vendors would still look to sell their products via
Amazon due to its much broader reach, in comparison to their own
portals.
"We are trying to alleviate as many pain points as merchants
face when running their business," said Loh. "The partnership
with Uber is sort of another step in that direction."
Shopify merchants can provide their customers with an option
for UberRUSH delivery, the company said. Merchants can request
an Uber pickup and both the customer and merchant can track the
exact location from pickup to drop-off from Shopify.
Re/code reported last month that Uber was planning to tie-up
with retailers and fashion brands.
Separately, Bigcommerce on Wednesday also announced a tie-up
with Uber that would allow it to offer same-day delivery for its
merchants in Chicago, New York and San Francisco via UberRUSH.
Uber, which faces legal claims against alleged violations
including using unlicensed drivers for its taxi-hailing
operations, also operates a food delivery service in eight U.S.
cities, including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
(Editing by Don Sebastian, Bernard Orr)