I've been seeing a lot of hype over the Canadian interwebs these last few weeks about the launch of Shop.ca's online retail site. The launch was supposed to happen on the 7th, and I had a browser window open on it, and was refreshing throughout the day and yesterday too. Alas, the launch didn't seem to go according to plan, but they're now finally up and running!
New signups get $10 off $100 on their first online purchase. You get free shipping and free returns too.
I've just had my first look round the site and it seems really easy to use and buy whatever you want. The categories are clearly laid out and it's super-easy to search for what you want. There are millions of products available with 26 categories to choose from, including pet supplies, outdoor and clothing. The site seems to be running very slow, but that could just be teething troubles. :)
I recently read an extensive article in The Globe and Mail which told a lot about Shop.ca and how it works, and gave quite a lot of background into the company. It's a good read, if you're interested.
Here's the Shop.ca business model in brief:
- Shop.ca has agreements with many Canadian stores, who offer products on the Shop.ca site
- Shop.ca sells the items and passes the order to the store
- The store ships to the customer within 5 business days
There are a wide range of Canadian stores on there as suppliers, many we've heard about here on Bargainmoose in the past, such as Snuggle Bugz , Sears, or iNetVideo.
Compared to Amazon.com, Amazon Canada really doesn't sell very much stuff at all, so I seriously hope Shop.ca is going to succeed by offering us a wealth of products to buy online, combined with super prices, free shipping and free returns. And when we spot super bargains, we'll be sharing them here on Bargainmoose!
(No expiry - I hope!)
Comments