Scotiabank, its
subsidiary e-Scotia.com, and Microsoft Canada Thursday introduced a one-stop shop designed to help
businesses get online.
The new e-commerce package, ScotiaWeb Store, offers small- and
mid-sized businesses the ability to set up shop online quickly without
having to host the technology or contract multiple service vendors.
The collaboration intends to provide businesses with the necessary tools to set up
shop online at one location, which offers tools to test drive and create an online storefront; a hosting service; an online settlement system to process credit card purchases; a merchant support desk and online marketing support; and Internet security.
“We are concerned by recent reports revealing that Canadian companies are
lagging behind their American counterparts on the Web. With this package, we
intend to play a leadership role in reversing that trend,” said Albert
Wahbe, Scotiabank’s executive vice-president of Electronic Banking and
e-Scotia.com president.
According to a recent report from the Boston Consulting Group, the ratio of
revenues in the U.S. from Internet-based B2B businesses to consumer,
portals, brokers was 38 times greater than that of their Canadian
counterparts.
“Canadian small businesses have an unprecedented opportunity to take
advantage of the demand for Canadian goods and services online,” said
Catherine Swift, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent
Business.
“At the same time, they face challenges in getting the services they need to
launch their business on the Internet. We need more vehicles — like this
one stop shop — to make it easier for Canadian small business to set up on
the Web.”
