Canadian landlord Primaris has launched an online marketplace called PriMarche that allows customers to use a single cart to shop real-time inventory across all participating stores in its portfolio and receive delivery of a single package on the same day or by the next day.

Director of retail and digital strategy Marco Biasiotto told Commerce + Communities Today the platform launched for five properties on Monday: Toronto’s Dufferin Mall; Guelph, Ontario’s Stone Road Mall; Kingston, Ontario’s Cataraqui Centre; Kelowna, British Columbia’s Orchard Park; and Lethbridge, Alberta’s Park Place. Additional retailers are coming onboard in the coming days, he said, and more Primaris malls also will follow.

PriMarche replicates the in-store shopping experience by digitizing real-time store inventory. Store staff pick the items, and the platform uses recognized courier companies to achieve one-day or next-day delivery. Primaris handles the tracking, insurance and customer service. Curbside pickup also is an option.

“The product will be sourced from the retailer closest to where the order will be delivered,” Biasiotto said. “If the closest mall does not have the product, it will be sourced from the closest where it is available. Thus, retailers can use this innovation to balance merchandise across their network of stores.” He said that retailers have asked to link stores beyond Primaris’ portfolio to make their brands’ last-mile delivery even more efficient and that Primaris can do that.

Primaris, a subsidiary of H&R REIT, will receive a percentage of the sales executed on PriMarche.

Difference between PriMarche and pure-play e-commerce

Real-time inventory at the property level moves fulfillment closer to the consumers, according to Primaris. The platform “reduces shipping costs by shortening transit time within the Primaris portfolio of shopping centers already located in highly populated areas across Canada,” according to the company. “This enables high-speed delivery, reducing delivery costs and overcoming supply chain bottlenecks, last-mile challenges and other logistical disruptions.”

The service also enables local and independent retailers to jump into e-commerce and to make their goods shoppable round the clock, not just during mall hours.

Dropit designed and manages the online marketplace, which allocates the optimal retail property for fulfillment based on real-time, store-specific inventory and customer proximity. Customers also can return online purchases to physical stores, which also enables retailers to resell the items immediately.