Eight of Canada's top retailers win at the 2018 Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards

Winners receive up to $100,000 in free shipping to help them grow and succeed

TORONTO, Sept. 20, 2018 /CNW/ - Congratulations to the eight retail brands that were crowned the country's best at the 2018 Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards.

In categories that celebrate omni-channel strategies, online innovation, customer engagement and community initiatives, the winners ? which range from large established businesses to exciting start-ups ? were recognized for their efforts and initiatives that are propelling Canadian online retail forward.

To help support their growth in the increasingly competitive global marketplace, winners receive up to $100,000 each in free shipping credits as well as valuable marketing prize packages.

Here are the 2018 winners, as selected by an independent panel of expert judges:

• Recognizing brands that operate both online and physical stores, the winners of the Best Omni-Channel Retailer Award are Best Buy Canada in the large category, and fashion and sneaker retailer Livestock in the small business category.
• Honouring retailers that operate pre-dominantly online, with no physical location, the Pure Play of the Year Awards for large and small businesses went respectively to Jewlr, which offers customers personalized jewellery, and Kavenas, makers of customized handbags for women.
• Aquarium and pond hobby specialists Big Al's won the Best Marketing & Brand Experience Award, a category for businesses of all sizes that focuses on achievements in customer engagement.
• Dedicated to Canada's up-and-coming game-changing brands, the Most Disruptive Start-Up trophy this year goes to Loch, a new retailer that offers customers an alternative eyewear experience with frames made of 500-year-old reclaimed wood.
• Devoted solely to the celebration of doing good, the Social Impact Award went to omni-channel consumer goods retailer London Drugs for its incredible accomplishments in making recycling easier and more doable for its customers, as well as for the meaningful partnerships it initiates with local charitable groups.
• The Canada Post E-commerce Innovator's Award is a special category in which the winner is chosen by Canada Post for initiatives that advance the nation's retail industry. This year's award went to Nespresso, which was recognized for creating a new fully recyclable solution for single-serve coffee pods, an initiative that is poised to set a new packaged-goods standard in environmental responsibility.

"Everyone at Canada Post would like to congratulate all the winners of this year's Awards," says Canada Post's Chief Commercial Officer, Doug Ettinger. "Your ideas, commitment and dedication to innovation are redefining the retail industry and improving the shopping experience for customers across the country. Well done."

SOURCE Canada Post