Online Shopping Trends Continue To Grow In Canada

In our last blog, we pointed out the scathing truth about Canadian retailers. They are simply not keeping up with the demand of Canadian consumers. Specifically, as it relates to e-commerce, Canadian business owners are missing the mark. Canadians love to shop online. The statistics continue to prove it. Yet, for some reason, Canadian business owners remain slow in adopting e-commerce solutions for their companies.

As a result, foreign retailers are stealing business away from Canadian brands. Canadian shoppers who can’t seem to get what they’re looking for on domestic soil tend to go online to locate goods of their choice elsewhere. This is a trend that simply needs to stop in order to grow our national economy.

Hollie Shaw of Financial Post reveals that our last holiday season proved that online shopping is widely popular in Canada. “Online shopping was the winner this holiday retail season, according to a report that says many traditional retailers will have to up their game in order to prevent Amazon and eBay from siphoning away sales in the future,” she writes, pointing out that online retail sales in November and December of 2015 were “record-breaking”. Citing a MasterCard SpendingPulse study of credit, debit, cash and cheque sales, Shaw reveals the state of e-commerce growth in Canada.

“Online sales accounted for 9.7 per cent of total retail sales in the two-month period, the highest watermark yet for Web sales in Canada,” she explains, “In December, online sales accounted for to 9.9 per cent of total retail sales, up from 8.6 per cent in 2014. In the meantime, overall Canadian retail sales growth, excluding automotive and gasoline, grew two per cent year over year over the holidays, MasterCard noted.”

By this time, it should go without saying that online sales are bound to grow during every holiday season. Retail sales always experience large boosts in November and December. Of course, that is to be expected. But, because shopping trends are increasingly showing online sales as preferred methods of getting gifts, there is little to no reason left for merchants not to adopt an e-commerce solution for their businesses.

Mary Teresa Bitti of Financial Post believes this as well. The results of a 2015 Business Development Bank of Canada survey reflect a “disconnect between consumers and businesses in Canada when it comes to e-commerce uptake.” Bitti reveals that “more than half (56 per cent) of respondents to the survey said they shop online while 77 per cent research potential purchases online before buying.”

Meanwhile, only 12 per cent of Canadian small and medium-sized businesses sell their products online. This is down from 18 per cent in 2013, says Bitti. “Meanwhile, the value of Canadian online purchases is projected to hit $34 billion by 2016, up from $18.9 billion in 2012, MasterCard’s Digital Evolution Index shows,” she discloses. At Canadian POS Corporation, we offer Canadian retailers the opportunity to cash in on this trend.

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