Online shopping continues to gain momentum, with spending increasing year after year and US e-commerce expected to top $712B by 2022. The statistics are also looking promising for Canada, with growth continuing well into the future. Canada Post says that eight in ten Canadians shop online, and they’re buying more items, more often, across many product categories. Most growth will come from existing shoppers buying more online, rather than store visits or new online shoppers. In order to stay competitive, here are 3 key things you should know about e-commerce in Canada.
Canadian online retail sales to significantly grow in 2019
In 2014, the total online retail sales in Canada were $22.3 billion, according to Forrester Research. That is expected to rise to $40B in 2019, as Forrester also predicts that the average Canadian online spend per year is expected to increase 54% by 2019.
Cross-Border Shopping is Still Active
While many Canadians would prefer to buy from Canadian online retailers, this isn’t the case. Foreign websites in the U.s and Europe simply offer much more variety than Canadians can find at home, with 53% of shoppers making at least one cross-border purchase in 2016 according to Canada Post data.
Some Canadian Provinces Expanding More than Others
It should be no surprise that no all Canadian provinces are experiencing the same e-commerce growth. The provinces that saw the highest e-commerce growth in 2015 were Ontario with 21%, British Columbia with 18%, Quebec with 13%, Nova Scotia with 12%, and Alberta with 15%. A note that is of particular interest is that in Ontario, the city that experiences the most growth was NOT Toronto, it was Windsor.
