Walmart Embraces Amazon MCF: A New Era of Cross-Platform Fulfillment for eCommerce
Walmart Embraces Amazon MCF: A New Era of Cross-Platform Fulfillment for eCommerce
e-Commerce of Canada is an open gateway to tremendous opportunities. In any case, if you have an online store in Canada or outside its borders, you must explore those opportunities.
Furthermore, Ever-increasing usage of technology and the internet as a result more and more people are turning into a prospective audience. To put it another way, a great opportunity waiting to be acknowledged. For one thing, e-Commerce definitely sees a great future in Canada due to several reasons.
What do you need to know about e-Commerce in Canada?
- What caused an increase in Online Stores in Canada?
- How is e-Commerce in Canada a new trendsetter?
- What do the online Shoppers in Canada like or dislike?
- What are the Marketplaces of Canada that you must link your online store to?
- When is the best time to sell in Canada?
- How can you make the selling hassle-free with an Automated Online store?
What caused an increase in Online Stores in Canada?
Complicated Geography and lack of sufficient resources have made it a little difficult for retailers to reach out to all corners of Canada.
1. Geographical and population density of Canada
Canada has a population of around 3.75 Crore as per recent (August 2019) UN Surveys and estimations make up for the 0.5%(approx) of the World Population.
Located in North America, Canada shares southern and shares boundaries with the USA in the south and northwest.
It is important to realize around 90% of the country is inhabitable.
Under those circumstances, the population is spread to the far corners of the southern strip.
By all means, this makes reaching people through brick-and-mortar stores places a significant challenge for sellers up until this time.
On the positive side, this limitation naturally creates a gap in the marketing waiting to be filled by other logical and feasible substitutes.
In view of this, reaching a substantial mass of the population that remains unfulfilled by physical stores, hence Online stores in Canada yield immense profits.
Instead of travelling miles to find a decent store, especially during the holiday season, the major part of the population is turning into online shoppers in Canada.
3. The familiarity of Policies and taxes between the US and Canada
For sellers in the USA, willing to sell across borders, Canada definitely offers a familiar ground on Policies and Taxes. For the most part, when it comes to selling across borders, selling in Canada is the cheapest of any other country due to its proximity to the USA.
Although Canadian customers prefer to buy things from a Canadian trade to support their economy, not many Canadian sellers are forthcoming and ready to onboard Marketplaces online.
Notably, it again gives a unique ground for booming sales to sellers outside Canada. It was found in a survey by eTail, that even now almost half the online shoppers are buying from sellers in Canada.
Thus if you are a seller in Canada, you automatically become the first choice with little attempt. In case you are from outside Canada, the lack of native sellers gives you a better opportunity to trade with Canadian customers.
4. Presence of popular e-Commerce sites in Canada
For one thing, those retailers who are already selling through some of the popular e-commerce sites such as Amazon and Walmart, it is a piece of cake.
Sellers can easily integrate their stores with these Canadian dedicated Marketplaces.
They can form a multi-channel store with the help of Solution Providers and sell seamlessly across platforms.
How is e-Commerce in Canada a new trendsetter?
Facts, you must know!
Several factors can place a challenge for sellers. Sellers from outside Canada need to consider the following factors:
1. Buyer Persona
It is important to understand what Canadian shoppers want from online marketplaces.
- What is it that people in Canada are buying the most?
- Which kind of services do they prefer?
- What is important to them while looking for a product online?
- How much information do they need on an item?
- What are their expectations from delivery time and shipping costs?
- What kind of customer services do they prefer?
And other such questions can help sellers in creating a well-defined persona of customers based in Canada.
2. Local Market Trends and creating optimized listings.
To send what is in demand and what needs to be a part of sellers’ listings, it is essential to see the trends of shoppers’ preferences.
Sellers can benefit from these researches as this would give them Keywords and help in the optimization.
3. Size and Currency Conversion
While selling across borders, sellers need to consider Size and currency conversions.
US and Canada both have very little to no variations when it comes to Shoes and Clothes Conversion.
For sellers in the USA, in order to enter e-Commerce in Canada, considerations of Currency is important.
Furthermore, 1 US Dollar equals 1.33 Canadian dollars. Obviously, each marketplace has its own policy for conversions.
Thereby, Sellers need to check these before they start selling across borders.
4. Extra-provincial registration and Incorporation
Some provinces in Canada might require sellers to register and incorporate their business locally in Canada. The requirement arises from laws that maintain copyrights, trademarks, privacy, product safety, and exporting expressly.
5. Statutes and Guidelines pertaining to Online Sales
It is important to point out, that each marketplace ensures the maintenance Policies laid down by the government of Canada. Thereupon, Sellers should update their online stores to match these policies before they can sell in Canada.
Canada has policies such as Sales, Cost of shipping and delivery, Restricted items, etc. Getting onboard with Marketplaces reduces sellers’ efforts in getting accustomed to all these laws. They just need to comply with the guidelines of these Marketplaces.
6. Taxes
Cross border trading and e-Commerce sales involve several taxes and charges. Accordingly, Automated pricing tools can help you with these by adjusting the costs and making the calculations easy.
7. Privacy and Safety
Not only customers’ but sellers’ privacy and safety are crucial. In any event, sellers must ensure Anti-spam Laws and malware risks. At the present time, these are a great concern for Canadian citizens.
What do the online Shoppers in Canada like or dislike?
The Demand in the Market.
1. Products that are top sellers in Canada:
- Sports and other Recreational Equipment
- Domestic products of Utilities, Furnishings, and decorations
- Domestic Electronics
- Health and Beauty
- Gift and Charity cards, certificates and vouchers
- Cloth and accessoriesInsurance of the products
- Food and delicacies
2. Preferences of Customers:
- Hassle-free shopping
- High priority Customer services, preferably live.
- High-speed delivery
- Low to preferably no shipping cost.
- Secure and favourable Return Policy
- Explicit and detailed descriptions of products and high-quality images of listings.
- Products from Luxury Brands instead of cheaper knockouts, especially at a lower cost in comparison to brick and mortar stores.
- Tracking information on shipments.
- Loyalty programs and Discounts.
- Choice in Shipping Methods.
- Pick up options happen to be high in demand and not to mention preferred by many online shoppers in Canada.
What are the Marketplaces of Canada that you must link your online store to?
Top trending Marketplaces
- Walmart Canada
- Amazon Canada
- Etsy Canada
- Newegg Canada
- Best Buy Canada
Hence, for a smooth experience of selling online in Canada for sellers both from the USA or Canada itself, getting on board with e-Commerce Marketplaces dedicated to the Canadian Market.
But the question is which one to choose. Henceforth, to make a choice, sellers can go through the list below and find the best fit.
Walmart Canada
Cost of Listing: None
Monthly Fees: None
Referral Fees: 6-20% depending upon the category.
Method of Payment: Payoneer
Customer Base: 300 Million+ visits
Shipping and Delivery: Free shipping offered
Competition: Low
Existing Walmart USA sellers: Easy transformation
If this is more befitting to your needs, you will need to learn more about Walmart Canada.
Start selling on Walmart, CA.
Amazon Canada
Cost of Listing: None
Monthly Fees:
Professional plan (on selling 20+ items, charged post-sales made): CDN$ 29.99/ month
Individual plan (on selling less than 20 items, charged post-sales made): CDN$ 1.49/ days
Referral Fees: 6-96% depending upon the category + Closing Fees on Entertainment products.
Method of Payment: Bank Transfer
Customer Base: 125.5 Million+ visits
Shipping and Delivery: Free shipping, One-day Delivery, Two-day Delivery, FBA
Competition: High
Existing Amazon USA sellers: Easy and independent Set up
If this is more befitting to your needs, you will need to learn more about Amazon Canada.
Start selling on Amazon, CA.
Etsy Canada
Cost of Listing: CDN$ 0.27 ($0.20 + exchange rates may be involved)
Monthly Fees: None
Referral Fees: 5% Transaction Fee+ (3-4%+CDN$ 0.25) Payment Process
Method of Payment: Bank Transfer directly from Customers
Customer Base: 125.5 Million+ visits
Shipping and Delivery: Free shipping
Competition: High
Existing Etsy USA sellers: a few steps process
If this is more befitting to your needs, you will need to learn more about Etsy Canada.
Start selling on Etsy, CA.
Newegg Canada
Cost of Listing: None
Monthly Fees: None
Referral Fees: 8-15% with Processing fees involved.
Method of Payment: Bank Transfer
Customer Base: 3.03 Million+ visits
Shipping and Delivery: Free shipping
Competition: Low
Existing Newegg sellers: easy
If this is more befitting to your needs, you will need to learn more about Newegg Canada.
Start selling on Newegg, CA.
Best Buy Canada
Cost of Listing: None
Monthly Fees: None
Referral Fees: Competitive with other Marketplaces
Method of Payment: Bank Transfer
Customer Base: 16.94 Million+ visits
Shipping and Delivery: Free shipping above $35
Competition: Low
Existing Best Buy sellers: easy to sell on Best Buy Canada
If this is more befitting to your needs, you will need to learn more about Best Buy Canada.
Start selling on Best Buy CA.
When is the best time to start with e-Commerce in Canada?
Top Sales Seasons to catch!
- Christmas (December 25)
- Back-to-School (August)
- Mother’s Day (May)
- Valentine’s Day (February 14)
- Easter (March/April)
- Father’s Day (June)
- Canada Day (July 1)
- Halloween (October 31)
- Black Friday (the fourth Thursday of November)
- Cyber Monday (the first Monday after Black Friday)
All things considered, to gain more out of these seasons, the first thing to remember is to research beforehand. In the event of this, prepare your stores with top-selling products. It is important to realize, to sell in Canada, you must make sure that you understand their demands and culture.
How can you make the selling hassle-free with an Automated Online store?
Automation Solution Providers.
Another key point is the presence of Third-Party Solution Providers who provide integration to all the marketplaces above. Hence to sell easy, you can seek help for:
Bulk uploading of products: Marketplace Integration extensions that enable you to upload products in bulk on the marketplace.
Auto acknowledgement of orders: Facilitation of Auto acknowledgement whenever a customer places an order on the marketplace within a period of 15 minutes.
Product Synchronization: Synchronization of Product information along with the management of price and inventory.
Order Management: The Marketplace Integration extensions ensure accessible listing and fulfilment with tracking information of marketplace orders from your native online store.
Real-time error handling: The Marketplace Integration extensions lets you achieve Real-time error handling. Thereby, if any issue occurs while uploading products, proper messages are shown in the notification section for respective errors.
Full-featured dashboard: The full-featured, easy-to-use panel gives the overall required information regarding the number of products available on the Marketplace Integration extensions.
“At the end of the day, all that counts is a successful listing and feasible order management of all the inventories. It would be no bragging to appreciate the efforts of their entire team. They have been such nice people and assisted me throughout. I simply recommend everyone to go for their solutions.”
Jeff, StickerTalk
Moreover, if you want help with the onboarding process with one of these Marketplaces, you can consult a Third-Party Solution Provider. Explain your requirements and gain help straightaway.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Canada is a vast nation with a growing population of online shoppers. Thereupon it’s best to get involved now and sell in Canada, while the number of digital shoppers is on the ascent.
At the present time, apparel (fashion) and accessories lead the path with online shoppers in Canada. Be that as it may, books, consumer electronics and toys, hobbies & games hold no less attraction for Canadians.
Moreover, it does not matter if you’re selling your products internationally or looking at cross-border sales. Markedly, whatever type of trade you choose, you can seek a third-party solution provider and flourish your business by selling in Canada now.
Check out some more
- e-Commerce in North America and the need for Multi-Vendor Marketplaces[ inc. info-graphic]
- Selling On Marketplaces: Your Customer Purchase from here, are you there?
- The TRIO OFFER: Sell on Canada’s Top Marketplaces at the least prices of the year!
- Earn Globally: The Complete Guide To Sell On Top Marketplaces
