Online retail in Canada is fast picking up steam, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years almost five times higher than the tepid growth of brick and mortar sales across the nation.

 

eMarketer estimates retail ecommerce sales in Canada climbed nearly 30% in 2017 as the country’s 19.8 million digital buyers continue to go online for many of their shopping needs.

 

As of 2017, e-commerce retail trade sales in Canada amounted to over 1.8 billion Canadian dollars, and revenue generated within the retail e-commerce market is expected to reach almost 29 billion Canadian dollars by 2021, up from 18.3 billion in 2016.

 

Several factors contribute to the growth of ecommerce landscape in Canada

 

  • maturing assortment of US and international brands operating tailored online stores for Canadians,
  • the launch of all-new or revamped online stores from incumbent Canadian retailers,
  • a weaker Canadian dollar tempering cross-border online shopping,
  • Stronger domestic options for online shopping and greater commitments by multinationals to improve ecommerce in Canada

 

 

Cross-Border Sales:

Cross-border shopping is strong in Canada, particularly for merchandise south of the border. Some estimates suggest that almost half of what online shoppers in Canada purchase from foreign retail sites.

 

 

Average Spending:

Among those who shop online, some 17 percent admit to spending more than 2,000 Canadian dollars, while for 25 percent of digital shoppers the average annual amount spent online does not surpass 500 dollars.

 

 

The Desktop is preferred:

The survey results reveal that 67.2 percent of responding Canadian respondents said they used a laptop or desktop for online shopping, compared to just 2.6 percent of respondents who used a mobile phone to shop online.

 

 

Rise in M-Commerce too:

Interestingly, 22 percent of Canadians said that they had bought something online via a mobile device in the past month in 2017, a significant increase from the 13 percent who said the same in the fourth quarter of 2014.

 

 

A surge in Payment Wallet Users:

It is estimated that by 2020, the percentage of smartphone users using mobile wallets from major tech companies in Canada will have almost doubled to 15 percent, up from seven percent in 2016.

 

 

Popular among Millenials:

The graph shows the share of shopping done online according to consumers in Canada as of December 2017, broken down by age group. The results reveal that four percent of respondents aged between 18 and 34 years old did almost all their shopping online in 2017, with 19 percent of respondents in this age bracket doing about half of their shopping online.

 

 

Shoppers: As per Gender

Eight percent of male respondents did most (75 percent) of their shopping online in 2017, compared to six percent of female respondents.

 

Key Factors that drove purchase decision:

 

  • Complimentary item was also found to be a key influencer
  • 37 percent of respondents considered price and promotions before making an online purchase
  • 56 percent said they would decide to make an online purchase via buy button if the brand was offering a discount or a promotion.

 

The Popularity of Marketplaces:

Canadians who sold products via online marketplaces or classifieds made $4.9 billion in the year prior to June 2018, according to a Statistics Canada Digital Economy survey.

 

Online Marketplaces for Canadian Sellers


Newegg Canada: Newegg Canada boasts more than 20 million annual customer visits. You must be approved before selling products on Newegg.ca. They charge a commission, but sometimes they have a commission special with reduced rates.

Connect your online store with Newegg Canada | For Bigcommerce & For Shopify

 

Best Buy Canada: Best Buy Canada marketplace gives you access to over 225 million visitors per year. They say their fees are competitive with other online marketplaces and there is no setup fee.

Connect your online store with Best Buy Canada | For Bigcommerce & For Shopify

 

Walmart Canada: Walmart Canada is a Canadian division of the e-commerce giant Walmart. With this division, Walmart has turned its online product assortment to double. Serving more than 1.2 Million customers daily, it has as many as 410 stores in Canada

Connect your online store with Walmart Canada | For Bigcommerce & For Shopify

 

Conclusion:

Considered among the top 10 e-commerce markets, the popularity of the e-commerce among Canadians is poised to grow therefore, it is only prudent that you start selling online.

Read Blog: Walmart US 3P sellers to be able to list on Walmart Canada: Everything you need to know

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e-commerce sales in canada ecommerce growth canada ecommerce in canada 2018 largest ecommerce sites in canada