The development speed of e-commerce in Canada has seriously lagged behind the pace of online participation of its residents, resulting in a situation where the online market is in short supply. However, the "blue ocean market" of online shopping that Canadian businesses find difficult to digest has been targeted by many overseas retailers. Industry analysts claim that Canadian e-commerce experienced a sharp decline earlier this year and then gradually slowed down due to limited online shopping options in Canada and a better understanding of the advantages of overseas online shopping markets by consumers.
According to a report by Canadian Chinese Network on December 7th, according to MasterCard Advisors, e-commerce sales in Canada have shown an upward trend for 55 consecutive months compared to the previous year, but the momentum began to weaken earlier this year. Sarah Quinlan, Senior Vice President of Mastercard Consulting, said that Canadian e-commerce has grown by over 20% annually for 15 consecutive months, but this trend was broken this spring. The decline in e-commerce business is due to economic factors, but consumers have relatively fewer choices, which is weakening e-commerce, especially compared to goods from the United States, the United Kingdom, and European countries. Although major retailers in Canada have e-commerce platforms, they clearly haven't seized the opportunity.
After settling in Canada in March this year, Target did not open online shopping. Canadian Tire only sells tires online and plans to implement a broader online sales strategy next year. However, it will arrange to ship products to the nearest store for consumers, rather than their homes. Kunlan said that having fewer choices is the biggest challenge for consumers. Of course, they see that overseas online shopping can provide better transactions and more choices. After considering factors such as exchange rates, tariffs, and shipping costs, overseas online shopping is still cost-effective.
Canadians visit American retail websites such as J C. When Penney, Macy's, and Nordstrom are used, a window will pop up displaying their commitment to simple transactions, clear fees at checkout, and no additional costs. In September, Google commissioned Ipsos to conduct a survey on people's Christmas shopping plans. Canadian consumers estimated that 18% of their holiday shopping items were purchased from Canadian online stores, and another 4% were purchased from American retailers.
Another global survey by Ipsos showed that 27% of Canadians said they will not shop online during holidays this year, ranking third out of 11 surveyed countries. Only 10% of Canadians say they mainly shop online, while in the UK it is as high as 44%, in China it is 40%, and in Germany it is 33%.
Rafe Petkovic, Google Canada's Industry and Retail Director, said that compared to G8 countries and other markets of similar size, Canada's e-commerce sales and business maturity are basically lagging behind. He said that Canadians don't shop much online, but they are increasingly relying on the internet to make shopping decisions.
