THUNDER BAY – BUSINESS – It seems very odd, but Canada is notoriously not very good at e-commerce. This is quite strange, since Canadians are known for being very web-savvy, but for whatever reason, their companies and businesses are not. Even though people in Canada visit far more web pages and use much more social media than many other countries, in terms of eCommerce they are lagging far behind – meaning that their corporations are missing out on some major profits. So what are the exact figures surrounding Canada’s e-commerce reputation? Here is some of the latest info surrounding Canada’s reputation for e-commerce.
As mentioned, Canada is leading the field when it comes to web browsing and accessing web pages. They are more likely than any of the other G20 nations to have access to the internet. By this measurement, they far outstrip countries such as Germany, France and the UK. However, there is a certain amount of variation in terms of income. Only 62% of people on the lowest income can access the internet, whilst 95% of people on the highest income can.
Meanwhile, it’s been found that Canadians are especially active on social media. For example, in 2013, 69% of the Canadian population followed a minimum of one social medial site, and around 19 million Canadians currently log on to Facebook at least once a month.
As well as this, consumers are using the internet more and more to search for products, choose what they want to buy and to save money. In 2012, a total of $22.3 billion was spent on online products and services by Canadians, and 105 million transactions took place that year alone. It has also been found that around 93% of people research products online before they purchase. It makes sense for consumers to want to research what they’re buying before making a monetary commitment; hence the success of the number of site which provide info about new PayPal bingo sites for review. Customers want to know that the product will be satisfactory first.
Despite all this, the readiness of Canadian businesses to provide these products for sale online is embarrassingly low. Less than 50% of companies in Canada have a website at all, which in 2015 is really just shameful. Part of the reason for this is ignorance as to how the internet actually works, as 49% of SME aren’t sure how to promote their business online.
They’d better learn fast, however, as now Canadians are making a point of going elsewhere to investigate e-commerce needs. At present around 68% of online shoppers are now buying from retailers who are operating from outside Canada.
If Canada wants to be a real player in the e-commerce market then they’d better up their game quick before they’re left behind!
