Online Shopping is Growing Dramatically in Canada

With a population of 34+ million and a dramatic increase of internet users in Canada...why hasn't online shopping in the Canadian ecommerce market skyrocketed? Canadian consumers score very high on internet utilization. Infact, Canadians use web services such as online banking at a higher percentage rate than Americans. Canada ranks Number 1 in the world for online banking with 428+ users per 1,000 internet users* and climbing. We also rely on the internet for much more than shopping. For instance, information and staying connected to friends and family worldwide ranks very high on Canadian internet usage. As well, entertainment such as games, radio/media and webcast usage is on the rise.

The reason for the slow online shopping growth is simple: until now the cost of doing business online has been out of reach for most small business firms. Traditionally, the cost of setting up a secure online shopping cart store and doing business on the internet has been available to select companies who can afford to hire a programmer or an outsourced firm to set-up the safe and secure systems needed to give the Canadian consumer confidence in online transactions.

Canadian Banks have been marketing to consumers about the convenience and security of doing business online for years. It's been a slow process because of media hype about online fraud and "potential" problems which may arise from doing business online. The simple fact of the matter is - handing out your credit card in a restaraunt is far less secure than doing business online these days.

Media coverage over the years has been changing in respect to doing business online. With the implementation of buying airfare, movie and concert tickets online - Canadians have started to accept doing business online as part of their standard of life. With a greater understanding of online shopping systems and how they work to the advantage of the consumer and the online merchant, buying online is on a dramatic rise. Even large and expensive items like Plasma TVs and refrigerators are being sold online and delivered to consumers right to their front door.

Canadian online sales have recorded a fourth consecutive double digit growth year in 2005. Many business are now looking towards developing their online shopping solution to meet these numbers and the growth projections.

With more and more consumers and B2B sales taking place online, your business can not afford to leave the online shopping solution and internet marketing until later. With the facts and figures pointing out the rippening e-Commerce market, if you don't start doing the work now, you will be left behind in both the technology and booming search engine rankings for the Canadian internet market.