Retailers battle for online shoppers

Foreign sites get 40% of sales

Even though Canada’s biggest online retailers are growing faster than their U.S. counterparts, competition is at an all-time high given that close to half of Canadian consumers’ online purchases are made at foreign retail sites, according to a new report.

The report from E-Tail Canada also found that 62 per cent of Canadian retailers surveyed saw the value of their online orders rise between 2015 and 2016, and 71 per cent saw their conversion rate grow — the number of initial customer clicks that result in an actual purchase, as opposed to browsing. That’s positive news for retailers given that Canadians are expected to spend $39 billion a year online by 2019, accounting for about 9.5 per cent of all retail purchases, according to Forrester Research.

“With double-digit percentage increases in online sales year on year since 2010, Canadian retailers are having to adapt to remain competitive,” the E-Tail Canada report says.

The agency’s research also shows what trends are catching on among retailers who are trying to offer customers easier online shopping experiences, a strategic asset if it can prevent a loss of sales to foreign retail websites. Thirty-seven per cent of Canadian retailers surveyed currently allow customers to return items in stores that they bought online, while eight per cent were in the process of implementing the capability and 13 per cent planned to do so in the next two years.

Similarly, 31 per cent of retailers show web customers real-time store inventory online, while 15 per cent were in the process of implementing the technology and 22 were planning to introduce it within the next two years.

“American retailers have been generally ahead of the game in e-commerce compared to Canadian retailers,” said Craig Patterson, director of applied research at the University of Alberta.

Statistics Canada reported that Canadian e-commerce sales were $19.2 billion in 2016, with about 60 per cent of the purchases made from domestic retailers and 40 per cent from foreign retailers.