E-commerce in Canada

E-commerce

E-commerce market

For the past decade, e-commerce sales have grown at a far higher rate than traditional retail sales. Total Canadian e-Commerce revenue in 2017 reached US$ 20.16 billion, and is expected to grow to US$ 28.7 billion by 2021. Major online retailers in Canada include Walmart, Amazon, Dell, Sears, Staples, Costco and Best Buy. Although Canadians prefer to support Canadian businesses, a significant proportion of the nation’s e-Commerce spending goes to non-Canadian websites: 67% of online purchases Canadians made in 2016 were from other countries. One-third of the total spending is in the United States and the rest in Asia (primarily China) and Europe.  Canadians cite lower prices and better selection as principal reasons for shopping outside the country. Regarding the B2B e-Commerce market, virtually all Canadian small business owners report making online purchases.

Social media

In 2017, there were approximately 22.7 million social network users in Canada. Advertising expenditures on social media were estimated to have reached nearly CA$ 835 million by the end of 2017. Given the increasing access to and dominant presence of younger consumers on social media sites, digital ads have more consistently targeted social media rather than the traditional online news and information portals or information sources: currently, an estimate 36% of digital ads are placed on social media, 18% on entertainment sites, and 12% on portals. The remaining ads are placed on news and information sites and directories, among others. As of the third quarter of 2017, the most popular social networks were YouTube and Facebook, with a 74% penetration rate (in 2016 the number of Facebook users in Canada was calculated at 18.2 million). YouTube had about 16.8 million users, followed by Facebook Messenger (11.3 million), Instagram and Twitter (7.7 and 7 million respectively). Among the general population, most time spent accessing different social platforms was via smartphones, followed by desktops and tablets. Social media usage among women is growing steadily across all networks, and growth among Canadian men is slower by comparison. Women prefer using visual social networks more, with Instagram and Pinterest showing the biggest growth. LinkedIn growth among Canadian males is almost double the usage of women.