Canadian Retailer - The Technology & e-Commerce Issue - 31

THE transformation of e-commerce tells a story about how we

live and how we shop.
Back in 1998, three years after the commercialization of the
world wide web, North American retailers generated $4.4 billion
(U.S.) in the first six months of the year. In 2001, e-commerce
grossed $53 billion. By 2003, internet traffic was doubling every
100 days, and the value of e-commerce was doubling annually.
Fast forward to 2016. Worldwide e-commerce sales reached
$1.8 trillion, a figure eMarketer predicts will grow by 23 per cent
(to $2.290 trillion in sales) in a single year. By 2021, e-commerce
sales are predicted to reach $4.479 trillion. Even if eMarketer's
figure is too large by half, the value of e-commerce will continue
to increase as more customers become habituated to buying online, the network of connected devices grows, and new technology players enter the market with new ways for retailers to profit
from e-commerce.
The question now is whether or not Canadian retailers are able
to tap this vein of riches.
Hungry Consumers

While the Canadian e-commerce ecosystem is large and diverse, with some retailers offering sophisticated e-offerings,
Canadian retailers have generally lagged within the sector, compared to other countries. Indeed, since the dawn of the e-commerce age, cautious Canadian
retailers have been admonished "WE EXPECT THE CANADIAN
in the business press for taking a E-COMMERCE MARKET TO TAKE
"wait and see" approach to non- OFF FROM AN E-COMMERCE
traditional retailing.
STANDPOINT IN THE NEXT FIVE
The reasons for the lag are numYEARS AS MORE RETAILERS AND
erous. Canadian consumers have
to pay higher shipping costs than COMPANIES START TO TAKE A
U.S. consumers, and Canadians CLOSE LOOK AT THE SPACE."
have fewer homegrown e-com- DAN BODELY
Boston Consulting Group
merce options with smaller online assortments
than U.S. counterparts. Cross-border shopping is
another bedevilling detail. Canadians regularly cross the border
to shop, both in physical reality and online.
Wojciech Gryc, CEO of Canopy Labs, says there's another reason for the lag: Canadian retailers manage the transition to e-commerce poorly. Rather than getting an e-commerce platform online
fast, Canadians create time-consuming, large-scale projects.
"Generally speaking, the slow retailers have complex plans.
They turn e-commerce into a project that's larger than it needs to
be," says Gryc.
This go-big-or-go-home attitude isn't helping a wide swath
of retail players, particularly with a growing hunger among
Canadians for more e-commerce options. Canadian consumers
spend as much time online as other citizens of the web, and they
research products online as often as consumers in other markets.
And while Canadian shoppers spend less online than their U.S.
counterparts-$1,500 per year compared to $3,000-Canadians
purchase at a higher frequency.

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