(Canadian) e-commerce Comes of Age

Canadian e-commerce hit two important landmarks in 2000. First, e-commerce spending by Canadian households broke the $1 billion mark – surely a sign of success by any standards. Second, the majority of this money (62%) was spent at Canadian e-commerce sites.

This is a far cry from surveys of just a year or two before that showed that Canadians were interested in buying Online but frustrated by the lack of Canadian websites. Given a well documented interest in ‘shopping Canadian’, plus the current state of the loony, this is the time for Canadian companies to grab the moose – er, bull – by the horns and take their e-commerce game up a notch.

Also of interest is what Canadians are buying – 31% of e-commerce active households bought clothing and accessories from a website (up from 24% the previous year). And for Quebecers, there is good news as well: our province showed the largest gains, with 278 per cent more online purchases in 2000.

Increasing Your Online Sales

Despite such clear progress, there is still plenty of room for growth. Statscan’s second annual Statscan Household Internet Use Survey found that 1.5 million Canadian households, or one out of every 8 households, made e-commerce purchases last year.

Statscan also asked those “not quite ready to buy” browsers about their concerns. Not surprisingly, security and privacy topped the list. According to Statscan, even e-commerce friendly households are still worried about security. All of this despite the fact that your credit card information is just as secure – maybe more secure – over the Internet than it is by any other medium. (Consider this: Which is more likely – that some brilliant hacker intercepts your credit card information online - after encrypting impossibly complex encryption formats - or that it is taken off a receipt in a restaurant or store?)

There are things you can do to combat the fear (and ignorance) of reluctant shoppers and convert browsers to buyers:
1. Most important of all - clearly state your security and privacy policies prominently on your site, especially in a shopping cart or ordering area.
2. Do everything you can to make the shopping experience a positive one. Report shipment dates accurately and don’t surprise shoppers with hidden costs at the check-out station.
3. Provide a solid contact resource (preferably a phone number but a 24-hour e-mail reply isn’t bad either) and be very responsive to any questions or concerns.

Don’t forget to give your visitors the opportunity for you to help them make purchases in the future. No matter what your business is, if you don’t have an Opt-in promotion campaign, your site is only doing part of the job it can.