On Line Shopping To Hit Record High

STUART HIMMEL Staff Writer

As COVID-19 restrictions tightened, Canadians turned to the web for Christmas shopping. Online sales are set to hit a record this year in Canada amid limits on in-person shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new data is in line with Statistics Canada estimates from the spring when retail e-commerce sales more than doubled from February to May while online shopping fell this summer from its high of 4 billion in May as more stores opened to in person shopping.

Statistics Canada says that 2020 is on pace to beat 2019’s total e-commerce sales of $305 billion which has more than doubled since 2013 and include business to business sales as well as retail purchases. A separate survey from Google Canada in late October suggested that 70% of respondents were looking online, not in-store for holiday gifts . This data came before Canada’s biggest city, Toronto and neighboring Peel Region entered a lockdown during late November until Mid-December during the height of the key holiday shopping season, limiting non-essential retailers to curbside pickup and online sales.

grocers, pharmacies and big box retailers were allowed to open during that 28 day stretch with capacity limited to 50%. Other municipalities across Canada were also tightening shopping restrictions during the Christmas season amid rising Covid-19 counts.

Meanwhile several Canadian retailers, including Le Chateau, Mountain Equipment Co-Operative, GNC Holdings and Aldo, have all filed for creditor protection this year. Up until last year, online sales represented about 8% of revenue for Canadian businesses with five or more employees.

As of 2019, 39% of large businesses had online sales in Canada compared with 23% of small businesses. Either way you slice it, there has been a tremendous growth in online shopping.

Statistics Canada also noted that in the past, wholesalers and shippers, rather than retailers, have been the top beneficiaries of the trend to online shopping. Wholesalers contributed $85 billion toward total online sales last year while transportation and warehousing represented $60 billion, manufacturing was $38 billion and retailers $22 billion.