Canadians shopping online in record numbers

I read yesterday that online shopping by Canadians hit $12.8 billion last year. That’s pretty impressive, but you have to look at the numbers that form part of the story to find the really interesting data.

One third of Canadians 16 and older made purchases online and even more interesting, Alberta led the country with 51 per cent of people making purchases online. Why that is, I’m not sure. Just over half the people from 25 to 34 in Canada made purchases online as well.

According to StatsCan more retailers are offering online shopping, which makes sense. What retailers should also know is that 43 per cent of Canadians have used the Internet to research their purchases, with 64 per cent saying they’ve gone to a “bricks and mortar” store to make their purchase.

How businesses can respond

What it means is that if you’re a business that doesn’t have a solid web presence, you may be missing out. The Internet is an incredible research tool, so make sure your company has the information people are looking for.

For retailers it’s important to have the basics down: solid website, good design, good search engine optimization and pay-per-click ads, but what else? That’s not going to guarantee online marketing success, whatever business you’re in.

A good social media strategy can help tie all your marketing together. Engaging with your market in other ways such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and many other social media can help your business in many ways.

By listening to your clients and potential clients, no matter what type of business you’re in, you can gain valuable information to help serve them better. A good social media strategy will help you do that, and is a win-win for you and your client: you’re doing more business and your client is getting what they need and want.

A good social media strategy is important for online retailers, but also to those companies that are being researched online and contacted off line.

Alberta social media strategy

It’s remarkable that Albertans are leading Canada in terms of shopping online. It should be a wakeup call for those Alberta companies who are ignoring their online marketing.

I would really like to know more about why Alberta leads the country in online shopping. Could it be the booming economy here? Not sure. According to what I’ve been reading though, Alberta’s economy is still strong, possibly the strongest in North America. It’s still a good place to do business.

Online marketing will continue to be a growth industry. It might be a good idea to examine your online marketing efforts and social media strategy to make sure you’re part of the growing online research and shopping trend.