Online shopping has finally caught on in Canada. A new report by the Canada Post Corp. shows that the number of online orders requested and delivered has grown by 16% during the first half of 2015. Most analysts projected this growth as delivery has increased across the board. However, no one expected that midsize cities would be at the forefront of the increase, instead of urban centers like Vancouver and Toronto. These findings are significant for Canada, who has traditionally lagged behind the U.S. in e-commerce sales.
Traditionally, online shopping in Canada has been driven by urban areas. But now parcel carriers are delivering more packages to a wider variety of homes. Leaders in e-commerce shipment delivery were: Windsor, Ont. (29%), London, Ont. (29%); and Kitchener, Ont. (27 percent), all ahead of Vancouver and Toronto. The trend of more delivery to less dense centers continues in smaller areas like Regina, Sask.; and Victoria, B.C.; all leading their bigger cousins Winnipeg and Ottawa.
This drastic increase has led to some adjustments in service for Canada Post. The carrier’s director, Danielle Doiron, notes that 2 out of 3 parcels are currently delivered in person. The Canada Post reaches 15.7 million addresses, but is responding to the changes by offering “FlexDelivery.” FlexDelivery emails users when their packages arrive at a specific post office box location, instead of delivering packages themselves to destinations. This is especially important when deciding on how often to deliver to the southern tier, which sit among the U.S. border. Delivering to these areas can become a costly exercise. Moving forward, mail carriers will have to come up with creative solutions that balance online merchandise delivery to home addresses and other central locations.
Analysts predict even more growth in Canada’s online sales and number of deliveries in the coming years. If you have a retail company in Canada, now is the time to move products online. Canadian online merchants can enjoy sustainable profits through payment processing with the help of eMerchantBroker. Start your Canadian merchant account today, to offer your customers a variety of payment options from debit cards to e-checks.