|Canadian Online Marketplace ||Did You Know?|

|Where Do Canadians Go Online?|
|Site of the Month| | Tip of the Month|

Canadian Online Marketplace  

More and more companies south of the border are recognizing the opportunities in the Canadian online marketplace. Major US players like Expedia and eBay are creating Canadian versions of their sites and striking north. However, these retooled creations don’t fully exploit the differences between our two countries. Companies based in Canada can slip into this space and find they have an edge over their American counterparts.

What are these differences? Canadians have long struggled to articulate what sets us apart – our culture, our social safety net, our laws, the metric system, the “u” we put into words like humour and neighbour. Online there are also specific issues that distinguish us. Here are some of them:

• Most Net Savvy A recent MediaMetrix survey of Internet users worldwide, discovered that Canadians spend the most time online, with an average of 7.5 hours over 11 days.¹ Another study noted that Canada is one of the most technologically sophisticated countries with a higher penetration of Internet use on a per capita basis than even the United States.²

• Hesitant to Shop The American catalogue shopping culture made them early adopters of eCommerce. A significantly lower percentage of Canadian Internet users transact online. Also, the range of products and services purchased by American online consumers is wider than that purchased by Canadians. However, Canadians are shopping more and more online. 12% have now purchased online and 11% regularly use Internet banking³ with a 70% majority preferring to shop Canadian wherever possible.⁴  Canadians have greater concerns about security, privacy, customer service and reliability. Only 14% of Internet users say they are completely/very comfortable with on-line buying.⁵  Therefore, it is important that Canadian online retailers effectively communicate not the overall quality of their sites and associated products and services.

• No Big Brother Here In response to widespread concerns about consumer privacy and security, the federal government has passed legislation (Bill C-6) that will implement mandatory data protection rules for personal information beginning January 1, 2001.⁶ Bill C-6 will put Canadian companies in a favourable position, as the United States will stand alone as the only industrialized country without comprehensive privacy legislation.

• Born to Click Like Canadian eCommerce, online advertising has yet to be fully exploited. A recent survey showed that Canadians are receptive to this kind of advertising. About a fifth of Canadian Internet users reported clicking on a banner ad and 77% remembered seeing banner ads. Clickthrough rates for affiliate advertising were about 15%.⁷ Advertisers recognize this responsiveness. In 2000, online advertising revenues in Canada are projected to reach over $109 million CDN, a 96% increase over 1999 revenues. However, this is still far behind similar expenditures in the US by a 60:1 ratio.⁸

• Dot.ca Canada's current system, one of the most restrictive in the world, now allows only federally incorporated companies, with a presence in more than one province, to receive a top level .ca domain name. In September 2000, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority will allow .ca registrations from individuals and drop a rule that limited applicants to only one domain name. In the future, a person or company can, with a few restrictions, register as many .ca names as they want.⁹ Although the new rules have yet to be determined, this new openness means Canadian companies will soon have a powerful marketing tool for the domestic market.

¹MediaMetrix, http://www.mediametrix.com

²The Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada, March 16, 2000 http://www.multimediator.com/publications/write040.shtml

³ComQuest, Winter 2000 CyberTrends, March 30, 2000, http://www.comquest.ca 

⁴Deloitte & Touche,”Patriotism Among Canadian Online Shoppers Driving Ecommerce Wave,” December 15, 1999,

⁵ComQuest

⁶Government of Canada

⁷ComQuest

⁸IAB of Canada

9Canadian Internet Registration Authority, http://www.cira.ca/

Calgary is the most wired Canadian city at 60% Internet penetration while Alberta is the most wired province with 51% Internet penetration.

Source: Statistics Canada

Where Do Canadians Go Online?

PC Data Online found the 50 most popular sites visited by Canadians and the 50 most popular Canadian sites visited by Canadians in March 2000. Here are the top 10 from each list:

Top Web Sites Visited by Canadians

1.     yahoo.com

2.     passport.com

3.     hotmail.com

4.     geocities.com

5.     microsoft.com

6.     msn.com

7.     lycos.com

8.     netscape.com

9.     go.com

10. msn.ca

Top Canadian Sites Visited by Canadians

1.     msn.ca

2.     sympatico.ca

3.     yahoo.ca

4.     canoe.ca

5.     hrdc-drhc.gc.ca

6.     cbc.ca

7.     tdbank.ca

8.     chapters.ca

9.     ccra-ardc.gc.ca

10. gc.ca

Source: PC Data Online

eMage Site of the Month

AIMS Canada         

The Association of Internet Marketing & Sales has a great mailing list/discussion group about marketing to the Canadian Internet. It's a professional association with meetings in Toronto once a month. Membership is free. To join, just fill out the registration form on the site.

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To allay fears of the Canadian consumer about security, have a privacy statement clearly displayed on your web site. Tell your visitors how you will use any information you collect about them, promise not to sell that data to any third party, give them the option to opt-out of any mailings and explain the security measures you have in place.