Monday, July 16, 2007

Canada E-Commerce Continues to Grow  

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Courtesy: eMarketer.com

Sites are popping up in the Great White North.

Canadian retail e-commerce just tallied its fifth straight year of double-digit growth, yet online sales still account for less than 1% of the total retail market, according to Statistics Canada's "2006 Survey of Electronic Commerce and Technology."

Nearly half of Canadian retail firms now have a Web site, compared to the 42% that did in 2005. The percentage is even higher among companies with 100 employees or more, of which 88% have a Web site.Online sales more than doubled in Canada from 2003-2006. eMarketer expects the average amount that Canadians spend online will grow strongly over the next three years. Seasoned online buyers (rather than new ones) will drive overall market growth.E-Commerce* in Canada, by Sector, 2003-2006 (millions of C$)

What do Canadians buy online?

J.C. Williams compared Canadian and US online consumer behavior. Canadians are either on par or ahead of their US peers in purchasing electronics, travel and event tickets online. Canadians lag behind in the purchasing of clothing, music and videos, gifts and toys.
Average Annual Amount Spent Online* by Online Buyers in Canada Ages 18+, 2005-2009 (% increase** vs. prior year)
Jeffrey Grau predicts that "it is only a matter of time before Canada's B2C e-commerce market lives up to its potential. The country is a world leader in Internet adoption, time spent online and electronic banking and bill payment."

Mr. Grau also notes that "plenty of consumers are held back from online shopping because they do not want to pay for shipping or they are concerned that it will be difficult to return an item purchased online if it fails to meet expectations." Multi-channel retailers can avoid this by offering in-store pickup and returns, he says.

Product Categories Purchased Online in the Past Six Months by Online Buyers in Canada vs. the US, April 2006 (% of respondents)











Read eMarketer's Canada B2C E-Commerce report.

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Posted in , , by Purna Borkotoki

Friday, May 25, 2007

Google's Feedburner Grab Would Impact Personalized Search, Analytics  

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THOUGH YET TO BE CONFIRMED by either company, Google's rumored acquisition of Feedburner for $100 million seems small compared to the recent spate of billion-dollar ad network deals. But insiders say it was only a matter of time before the Web's predominant RSS supplier would be snatched up by one of the "big three."

"It was bound to happen. And it's a good move on Google's behalf if it goes through for $100 million," said Dan Brough, vice president and search director, DraftFCB. "It's really a bargain for what, by most standards, is the dominant feed syndicator in the industry."

While Feedburner is not exactly a fledgling company (it reportedly boasts more than 67 million feed subscriptions and partnerships with media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and CIO.com), the acquisition would be in line with statements that Google CEO Eric Smith made at a shareholders' meeting weeks ago--namely that Google views buying smaller tech firms, not huge ones, as the bread and butter of its merger strategy.

Adding Feedburner to its portfolio would give Google a number of gains. The ability to roll tracking statistics on Feedburner's reported total of more than 720,000 feeds into Google Analytics is the most obvious, as the business of online advertising increasingly gets driven by trailing and deciphering user behavior. "Google's Analytics suite will definitely benefit over time through this acquisition," said Brough.

Posted in by Purna Borkotoki

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Europeans Buy More Online  

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The Old World takes to new ways.


Europeans have long been avid online shoppers, but according to the "Mediascope Europe 2006 Study," sponsored by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) with research conducted by Synovate, now they are becoming online buyers.

The study found that currently 78% of European Internet users shop online. They spend an average of Eur750 and buy 10 items online over six months — which represents an increase of 11% year over year.

Online Spending and Purchases by Internet Users in Select Countries in Western Europe, September 2006 (average)


Comparing the different countries, online shoppers in the UK and Scandinavia spend and buy the most goods online, while Germans are online bargain seekers, buying a higher number of items at a lower cost.

Increasingly, however, savvy online shoppers throughout Europe are also using price comparison sites to help themselves find deals. Dutch online shoppers are the biggest bargain hunters, with more than half (54%) checking comparable costs online at least once a month; the Germans (50%) and the French (50%) are hot on their heels.

Auction sites are popular with online shoppers in Germany, as well as in the UK, with 62% and 49% of the users in those countries, respectively, visiting them at least once a month, compared with the European online average of 41%.

What are Europeans shopping for online? Mobile phones top the list.

The research shows that mobile phones had the largest growth in conversion rates year over year, growing at 23%, followed by music downloads, car accessories and home furnishings.


Leading Products and Services in Western Europe, by Online Sales Conversion Rate Growth, September 2005 & September 2006 (% of online shoppers who purchase online and % increase vs. prior year)


"As consumers further embrace their digital lifestyles, they are becoming more ambitious in what they choose to buy over the Internet as well as how much they spend," said Michael Kleindl of the EIAA. "More money spent and items bought online shows that consumers are integrating online shopping into their daily lives."

For information on European trends, read eMarketer's Europe Online Advertising: Spend, Trends and Audience report.

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