Canadian online shopping tops $15B a year

Canadians ordered $15.1 billion in goods and services on the internet last year, up from $12.8 billion in 2007.

Statistics Canada attributed the increase to a rise in the number of online shoppers and a higher volume of orders.

The agency said 39 per cent of Canadians aged 16 and over used the internet to place more than 95 million orders in 2009 — up from 32 per cent and 70 million orders in 2007, when the survey was last conducted.

Relatively more residents of British Columbia (47 per cent) and Alberta (45 per cent) made online orders in 2009.

About half of Canadians aged 16 to 34 purchased a product online in 2009, with men of any age (42 per cent) more likely than women (37 per cent) to have made an online purchase.

Average value per order declined from $183 in 2007 to $158 in 2009.

The top 25 per cent of online shoppers spent an average of $4,210 on internet purchases during 2009, accounting for almost half of total orders and more than three-quarters of their value.

The most common types of online orders continued to be travel services; entertainment products such as concert tickets; books and magazines; and clothing, jewelry and accessories.

The survey found 52 per cent of Canadians went online to "window shop" — to research or browse products — up from 43 per cent in 2007.

Among all window shoppers, 69 per cent reported subsequently making a purchase directly from a store, up from 64 per cent in 2007.