« Canadian Shoppers - We are Small but Mighty B!tchy »

As I wrap the last of the pressies, I have a smug smile and a feeling of relief.  Again, for the 3rd year, I’ve been able to avoid shopping, and still managed to get presents and gifts bought for everyone on my list. In fact, this year I bought more than i budgeted for, and loved it all.


I’m the kind of girl who adores shopping, and abhors malls, people, parking and crowds. It’s all on-line baby, it’s all on-line.  I’m on a first name basis with my UPS dude, and the Canada post dolly.

Mark Evans talks about the canadian e-commerce chicken and egg scenario, and says that Canadians are browsers, and it’s impacting the Canadian ecommerce industry.  No retail store wants to set up an e-commerce site, because they are worried that no one will visit and buy. Canadians don’t really buy because there are no good canadian e-commerce sites. And it’s not been until recently that it’s become easier to buy from the US. Borderfree helps, but I want to see Borderfree help Canadian consumers buy stuff in the states (from sites who won’t ship to Canada), not just American retailers wanting to ship stuff to Canadians.

Hey Canadian Retailers, Guess What? I managed to buy only half of what I wanted from Canada. The rest came from the US.  Finally US e-tailers are figuring out how to ship to Canada on the cheap. They are eating your Canadian lunch, and if you dn’t get your Canadian shit together, the US e-tailers are going to be eating your dinner as well. How much do you think an average Canadian Family spends at Christmas, all told? I’d say between $2000 and $5000. Aren’t you sad that most of my spend went to the US?

The average Canadian spends about $900 on Christmas presents each year, or roughly $30-billion altogether: more than annual sales of tobacco, alcohol and lottery tickets, combined.

Where did I buy good stuff?

• LL Bean
• Walkabout Farms
• Signals - this is the most outstanding store - and the delivery was so very fast!!
  
• art.com
• Etsy
• The Body Shop - this one was wacky - they set up a Yahoo store for Canadians - it wasn’t the prettiest, but wow! It worked, and it was fast, and it kept me from going to the mall.
• Hockey Geeks
  
• Goalie Monkey
• The Grand River Toy Company - My only real Canadian Store. 1000 times better than ToysRUS
• Cafepress
• Chapters
  

Canadian retailers who really need to get their e-commerce shit together (and don’t deserve my link):

1. Canadian Tire - don’t be an ass and tell me there are only certain things I can buy online.
2. LaSenza - you can do better - especially with the LaSenza Girl Site
3. Le Chateau - you simply suck. Thanks for a *window* into what you have in your stores, so I can look before I leave the house.
4. Pier 1 - yes Pier 1, there really is a Canada.
5. Urban Barn - your stores are nifty, you are an outstanding competitive force for Pier 1 and The Pottery Barn.  Best of all, you are Canadian. Get your ecommerce mojo together! You aren’t so good that I *HAVE* to shop live in your store.

I don’t particularly care if you’ve been naughty or nice, just have a reasonable on-line shopping cart, ship to Canada and Santa Jules will make sure you get something good in your stocking.

Technorati Tags: Canadian ecommerce, Mark Evans, Borderfree

Comments

[Adrian]

You know who else needs to get their shit togethe? Chapters/Indigo.

I try SO hard to order from them. But amazon.ca, an American company, can sell it cheaper, ship it cheaper, ship it faster, and make the shopping experience better.

Even with my fancy Indigo card, its still cheaper to buy from a US retailer.

It makes me feel guilty to do it, but I buy from amazon.ca a lot more than indigo.ca now.

It's almost like they go out of their way to make it hard to shop on their website.

Fools.

[Ethan]

Thanks for this post. I live in Texas but I am really interesting in finding out more about "true" Canadian retailers, etc. I was going to buy something from Roots, only to learn that they too have succumbed to outsourcing. I'll check out that Grand River link though.

Canadian wine (NOT icewine) is high on my list. Very hard to find in the southern US, and worse, for whatever reason ordering online isn't much of an option. I'm with you - get that eCommerce shit together! Well, and international shipping laws.

(Found your site via newsome.org/the good blogs crawl.)

[Jeff Irvine]

Cross-bordershopping.com will be up and running on November 17/07 and offers Canadians the chance to purchase from just about any retailer and have their packages shipped throughout Canada.