The only thing that is constant is change. Who knew that Heraclitus would know so much about the E-commerce market of the early 21st century?
Here are three trends we are seeing in the Canadian E-commerce market:
Online retailers are increasingly dependent on the cloud
Frank & Oak, is an online menswear retailer in Montreal that has recently seen a 4-year growth rate of 18,000 percent. How have the sustained this type of growth? According to their co-founder and CEO Ethan Song, the answer is the cloud. In their profile of the firm, IT World Canada attributes Frank & Oak's success to their "highly flexible and highly scalable" cloud platform. This enables their 12 stores, mobile site and desktop sites to interact seamlessly, offering accurate real-time sales and inventory data. Song stated that,
I think that level of integration with the data, and making sure you are not on three or four systems that don’t talk to each other, is extremely important to delivering an omni-channel experience.
Growth in e-commerce is spurring on the industrial real estate market
The Edmonton Journal reports on the Spring 2016 North America and U.K. Industrial Market Report by Avison Young, which notes the affect that e-commerce is having on the industrial real estate market,
The market is responding to e-commerce and other innovations that are underway with new approaches... The rapid-order-fulfillment phenomenon is driving both leasing activity and investment sales.
Further, the report finds that,
The market is relatively strong across most of Canada, thanks [in part] to... the continued growth of e-commerce – with a resurgent U.S. economy and competitive Canadian dollar fueling exports
E-Commerce brings sustainable food to the table
As the demand for sustainable-grown food has increased, so have the start-ups aiming to serve this market. One such firm is the Canadian-based Local Line, which exists to connect buyers and sellers of local, sustainable food products. They offer purchasers the opportunity to purchase food seamlessly from local farms and producers, with the assurance that the product meets the high expectations of their consumers, including the transparency of exactly where and how the food was grown or harvested.
Instead of having to invest time in forming relationships individually with local producers, Local Line's customers can now access an online database of such firms, peruse their current offerings and order what they need. The benefits to the farmers are equally apparent, as they can now spend less time selling their product and more time producing the quality, locally-grown food that consumers increasingly expect from their grocery stores and restaurants.
At eShipper, we make it our business to stay on top of the Canadian e-commerce market. Contact us today to find out how we can help with your e-commerce needs.
