Online retail growth and trade agreements could see British retailers achieving success selling and shipping to Canada.
They might be just north of USA, but Canada is a world away when it comes to its culture and attitudes to overseas brands. This makes Canada an excellent location to consider if you’re planning on expanding your ecommerce business overseas.
The UK exported C$7.03Billion to worth of products to Canada in 2021 and as a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), that figure is expected to continue to rise.
Interestingly, Canada is the second largest country in the world, and has one of the lowest population densities, with people mostly living in cities which are concentrated in the south of the country along the U.S. Border.
While French is also an official language in Canada, 74% speak English regularly, with over half the population saying it’s their primary language.
This does put you in a prime position as a UK based business, although having a French-Canadian version of your site as an option would be a nice touch, more on this later.
First of all, let’s look a little more into the market size you could be tapping into.
According to eCommerceDB, Canada is the ninth largest market for eCommerce with a revenue of US$58, billion in 2021. With an increase of 26%, the Canadian eCommerce market contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 18% in 2021, but with a yearly growth rate of 15% between 2021 and 2025, Canada is even expected to outperform the global average of 10%.
Statista also has some interesting facts.
A 2021 survey revealed that clothing, shoes, and accessories was the most popular online shopping category among consumers in Canada, with 81 percent making these types of purchases online.
In fact, looking at clothing, the largest category Canadians purchase online, Ebates Canada found that 82 percent have purchased clothing and/or accessories online. Canadians predominantly shop online for clothing (69 percent and 75 percent for women), footwear (49 per cent) and jewellery/watches (41 percent).
Other items commonly purchased online include coats/outerwear (34 percent), handbags/wallets (34 percent), hats/gloves/scarves (31 percent) and sunglasses (24 percent).
The reasons stated for this are varied and include:
- 63 percent find better prices/deals online
- 62 percent enjoy the convenience of anytime/anywhere shopping
- 50 percent can access stores/brands that aren't located nearby
- 48 percent find that there is better selection
- 43 percent say that it is more convenient overall
- 19 percent like that they can try it on and decide in the comfort of their own home
- 18 percent find it easier to make returns
- 15 percent enjoy that they can purchase multiple sizes and keep what fits best
All of these point to fantastic reasons why Canada is for the taking when it comes to a UK brand trying to enter the Canadian market, and all point to what we already know – their experience on your website and in receiving the goods they’ve ordered is vital.
Make sure at the very least you have the following:
- Lots of images of the products with honest and full descriptions
- An eCommerce platform that will work out tax and exchange rates automatically
- Delivery options that give them a choice between speed or cost
- Packaging that keeps their orders safe and secure
- Free returns for peace of mind
- Offers in exchange for loyalty
Shipping remains one of the biggest factors in creating a positive customer experience and attracting, and keeping, international customers.
Much of this might seem out of reach for a UK based business, especially with shipping overseas being expensive or slow.
However, with Asendia’s delivery service to Canada you can get your products to customers in a time they are happy with and at a price they can afford. Alternatively, you can actually create a local presence in North America by using Asendia’s fulfilment centre partners in the USA.
You can bulk ship your products ahead of time, so they’re stored much closer to your customers, and can easily ‘picked and packed’ by Asendia, ready to be sent to your customers within the local postal network.
Yes, there will be one border to cross but the border agreements between the USA and Canada make this less of a barrier and more of an opportunity in giving your Canadian customers attractive delivery options for their purchases. Plus, if you’re doing well in Canada you’re probably doing even better in the USA, but it’s unlikely to make sense to have fulfilment centres in both countries.
Shoppers can get what they ordered within a few days, rather than waiting weeks, or paying for expensive air freight and you can create a returns policy that offers them fantastic peace of mind while not eating into your profit.
As we’ve mentioned above, you’re already ahead of the game as a UK company as you’re still talking to English speaking customers.
You can easily retain your image and localise it to your new target market.
A localised website is still a prime option for making customers feel welcome
You could change some of the text to use some Canadian colloquialisms and spelling, and even mix it up with different landing page or hero images, but even if you don’t do that, your e-commerce platform, like Shopify, esw or WooCommerce will work out local currency, shipping, and taxes quite easily and you can still achieve success.
With Canada it is also important to consider French speakers too. 23% (7.2 million people) consider French their first language, with 85% of these living in Quebec. So, having a French language version of your website, will be a great sales tool.
As with almost all customers across the world service is amongst the biggest factors when choosing a new place to shop. That means your new customers need to get what they’ve purchased quickly, cheaply and with confidence it can be returned easily and preferably for free.
As a cross-border parcel specialist, Asendia fully understand the importance of local laws and can adjust and evolve with them quickly, so you have peace of mind that whatever you’re sending down under won’t be delayed.
While Asendia don’t have their own delivery fleet in Canada, (or other countries), they do have strong partnerships with popular, local delivery companies.
They will then handle the exportation by air or road and partner with best-in-class final-mile delivery companies, and let’s not forget the benefit of a closer-to-customer fulfilment centre too.
Whether it’s a national postal operator, a nationwide courier, or an e-commerce parcel specialist in specific cities, retailers have a range of delivery options at checkout that are tried and tested and trusted. Offering shoppers familiar, reliable, and affordable delivery is proven to increase your conversion rate and reduce delivery queries and complaints.
Asendia handles the parcel shipping and returns handling for some of the biggest names in retail and thousands of smaller e-tailers too.
To hear how Asendia could help you make the most of Canada, drop us a line.
