Report shows online shopping sales in Canada grew nearly 300 percent in 5 years

Online shopping continues to grow in Canada.

In a period of five years from 2016 to 2020, revenue from e-commerce increased by nearly 300 percent.

A report released Thursday (April 7) by Statistics Canada shows that online shopping sales generated $52.46 billion in 2020.

That’s up 287.37 percent from 2016 sales of $13.54 billion.

In 2016, e-commerce accounted for 2.3 percent of total retail sales in the country.

That ratio steadily rose to 2.7 percent in 2017, 3.4 percent in 2018, and 4.2 percent in 2019.

In 2020, online shopping represented 7.8 percent of total store and non-store retail revenue.

Compared to 2019 sales of $28.25 billion, revenue from e-commerce grew by 85.7 percent.

“In 2020, with the onset of the pandemic, retail sales were impacted, as consumers changed their shopping habits and retailers altered their business practices,” Statistics Canada reported.

In particular, customers spent $669.6 billion at Canadian store and non-store retailers in 2020.

This represents a slight decline of 0.1 percent in operating revenue compared to 2019.

Statistics Canada also reported that operating revenue of store retailers fell in all provinces in 2020, except in B.C., where it increased by one percent.

Meanwhile, four provinces accounted for the largest share of 86.1 percent of all operating revenues in the country in 2020.

These are Ontario (37.1 percent), Quebec (21.8 percent), B.C. (14.1 percent), and Alberta (13.1 percent).

The said provinces had a combined $541.2 billion of total operating revenue in 2020.