Canadian midsize citiy shoppers driving ecommerce growth

Although online shopping in Canada was driven in its early years by shoppers concentrated in dense urban areas, parcel carriers now have to deliver ecommerce packages to an increasingly diverse range of home addresses, according to a report issued by Canada Post Corp., dcvelocity.com reports.

The number of items ordered online and delivered by Canada Post Corp. in Canada grew 16% for H1 2015, compared to H1 2014, the Canadian national postal service reported. Most industry professionals expected that rate of growth,

A ranking of Canadian regions with the highest annual growth rates in ecommerce shipment delivery was led by London, Ont. (29%); Windsor, Ont. (29%), and Kitchener, Ont. (27%), all finishing ahead of traditional and more populous markets like Toronto (25%) and Vancouver (24%). The trend toward less-populated regions continued farther down the list as well, with Saskatoon and Regina, Sask.; Victoria, B.C.; Hamilton, Ont.; and Charlottetown, P.E.I. all finishing above their larger cousins Ottawa, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.

Canada Post, which reaches its 15.7 million addresses through its own network and with partners Purolator Inc. and SCI Logistics, said it is responding to these changes by allowing online shoppers to ship their parcels to post office boxes. This FlexDelivery service emails users when their boxes arrive at a chosen location among the countrys more than 6,000 post offices.

As Canada Post delivers two out of every three parcels, were committed to supporting retailers to help them make the most of the online opportunity, Danielle Doiron, Canada Posts director of parcel market development, said in a statement. To do this, we offer not only convenience-based delivery solutions, like FlexDelivery, but relevant research to help them better understand and maximize the current ecommerce growth opportunity.

For Canada Post, the challenge is compounded by the fact that a major part of Canadas population is clustered along the countrys southern tier, which straddles the US border. Delivering ecommerce items to consumers in far-flung locations could be a costly exercise.

The carriers survey also revealed a change in the types of of items Canadians are buying online, with mass merchants and fashion retailers giving away some of their traditionally large lead in ecommerce parcel-volume growth (33% and 16%, respectively) to fast-growing newcomers such as toys and hobbies (21%), office supplies (15%) and sporting goods (11%).

Slower-growth segments included consumer electronics, telecommunications, and health and beauty, with the category of books, music, and videos finishing last with the lists only negative results (-7%).