Canadian Tire’s website no longer sells merchandise for home delivery.
Wise decision by Canadian Tire to pull out of online selling.
Richard Talbot, president of Talbot Consultants International and quoted in a National Post article , put the challenge of sustaining an online retail business in Canada this way:
“It is expensive to sustain an online retail business in Canada given the country's population relative to its geographic size.” And then he added: "Everybody, I think, knows that with the exception of some categories like CDs and books, most people use the Internet to check prices and product specs, and most of the purchase is done in the stores. I think this will be the first of several as more and more retailers realize that consumers are doing this."
I guess not everyone knew. But Wal-Mart knew.
Wal-Mart Canada developed Web sites to showcase products but does not sell online.
Quebec consumer behaviour on the internet
One of the key findings from the Canadian Internet Project’s 2007 report supports Mr. Talbot’s views:
Three of every four Internet users (77%) who conduct online shopping product research make their ultimate purchase in-person from a local retailer (i.e. not online).
The study does not provide this data for Quebec compared to the ROC. But given Quebeckers’ lower usage of and familiarity with the Internet overall, we can safely assume that the percentage of Quebeckers who use the Internet to research and then buy from stores is at least as high.
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