The Internet has changed the way companies buy and sell products and services. Just two years ago, an e-commerce strategy was a "nice to have." Today it's an imperative, analysts report that nearly $5 billion in goods and services were purchased last year in the U.S. alone. The projection is for that number to reach $300 billion by 2005.

Companies that embrace an e-commerce strategy today will quickly find themselves in a leadership position among their peers because of the increased exposure and truly global market for their products and services. Companies that ignore the Web run the risk of losing market share to emerging "dot coms" and existing competitors that exploit the Web.

E-Commerce packages are available with a Merchant Account. GOUDA Inc. will integrate a shopping cart and credit card transaction processing seamlessly into your website. Whether you have ten products or several thousand, we have a custom-fit, cost-effective package just for you.

Like all our other services, our staff is available for free consultation and basic evaluation. Gouda Inc. recognizes that most have little or no knowledge of what is available and thus our free consultation service is based on the objective to inform you of the various options available to business/corporate web sites.

From STATISTICS CANADA

E-commerce: Household Shopping on the Internet 2003

Canadian households spent just over $3.0 billion shopping on the Internet on everything from airplane tickets to books, according to the 2003 Household Internet Use Survey (HIUS).

An estimated 3.2 million Canadian households actively participated in e- ommerce in 2003, up from 2.8 million the year before. These households accessed the Internet from various locations, not just home. In total, they placed 21.1 million orders, up from 16.6 million the previous year.

The $3.0 billion in orders placed over the Internet represents a 25% increase from $2.4 billion spent online in 2002. This growth rate far exceeds the 5% increase in the number of households that accessed the Internet from any location in 2003.

Total electronic commerce spending represents only a fraction of the $688 billion in total personal expenditure in Canada last year. However, the new figures confirm that households are increasingly using the Internet as a method of purchasing goods from both Canadian and foreign vendors.

The electronic commerce components of the HIUS from 2001 to 2003 were redesigned to capture Internet shopping from households that regularly used the Internet from various locations, solely for household purposes.

Previously, household e-commerce data were collected only if the Internet shopping was conducted from home. This constituted a break in the data series.

One-third of online purchases made on foreign Web sites
For every $10 spent by households on Internet purchases last year, $6.90 was spent on Canadian Web sites. On the other hand, Canadians spent almost $1 billion of their e-commerce dollars at foreign Web sites.

This constituted a 6% gain from a year earlier and was much lower than the 27% growth in foreign orders placed between 2001 and 2002. The number of orders coming across the border however increased 27%.

During the year, an estimated 4.9 million households, or 40% of the total, were Internet shoppers. That is, they had at least one member who used the Internet to support purchasing decisions, either by window-shopping or by placing online orders.

Of these 4.9 million households, an estimated 3.2 million, or 65%, went beyond window-shopping and placed orders online. More than five out of six households paid for their purchases online, a 52% increase from the reference year 2001.

About 1.7 million households reported that they used the Internet only to window-shop, virtually unchanged from 2001. This group browsed online catalogues to narrow their purchasing decisions, but did not place orders or make purchases online. They represented 14% of all Canadian households.

Of these window-shoppers, almost one-half indicated that they later made purchases directly from vendors, indicating that online catalogues are an effective means of obtaining walk-in or telephone orders.

Concerns still high, but online credit card use rises
More Canadian households were paying for their goods and services online in 2003. Paradoxically, many shoppers indicated concerns about security aspects of the Internet, but they were still willing to use their credit cards online.

More than three-quarters of the 2.7 million households that paid online indicated that they were concerned, or very concerned, about financial transactions conducted over the Internet.

In fact, the proportion of electronic commerce households that paid for their Internet orders online rose from 79% in 2001 to 85% last year. This contributed to increased growth in the number of orders paid online.

Books, magazines still most popular purchase
Reading materials such as books, magazines and newspapers were still the most popular online purchases in 2003. About 30% of e-commerce households reported purchasing these items.

However, consumers are increasingly using the Internet to make travel arrangements. In 2003, 22% of households reported making travel arrangements over the Internet, up from 18% the year before.

Growth in the number of households purchasing commodities was highest for consumer electronics (+86%) and videos and DVDs (+68%). The number of households that ordered music online increased 36%, while the number downloading free music declined.

Household growth of commodity categories where members only window-shopped was greatest for health, beauty items and vitamins; consumer electronics; clothing, jewelry and accessories; and housewares and appliances.

Digital products
One bundle of goods and services purchased over the Internet by Canadian households for personal non-business use is referred to as "digital products."

This group of orders includes products purchased online that are delivered in a digital format from the vendors' computer to the purchasers' computer. Almost 20% of electronic commerce households bought digital products in 2003, up from 16% a year earlier.

On average, these households purchased $180 of these products, which were comprised mostly of software, software licenses and music.

An estimated $113 million of these products were purchased by Canadian households, almost double that of the previous year. Venders outside Canada accounted for more than half the dollar value.

High-speed access at home gateway to online purchases
Households with a high-speed connection are more likely to be electronic commerce households. Over 7 of 10 electronic commerce households have a high-speed connection.

 

Of the households that pay for their purchases online, 73% access the Internet at home using a high-speed connection.

Those households west of Ontario with a high speed connection are slightly more likely than national average to purchase goods from home.

Ontario households account for almost half of total e-commerce spending
On average, e-commerce households spent $956 annually online, with an average dollar value per order of $144 in 2003. The average expenditure per household and the average dollar value per order were above the national average for Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.

Households in Ontario contributed one-third of the increase in purchases last year, and represented nearly one-half of the $3.0 billion total e-commerce spending. They also placed 46% of all orders made online. Nearly 30% of Ontario spending was conducted with foreign vendors.

Alberta recorded the highest provincial growth in e-commerce spending (+43%), followed by Quebec (+41%) with the Atlantic provinces close behind at 36% growth.

Households in British Columbia were Canada's second largest market for electronic commerce. They spent over half a billion dollars on Internet purchases, almost 17% of the national total.

Available on CANSIM: tables 358-0018 to 358-0023.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 4432.

Additional data tables related to the information presented in this series are available online in the publication Internet use in Canada (56F0003XIE, free).

Data from the 2003 Household Internet Use Survey, conducted in January 2004, for January to December 2003, is now available on the CD-ROM Household Internet Use Survey—Public Use Microdata File, 2003(56M0002XCB, $2,140). The survey provides information on the use of the Internet by Canadian households within the 10 provinces. This is the seventh cross-sectional microdata file to be released in the series beginning with the Household Internet Use Survey for 1997.