This is great news for Canadian Online retailers, but what about for those who are exclusively brick and mortar? It could mean that they are in big trouble if this trend continues…

Barbara Coll sent me this report indicating that in 2005, Internet retail sales grew 80% over the year before.

That’s solid growth. More than solid. Rapid.

Contrast that with several bearish comments heard in the Search Engine Marketing in Canada: Roundtable forum this morning at Search Engine Strategies Toronto. Maybe it’s in the DNA of Canadian business to be a bit cautious and conservative, like a farmer assessing this year’s crop by calling it “fair to middling.”

But consumers are no longer sitting on their hands. They’re web savvy, and willing to take a chance. I’m not particularly interested in “can’t do” excuses - such as Canadians’ purported preference for debit cards over credit cards. Maybe in the grocery store. But I don’t personally know anyone who expects to buy online using some means other than a credit card. It’s not scary and it’s not exotic. People will adapt and this growth will continue, because it has every reason to: people are getting what they want and need faster.

We’ve turned the corner, I would argue, as several leading sites offer a better experience for users, driving expectations higher. High expectations are better than low expectations… they’ll lead to further growth. Source: Traffick

[tags]canadians,search engine strategies,grocery store,internet retail[/tags]