http://www.robhyndman.com/2006/12/23/life-in-a-northern-country/ any technology distinguishable from magic is not sufficiently advanced Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:33:03 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 http://www.robhyndman.com/2006/12/23/life-in-a-northern-country/comment-page-1/#comment-38499 Mark Evans - E-Commerce? Sorry, We’re Canadian Sun, 24 Dec 2006 19:36:43 +0000 http://www.robhyndman.com/2006/12/23/life-in-a-northern-country/#comment-38499 [...] It’s two days before Christmas and according to Visa, millions of people will be shopping this weekend for last-minute gifts. I ask you: why battle the crowds and traffic if you can do it all online from the comfort of your own home? Well, a new eMarketer study suggests the Canadian e-commerce market is “stagnant” because many shoppers complain retailers aren’t serious about selling online, while retailers claim they can’t make a commitment because not enough people shop online. It’s your classic chicken and egg situation, which is hardly a surprise to anyone who has been following the Canadian e-commerce market. Apparently, we’re online browsers, not shoppers. In the spirit of the season, here’s a sad example of why the e-commerce market is struggling and how many Canadian retailers have yet to start drinking the Kool-Aid. As an avid hockey player, I’m keen about the new composite sticks being used these days. (Anything to improve a miserable slapshot!) These sticks can be expensive so I went online and discovered a small Ottawa-based company called Ballistik that sold sticks and blades at reasonable prices - and they did it via e-commerce. Over the last six months, I’ve bought several blades from Ballistik. A few weeks ago, I discovered they had spiffed up their Web site but closed their e-commerce store because they wanted to grow distribution (and, in the process, raise their reasonable prices) by going through retailers. The problem is no retailers in downtown Toronto carry Ballistik’s products - not surprise given the competition hockey market. So, I called Ballistik to see how they could help me, and asked why they were no longer selling online. The answer was they don’t want to compete with their retailers, which is a strange response for a little company looking to connect with consumers. But, they, this is Canada and apparently we’re a country of browsers, not buyers. The silver lining is eMarketer expects e-commerce sales in Canada will climb 25% in 2006 to C$9.4-billion and by another 26% in 2007, which hardly seems stagnant. Hopefully, companies such as Ballistik will catch the e-commerce bug. Update: Rob Hyndman has his own views on the Canadian e-commerce scene. [...] [...] It’s two days before Christmas and according to Visa, millions of people will be shopping this weekend for last-minute gifts. I ask you: why battle the crowds and traffic if you can do it all online from the comfort of your own home? Well, a new eMarketer study suggests the Canadian e-commerce market is “stagnant” because many shoppers complain retailers aren’t serious about selling online, while retailers claim they can’t make a commitment because not enough people shop online. It’s your classic chicken and egg situation, which is hardly a surprise to anyone who has been following the Canadian e-commerce market. Apparently, we’re online browsers, not shoppers. In the spirit of the season, here’s a sad example of why the e-commerce market is struggling and how many Canadian retailers have yet to start drinking the Kool-Aid. As an avid hockey player, I’m keen about the new composite sticks being used these days. (Anything to improve a miserable slapshot!) These sticks can be expensive so I went online and discovered a small Ottawa-based company called Ballistik that sold sticks and blades at reasonable prices – and they did it via e-commerce. Over the last six months, I’ve bought several blades from Ballistik. A few weeks ago, I discovered they had spiffed up their Web site but closed their e-commerce store because they wanted to grow distribution (and, in the process, raise their reasonable prices) by going through retailers. The problem is no retailers in downtown Toronto carry Ballistik’s products – not surprise given the competition hockey market. So, I called Ballistik to see how they could help me, and asked why they were no longer selling online. The answer was they don’t want to compete with their retailers, which is a strange response for a little company looking to connect with consumers. But, they, this is Canada and apparently we’re a country of browsers, not buyers. The silver lining is eMarketer expects e-commerce sales in Canada will climb 25% in 2006 to C$9.4-billion and by another 26% in 2007, which hardly seems stagnant. Hopefully, companies such as Ballistik will catch the e-commerce bug. Update: Rob Hyndman has his own views on the Canadian e-commerce scene. [...]

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