How Many Ecommerce Stores Are There in Canada?

by Marija Pandurov | Updated On: July, 25, 2023

There are 1,490 ecommerce stores operating within Canada, where around 28 million users purchase goods online.

Let’s take a closer look at the state of the ecommerce market in Canada, from the best-selling categories to the most popular online shopping stores.

Most Relevant Ecommerce Stats in Canada

There are around 1,490 registered ecommerce companies in Canada.
With revenue of around USD$58 billion, Canada is the ninth-largest ecommerce market in the world.
Amazon.ca is the biggest e-commerce market in Canada, generating net sales of US$9,817 million.
There are between 12 and 24 million ecommerce stores around the world.
There are about 120,300 online Shopify stores in Canada.
Around 60% of Canadians use credit cards for online shopping.

Canadian Ecommerce Stores Trends and Stats

1. There are around 1,490 registered ecommerce companies in Canada.

(Golden)

In spite of the rise of e-commerce worldwide, Canadian businesses were somewhat slow when it comes to the move to digital sales, leaving a gap in the market that was filled mainly by major US retailers, such as Amazon and Walmart. Thanks to the pandemic and the country’s high internet penetration rate, though, the number of ecommerce stores in Canada has been growing.

2. The e-commerce adoption rate in Canada is 75%.

(ITA, Statista)

In 2022, more than 27 million Canadians used ecommerce sites, representing 75% of the population in the country. Thanks to the growing adoption of digital trends, it is estimated that 30.5 million people will shop online by 2025, or roughly 77.6% of the population.

3. With revenue of around USD$58 billion, Canada is the ninth-largest ecommerce market in the world.

(Statista)

Retail ecommerce sales in the Great White North reached nearly $58 billion, while the figure is expected to increase to more than USD $118 billion by 2027. This ranks Canada in ninth position among the biggest ecommerce markets in the world.

4. As of September 2022, e-commerce retail sales account for 5.3% of total retail trade.

(Statistics Canada, eMarketer)

On a monthly basis, retail e-commerce sales decreased by 0.1% in September 2022 to $3.4 billion. This is still impressive although a considerable drop from the $4.9 billion generated in December 2020.

2020 was the biggest year for ecommerce in Canada when online sales increased to a whopping $61.8 billion, or 12.7% of total retail sales. For comparison, in 2019, ecommerce made up only 6.9% of all retail sales in the country.

5. Amazon.ca is the biggest e-commerce market in Canada, generating net sales of US$9,817 million.

(Statista)

Getting around 161.3 million visits a month, Amazon.ca is the biggest online marketplace in the country.

Walmart.ca is second (net sales of US$3,773 million), followed by Costco.ca (revenue of US$2,263 million) and Apple.com (US$1,670 million in revenue).

Amazon.ca leads in the following categories

Electronics and media: Revenue of USD$5,355 million
Furniture and appliances: Net sales of USD$1,374 million
Toys & baby: USD$491 million in revenue

With revenue of USD$ 565 million, Gap Canada is the biggest ecommerce store in the Fashion segment, whereas Shoppers Drug Mart is the leading food and personal care e-retailer with revenue of USD$822 million.

Ecommerce Statistics in Canada by Segment

6. Electronics and Fashion are the leading product categories.

(Statista)

In 2021, sales of electronics accounted for nearly 28% of all Canadian online retail sales, while Fashion made up 26.5%. While the Fashion and Apparel segment is set to go over 28% by 2025, the electronics market is projected to decline to nearly 21% of all online sales by 2025.

Canada’s online fashion industry has seen incredible growth in the past three years, almost doubling revenue from seven to around USD$14 billion in 2021. The biggest segment within the online fashion market is clothes with sales amounting to CAD$8 billion in 2021.

Other major segments within the Canadian ecommerce industry include

Furniture accounted for almost 14% of e-retail sales in Canada. The segment is projected to go up to 17% over the following three years.
The share of toys, hobby, and DIY total online retail sales in Canada stood at 11% in 2021.
Food made up a little over 2% of all e-commerce retail sales in 2021, a huge drop from 2020 when online retail sales of food and drinks went over CAD$4 billion to become the best-selling sector in the ecommerce market.

Number of Ecommerce Stores Across the World

7. There are between 12 and 24 million ecommerce stores around the world.

(Statista, PipeCandy, Caspia, Ecommerce Europe)

Estimates vary, though market intelligence company PipeCandy puts the number of ecommerce stores at 12 million (excluding China).

Revenue from all ecommerce stores is around USD$8.1 trillion, most of which comes from Asia (approximately USD$2 trillion), followed by the Americas (USD$1.1 trillion), Europe (USD$722 billion), and Australia and Oceania (USD$49 billion). Africa is the smallest ecommerce market, generating revenue of USD$44 billion.

Here is the number of ecommerce stores in the major markets across the world.

There are around 4.2 million ecommerce companies in the US and Canada.
In 2022, there were 580,000 eCommerce-enabled websites in the UK.
There are more than 150,000 online retailers that are operating out of the European Union.

8. The global e-commerce market is set to grow at 11.3%.

(Statista)

Brazil will see the highest e-retail growth between 2023 and 2027 with a CAGR of 14.6%, experts estimate. Canada is ranked 10th with a CAGR of 10.92%.

Most Used Ecommerce Payment Gateway in Canada

10. PayPal Express Checkout is installed on 69,747 ecommerce stores in Canada.

(Store Leads, Statista, Money Transfers)

The majority of ecommerce stores that use PayPal (98.7%) are on Shopify, whereas only 0.2% are on WooCommerce. PayPay is also the most popular method of payment among Canadians—a survey by Statista reveals that 87% of respondents use PayPal when shopping online.

What about other payment gateways?

Stripe is installed on 8,223 ecommerce stores operating in the country, most of which (64.2%) are on WooCommerce.
Square Online is used by 15,973 active stores in Canada, marking a 56% year-over-year increase in Q4 2022.
Authorize.net is used by 23,213 ecommerce stores, 381 of which are located in Canada.
27,829 online stores in Canada now accept Apple Pay.
Afterpay is installed on 4,264 ecommerce stores in Canada. The popularity of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) payment options like Afterpay and Sezzle has been on the rise, with younger Canadians showing interest in these services.

11. Around 60% of Canadians use credit cards for online shopping.

(Statista, JP Morgan)

With about 76.2 million credit cards in circulation, plastic remains Canadians’ favourite method of payment when shopping online. In fact, 62% of shoppers used credit cards, while 18% opted for digital wallets. Bank transfers account for 12% of all transactions and cash makes up 5%.

Sources

ABOUT AUTHOR

by Marija Pandurov

With an early start in journalism and years of work as a technical translator, Marija felt it was natural to blend the two. Passionate about news and research, she enjoys sifting through the data, researching new currents and the constant changes in our technologically and financially driven lives, as well as presenting the stats and facts to the readers so you don’t have to dig deep on your own.