With a household income averaging $76,000 and a majority of the population having disposable income, shopping abroad is a way for Canadians to get the goods they desire. The downside can be the cost of shipping which can turn away customers who are not made aware of the potential additional fees involved in shipping from the U.S. to Canada.

In 2015, online retail sales in Canada reached $29.6bn and that number is expected to double within the next three to four years. With certain shipping methods, unnecessarily high costs, including customs and brokerage fees, are a deterrent. Although over 41 percent of Canadians are considered “occasional” online shoppers (buying up to 4 times a year online), they can easily become dissuaded if they end up paying more than double the cost of what is shown on the merchant’s website. However, data shows 21 percent of Canadians who were first-time or one-time buyers turned into frequent shoppers in 2015, proving that the number of online Canadian shoppers is growing each day. E-commerce companies need to provide cheaper, more streamlined order and delivery processes to get their share of this booming market.

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