As e-commerce shopping booms, Canadians are making their way to online stores and many of them are choosing outside merchants. At least 70 percent of Canadians' purchases in 2015 were from merchants based outside the country because these online retailers often have better prices or provide goods not available in Canada.

U.S. retailers are racing to stay relevant in a rapidly changing shopping environment led by growth of e-commerce, the ubiquity of mobile devices, and the demanding expectations of consumers, according to PwC's annual online shopper survey, Total Retail: The Race for Relevance. Based on a survey of more than 23,000 online consumers globally, the report reveals the changing behaviors of consumers, driven by convenience, price, social media and brand trust.

Only 18 percent of CEOs say they have eliminated operational silos and are delivering seamless omnichannel shopping experiences for their customers. This means that the majority of retailers surveyed are still operating in silos, which is taking a toll on retailers' profitability and ability to create a seamless shopping experience for customers.

Analyst Insight: For online customers, the buy button is easy; everything behind that is complex. Eighty percent of omnichannel strategy is about inventory strategy. It comes down to making intelligent inventory allocation decisions across the network and building an infrastructure flexible enough to quickly realign inventory to meet customers where they want. The key to omnichannel success is offering the customer multiple options and incentivizing the profitable flows. - Jason Denmon, Apparel Industry Leader, Fortna Inc.

Retail CEOs say internal silos are holding back omnichannel success. In fact, retailers without these operational barriers are more positive about achieving profitability, according to a new report.

A "hat trick" refers to scoring three goals in a game. A remarkable feat for most players and certainly worthy of doffing your hat to honor the player. In magic, a hat trick describes the infamous illusion of pulling something out of an empty hat, typically a rabbit.

E-tailing behemoths like Amazon Business are infringing on electrical distributors' turf. Large distributors continue to hone and refine their e-commerce offerings. And finally, mobile e-commerce (or, m-commerce) - driven by the consumer who has grown more comfortable making purchases on smartphones and other mobile devices - is on track to hit $700bn by 2017, according to research firm Digi-Capital.