On-line sales surge

By TAVIA GRANT (Wednesday, April 20, 2005)
Globe and Mail Update

On-line sales by Canadian companies and government departments jumped by almost 50 per cent last year as companies did more business with each other over the Internet, Statistics Canada said.

Since 2000, Canadian on-line sales have more than quintupled. Last year, total on-line sales rose to $28.3-billion as sales by private companies climbed 45.5 per cent and those by the public sector more than doubled.

The private sector accounted for 93 cents of every dollar of goods and services sold on-line, while the public sector accounted for 7 cents, the government agency said.

The survey, which covered about 17,000 enterprises, measured sales over the Internet, with or without on-line payment. The survey included commitments to make purchases via the Internet and excluded transactions conducted on automatic teller machines.

“A large proportion of the gains in e-commerce last year resulted from increased sales from one business to another, rather than sales to households,” Statscan said.

An increasing number of Canadian companies are using websites, with almost eight out of 10 maintaining one last year. In 2004, 37 per cent of Canadian firms had a website, up from 34 per cent in 2003.

“These websites have developed in capability also, as firms now offer more features than ever,” Statscan said.

Almost three-quarters of Canadian firms were using high-speed Internet in 2004, up from just under one-half in 2001, the survey showed.