Canadian online shoppers find clothing a poor fit Kimberly Shearon,
Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * While electronic specialty stores such as Future Shop and Best Buy have reached out to Canadian customers in cyberspace, clothing retailers have not been as quick to pick up on the trend. The countries’ cultural differences might be the reason for the disparity in the number of online clothing outlets, said Peter Woolford, vice-president of policy development and research at the Retail Council of Canada.
“When you consider how actively Canadians use the Internet for managing their financial affairs or for booking travel there’s no question they trust the Internet as a medium through which to do commerce and to share their most important financial information,” he said.
“They just like to shop in person apparently.” Woolford pointed out that even during the heyday of catalogue shopping, Americans were far more active in “distance shopping.” But while online sales amount to only about two per cent of all sales in Canada, Woolford said demand seems to be growing. “Clearly, Canadians are becoming accustomed to it,” he said.
“We would fully expect to see the number of Canadians shopping online for merchandise and the portion of merchandise bought online to grow, and probably grow very rapidly.” But that growth is hampered by clothing retailers, especially those based in the U.S., who are reluctant or unable to establish Canadian headquarters.