Canada Omnichannel Retailing Market Report 2020

Providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date information and analysis of the Canada Omnichannel Retailing market, including the behaviours, preferences and habits of the consumer.

The separation between online shopping channels and physical brick-and-mortar stores have been increasingly blurred over the last few years, but the sudden shift towards ecommerce from the COVID-19 pandemic has caused it to accelerate. However, consumers do not think about their shopping behaviours in these compartmentalized terms.

While physical shops still remain an important part of the shopping experience, consumers comfort and confidence with using online platforms has meant that cross channel retail is becoming increasingly fluid. 65% of Canadians are now searching and buying products across multiple channels.

Physical stores still play a vital role in the shopping experience, with consumers still considering customer service to be important. However, consumers prefer to check online for product information than asking a sales associate, indicating that customer service must be modernized to meet these new shopping habits.

Read on to discover more details or take a look at all of our Canada Retail market research.

Quickly understand

• Search and purchase behaviours
• Omnichannel shopping behaviours
• Attitudes towards online and in-store shopping
• Interest in emerging technology
• How usage of tech innovations has changed due to COVID-19

Covered in this report

Brands: No Fills, Kraft, PC Express, Facebook, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Kiehl’s Canada, Rakuten, Walmart, Shiseido Japan.

Expert analysis from a specialist in the field

Written by Carol Wong-Li, a leading analyst in the Retail sector, her extensive knowledge delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends and add expert context to the numbers.

Consumers don’t think of their shopping journey as delineated – most are searching and purchasing across online and in-store channels with the use of mobile in-stores and services like click-and-collect further blurring the lines. Consumers just want their needs met no matter where they’re at. As such, marketers need to focus on leveraging channel strengths and integrating tools to deliver an efficient and seamlessness experience between touchpoints. At the end of the day, to a consumer, a brand experience is a brand experience. While the pandemic has accelerated multi-channel shopping behaviours, effort must be made by retailers to remind consumers of the benefits gained by using these tools to keep usage sticky as the current shopping experience is an abbreviated one and consumers are craving the past enjoyability of shopping. It is time for brands to modernize the concept of customer service to incorporate tech and omnichannel tools as a core part of a brand’s ability to meet consumer needs.

Carol Wong-Li
Associate Director Lifestyles & Leisure