Canada's Online Population

This morning brought yet another example of why we need this site to share knowledge about Canadian eCommerce.  My ClickZ newsletter had a link to a story about Active Home Internet Users by Country.  No Canada.  The listed Switzerland though.  All 3.7 Million of them!  There are more that that in Canada but we don't make the list.  It is not their fault I suppose. They are just spreading the word about a report from Nielsen Online but it just reinforces that information on Canadian eCommerce is hard to find!

I was able to track down the following data from Statistics Canada that was released in November of 2008 

Number and value of orders
	20051	20072
Canadians
Internet users (thousands)	16,775	19,233
Online consumers (thousands)	6,888	8,404
Number of orders
Total number (thousands)	49,425	69,886
Average number	7.2	8.3
Value of orders
Total value ($ thousands)	7,924,407	12,772,147
Average value ($)	1,150	1,520
Average value per order ($)	160	183
1. Canadians aged 18 and over. 2. Canadians aged 16 and over. Note: Readers are cautioned when comparing results to the 2005 survey, which was restricted to people aged 18 and older. In 2007, respondents aged 16 and 17 accounted for about 2% of the total online orders and 1% of their dollar value.

As noted it is hard to compare the annual data because they changed their definition but the number of orders and average value of those orders is climbing.

Remember the old quote: There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.  Use these wisely.

(Data from The Daily, a daily (surprise!) email from Stats Can that has these little gems hidden a few times a year  in the farming, construction, and manufacturing data. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/081117/dq081117a-eng.htm )