Almost double the number of Canadian households bought online from home in 2000 compared to 1999 (12.3 per cent vs. 6.9 per cent), according to a Statistics Canada survey.

The 2000 Household Internet Use Survey (HIUS) shows that Canadian households almost tripled the value of their online purchases in 2000 compared to 1999 ($1.1 billion vs. $417 million, for a 264-per-cent increase).

Despite the increase, notes the survey, the value of orders placed over the Internet constituted a fraction of the $591 billion in total personal expenditure in Canada in 2000.

From January to December 2000, an estimated 1.5 million households placed 9.1 million orders over the Internet. This compares with 3.3 million orders placed by some 806,000 households during the previous survey period from December 1998 to November 1999.

In 1999, “window-shopper households” (those using the Internet to narrow their purchasing decisions but not ordering or purchasing online), comprised the majority of Internet shoppers. The situation was reversed in 2000, when “e-commerce households” were the majority.

In all, 2.6 million households used the Internet in 2000 to either window shop or place an order online.

The survey, conducted in January 2001, found that purchases for all product categories rose last year. The most popular categories were books, magazines and newspapers; clothing, jewelry and accessories; computer software; travel arrangements; and music (CDs, cassettes, MP3).

The dollar value of e-commerce purchases in 2000 grew in all regions of Canada with Ontario, Alberta and Quebec showing the largest increases. Each Alberta e-commerce household spent $973 on average, the highest of any province, and placed an average of 6.8 orders.

More than 51 per cent of Canadian households were connected to the Internet in 2000, up from 42 per cent in 1999.

The StatsCan survey found that 45 per cent of online purchases were made to businesses outside Canada. These figures are unchanged from 1999.

Despite the increase in products ordered, respondents said they were just as concerned for the security of financial transactions over the Internet as in previous years.

This is the fourth year for HIUS, and the second year for the e-commerce supplement, which measures online shopping and purchases for Canadian households. StatsCan compiled the figures from 33,832 household interviews. Residents of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut were not included.

Web Watch:
www.ecom.ic.gc.ca