5 Questions for your Canadian E-commerce Strategy

Canadian retailers are apparently missing the boat when it comes to attracting online shoppers; at least that seems to be the conclusion from a news story ran last year.

Citing a study on e-commerce conducted for Google, the study estimates Canadian online consumption is expected to almost double during the 2010 – 2016 period to about $51 billion. The story goes on to report that small and medium sized businesses in Canada have been more reluctant than their peers elsewhere in the world to develop e-commerce strategies.

It may also be that many retailers are have not committed to a comprehensive online strategy but at Vangenne & Company we have experience with traditional marketing methods as well as the unique pitfalls and issues with online marketing strategies. We can guide you through some of the important issues with online retailing such as:

  1.  Your website and company privacy policy and its’ compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act,
  2. Clear and binding terms and conditions. Often consumers, and retailers, are unaware of when an e-commerce contract becomes binding and what rights and obligations exist if the consumer, or retailer, wants to cancel a contract.
  3. Be sure to clearly indicate the return policy and ensure you know, and can comply with, your obligations under the policy.
  4. Think about the other aspects of your online business model including the rights to any user generated content and making sure your own materials comply with copyright laws.
  5. Ask if you are targeting your market correctly, it may be appropriate to have multiple language versions of your website available such as French, Mandarin, Punjabi or others.

If your small to medium sized business is considering, or more importantly hasn’t considered, an e-commerce strategy, talk with us; at Vangenne & Company we can provide broad analysis of your strategy and implementation timelines to ensure that oversights leading to unexpected liability do not prevent you from realizing your expected return on investment in e-commerce.

By Robert T. Vangenne