Canadians are spending online, but not with Canadian retailers. Remarkably, online sales in Canada are forecasted to almost double between 2014 and 2015. According to Virtual Logistics Inc., Canadians are purchasing from multinationals such as Amazon, Costco and Walmart, with most of the remainder from out-of-country retailers. Canadian businesses are doing “very little” to combat this according to Virtual Logistics, as they are not mobile-friendly, few have websites, and some lack any web presence whatsoever.

Some of the numbers in the infographic below are staggering. Canadian online retail sales are expected to grow from $22 billion in 2014 to $40 billion in 2015, while only 12-13% of Canadian businesses sell online. Average Canadian online spending is on the rise, and the number of Canadians shopping online continues to grow. In 2014, it’s estimated that 1.5 million Canadian households shopped online for the first time, and that about 76% of all households have shopped online.

Virtual Logistics estimates that only 46% of Canadian businesses have a website, and that only 41% of small businesses have a website. Only 19% of Canadian retailers have websites optimized for mobile, while 56% of Canadians are smartphone users.

Given that almost 70% of all online purchases made by Canadians were bought from retailers outside of Canada last year, it’s time for Canadian retailers to re-examine or in some cases, examine ecommerce strategies.