Comment on Canada Business Network’s post: E-commerce in Canada is a billion-dollar industry

Three days ago, we discussed a company called Zappo, which is like Amazon. Online shopping, serving as a brand new way of shopping, is gaining its popularity around the world. At the same time, e-commerce is merging. As is mentioned in the blog post, e-commerce sales in Canada by retailers reached $7.7 billion in 2012. It is predicted that the number can continue to grow in following years.

However, this figure is never competitive to what Alibaba earned in one single day. According to Bloomberg, Alibaba Group made 35 billion Yuan ($5.75 billion) on Nov. 11th, 2013. It is hard to believe that Chinese people have such a strong buyer power.

The advantages of e-commerce are various. For example, customers do not have to carry heavy products all the way; retailers may provide cheaper stuff online; shipping industry is booming, etc.

With the wide spread of the Internet, I believe e-commerce will be more popular. Retailers should seize the opportunity to establish their own platforms to connect with their customers.

In the business model canvas, there is a column called channels. E-commerce, with no doubt, will be a new channel to connect companies and customers.

Works Cited

Lin, Liza, and Lulu Yilun Chen. “Alibaba Breaks Sales Record Amid China Singles-Day Rebate.” Bloomberg News. 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2014. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/alibaba-breaks-sales-record-on-china-singles-day-amid-discounts.html>

Canada Business Network. “Canada Business Network’s Blog.” Canada Business Network’s Blog. Blogs. 5 Sep. 2014. Web. 8 Nov. 2014. <http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/blog/entry/4778/>