Winter Olympics May Provide Sales Boost for Canadian Ecommerce

Retailers should also focus on Web to increase sales

NEW YORK (Feb. 4, 2010) -- Retailers will see a small uptick in sales from the 2010 Winter Olympics, but it won’t result in high gains for retailers who are already taking a hit from weak consumer confidence, according to a recent Reuters article.

Even though physical retail stores aren’t expecting a huge boost in sales around the Winter Olympics, there is an opportunity to capture more sales on their Websites. Collins Stewart forecasts that retail e-commerce sales in Canada will grow 9% in 2010, to $11.3 billion from $10.4 billion in 2009.

“Consumers visiting Vancouver, British Columbia could be exposed to unfamiliar retailers' stores, whose Websites they visit once they are gone,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst, who covers the retail market.

Retailers should take advantage of selling to internationals and people at the Olympics on their Websites and not just their physical stores. According to CyberSource, 38% of online businesses in Canada currently accept international online orders and another 8% plan to do so in 2010.

The 2010 games could inject tourism dollars into the British Columbia economy and both online and offline retail spending could benefit from the influx of people at the games.

Source: eMarketer