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Windsor tops Ontario online selling list

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Windsor, Ont. -

Eighty-one per cent of local businesses are selling online, according to a new report.

Officials with technology company, Square, say businesses in Windsor are the most prepared in Ontario to capture additional online sales as the holiday shopping season approaches.

“Maple products are really popular online,” Whiskey Jack Boutique co-owner Katie Stokes says.

Stokes says their Maiden Lane store has been selling plenty of Canadian related products online and that virtual sales have been a priority since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“The pandemic really pushed us to focus on our online store more than we would have originally,” Stokes says. “Being able to make sales 24/7 even when we’re not in the store is really helpful for a small business.”

A lack of American shoppers made going online a necessity according to Square economist Felipe Chacon.

“The trend of moving online and the trend of moving away from cash leapt forward anywhere from three to five years depending on where you are,” Chacon says. 

Chacon says the share of businesses selling online in Windsor was higher than most cities before the pandemic.

“Now it has moved to the top place across Canada of the 30 or so metros that we looked at.”

Chacon says Windsor’s rate of area local businesses now selling online far exceeds the national average of 58 per cent. New Ontario data from Square highlights that 63% of Ontario businesses are now selling online and the Niagara/St. Catharine’s area boasts Ontario’s fastest growing business community that’s moving online.

“We see a consistent pattern with border towns tending to edge higher on the share of businesses that are selling online,” Chacon says. “There seems to be a pattern of geographic isolation there where cities that are more remote or are an international border where there maybe isn’t as easy flow of traffic especially post-pandemic seem to have edged up higher in online sales than other places.”

Chacon believes most businesses offer online to reach a larger audience, noting customers have come to expect online options.

“Anything from curb side pickup to QR codes are just a convenience that people have come to expect now post-pandemic.”

The top Ontario cities selling online the most as of the end of August 2021:

  • Windsor                        81 per cent
  • Norfolk                          68 per cent
  • Ottawa                          66 per cent
  • Hamilton                       64 per cent
  • Kitchener-Waterloo     63 per cent
  • Toronto                           60 per cent

According to Square, October is the busiest month for businesses expanding online in preparation for the holiday and winter selling season.

Chacon tells CTV News sectors like food, drink and retail were early adopters of pushing into online spaces but that home repair companies have taken more time.

“Even home and repair type businesses in the past few months have started to feel the pull towards online more and I think that’s product of their customers expecting these options.”

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