Online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Release date: February 5, 2021
COVID-19: A data perspective More information PDF version
Infographic: Online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic
Description: Online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic

Online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic

The first wave of COVID-19 disrupted retail sales. So what do they look like now?


Indexed monthly retail sales, e-commerce versus in-store Index (Jan 2019 = 100)
Table summary
This table displays the results of Indexed monthly retail sales. The information is grouped by Reference period (appearing as row headers), E-commerce and In-store (appearing as column headers).
Reference period E-commerce In-store
201901 100.0 100.0
201902 99.4 98.4
201903 108.0 100.5
201904 106.4 100.1
201905 113.2 101.0
201906 120.4 98.8
201907 113.5 101.6
201908 113.7 102.4
201909 116.5 98.7
201910 113.0 101.2
201911 115.8 101.3
201912 127.7 100.7
202001 113.0 102.8
202002 121.3 104.6
202003 144.9 90.7
202004 234.6 67.8
202005 242.0 80.5
202006 214.4 103.3
202007 182.8 107.8
202008 183.7 104.3
202009 198.1 107.6
Source: Statistics Canada, Monthly Retail Trade Survey.

Retail e-commerce surged in the fall after an up-and-down summer.


Changes in in-store and e-commerce sales during the pandemic, February and September 2020
Table summary
This table displays the results of Changes in in-store and e-commerce sales during the pandemic. The information is grouped by Industry subsector (appearing as row headers), Feb-20 and Sep-20, calculated using E-commerce and In-store units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Industry subsector February 2020 September 2020
E-commerce In-store
Retail trade 63% 3%
Furniture and home furnishings stores 98% 3%
Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers 140% 12%
Food and beverage stores 77% -1%
Health and personal care stores 19% 6%
Clothing and clothing accessories stores 54% -17%
Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores 61% -9%
General merchandise stores 42% 5%
Source: Statistics Canada, Monthly Retail Trade Survey.

During the pandemic, e-commerce became essential to ‘non-essential’ businesses.


Average monthly proportion of retail establishments that reported at least one day of shutdown, April–June and July–September 2020
Table summary
This table displays the results of Average monthly proportion of retail establishments that reported at least one day of shutdown. The information is grouped by Industry subsector (appearing as row headers), April–June and July–September (appearing as column headers).
Industry subsector April–June July–September
Retail trade 21% 2%
Furniture and home furnishings stores 30% 1%
Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers 11% 0%
Food and beverage stores 8% 1%
Health and personal care stores 5% 0%
Clothing and clothing accessories stores 57% 4%
Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores 42% 3%
General merchandise stores 6% 0%
Source: Statistics Canada, Monthly Retail Trade Survey.

In-store operations resumed for much of the summer following closures in the spring.

$1.6 billion in online CROSS-BORDER SHOPPING: the amount spent by Canadian households on online purchases from foreign companies was up 44% in the second and third quarters of 2020 combined, compared with 2019.

Sources: Statistics Canada, customs-based merchandise trade data; GST remittance data; and companies’ public  financial reports .

More information

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Copyright

Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2021

Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

Frequency: Occasional

Ottawa

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