U.S. Shoppers Flock to Canada's Websites

U.S. Shoppers Heeding Loonie's Call Flock to Canada's Websites

It’s long been common practice for Americans to head north for bargains whenever the Canadian dollar falls meaningfully below the greenback. During the current slump, they’re doing so from the comfort of their homes by shopping online from small-time Canadian merchants.

The Canadian dollar — the loonie — has fallen about 18 percent against its U.S. counterpart over the past two years after flirting with parity several times in the last decade. At the same time, spending by U.S. shoppers using PayPal on Canadian websites jumped 20 percent in 2015 from the year before.

“The recent drop in the Canadian dollar presents an exciting export opportunity for Canadian businesses selling to American buyers,” Cameron Schmidt, PayPal Inc.’s Canadian general manager, said in an e-mail.

As the energy and mining industries struggle under the collapse of a decade-long bull market for commodities, Canada is turning to exports and tourism for growth. The expansion of online shopping allows that to happen without requiring Americans to dig out their passports.

Shopify Inc., Bigcommerce Inc. and Shoptiques Inc., which provide websites and services for small and medium businesses from multiple countries to sell online, all said they’ve seen an increase recently in U.S. consumers buying from Canada-based merchants.

“Across our customer base, Canadian businesses saw strong growth among U.S. shoppers in 2015,” Brent Bellm, chief executive officer of Austin, Texas-based Bigcommerce, said in an e-mail. Sales at Canadian Bigcommerce stores during the holiday shopping season rose 39 percent from the same period a year earlier, while the number of actual stores only went up 2.9 percent, he said.

There’s a high bar to entry for cross-border e-commerce into the U.S., one reason the country has one of the lowest percentages of online shoppers who buy abroad, according to eMarketer. When a customer purchases a foreign product online, getting it delivered is considered importing and the package is subject to examination from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Love it !

Lets Empty those Warehouses 

the benefit of lower dollah value!

my next vacation is in Canada!