Today, the web has completely changed the way individuals purchase goods and businesses market their products. People are gradually turning to the Internet to get goods and services, ranging from cell phones to computers, clothes to shoes, books to electronics. This has contributed to the growth of innovative dot-com businesses and ultimately creative jobs.
The popularity of e-commerce is not restricted to developing countries. The Canada market is experiencing tremendous growth in e-commerce, much like the American or European economies, such as computer literacy rate, PC ownership and Internet users.
This paper analyzes and lists the factors that contributed to Canada’s rapid growth in e-commerce and explains how it creates many new jobs.
Exponential rise in Canada Internet use
Using the Internet in Canada a few years back was like using high-end technology; it was only available to those who could afford a private computer and high Internet prices. The situation has entirely changed today. With cheaper rates and expanded access, the number of Internet users in the last 10 years has risen exponentially. The number of Internet users has grown from just 1.4 million in 1998 to 121 million in 2011 and is projected to hit 376 million by 2015.
Online procurement on the rise
E-commerce remains in its budding phase in Canada. But if we look at the trends in consumer behavior, we expect lots of stuff to happen in the coming years in the online space.
Shopping is, according to Zinnia’s study, the third hottest search category on the site. Though 77 percent of respondents shopped online at least once in 3 months, more than 50 percent shopped within the last month at least once.
Demand for e-commerce in Canada
As more and more individuals show interest in online shopping, investors in Canada find it worth investing. In line with the Forrester report, Canada’s existing e-commerce market is US$ 1.6 billion and is projected to rise to US$ 8.8 billion fivefold by 2016.
In Canada, e-commerce success stories
Many businesses in Canada have already joined the online space and experienced success that they never expected. Canada railways web portal – IRCTC; online bus booking services such as Red Bus; online work portals such as Nauru, Monster; movie booking, marriage services, etc., are a few of Canada’s major hit portals. In April 2012, IRCTC earned 5.56 million bookings compared to 2.26 lakh in April 2011, achieving a 146 percent growth rate during the year.
E-commerce and digital advertising growth
With as many as 121 million Internet users, advertisers find the Internet a location worth following. As of March 2012, digital advertising spending in Canada was 28.51 billion in line with IAMAI, and it is forecast to hit 43.91 billion at the top of 2012. On average, digital ad spending is rising year-on-year by 25 percent.
Outsourcing for digital marketing
In addition, e-commerce is a long-term market in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, etc., and the use of SEO and SEM techniques has been in practice for a few years. Digital marketing offshoring must also have begun in Canada. The number of digital marketing services in Canada firms will also grow as demand rises. We would expect a good number of career opportunities in this sector because the field has demand at both national and international levels.
NASSCOM (The National Association of Software and Services Firms) recently made an announcement that Canada e-commerce and digital advertising companies are being promoted in the US and European markets. This demonstrates the seriousness of the opportunity in the e-commerce sector.
Businesses are gradually using Internet marketing tactics to gain competitive advantage as ecommerce evolves as a lucrative market. The implementation of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) techniques became extremely critical in order for them to stay at the top of the program results.
Without a question, all of the above point to an overwhelming demand for experts in digital marketing. As this area is very specific and involves fairly complex skills, it is likely that specialized service providers will meet the needs of digital marketing. It is now difficult to predict whether businesses prefer outside digital marketing companies or in-house digital marketing experts. Perhaps, it doesn’t even matter, what’s important is, now and in the near future, there is an immense need for digital marketing professionals.
You want them to buy from you for something, but you want to spend a while building up the benefits and wooing them to persuade them to compromise with you over your rivals.
A funnel of lead generation revolves around an outsized number of names that are poured into the funnel. You identify viable goals over time, and ideally turn those goals into opportunities and ultimately convert them to consumers as they travel down the funnel to get them.
In the world of insurance sales, direct marketing goes back a long way, but the web has made it much easier for insurance providers to strive for new goals and follow up with prospective customers instantly.
