Annual retail trade, 2014
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Released: 2016-07-18
Store and non-store retailers generated operating revenue of $557.3 billion in 2014, up 4.8% from the previous year.
The growth was concentrated in five subsectors, with motor vehicle and parts dealers, non-store retailers, general merchandise stores, gasoline stations and food and beverage stores representing 79.8% of the overall gain.
Among store retailers, motor vehicle and parts dealers posted the largest increase in total operating revenue, up 6.7% to $127.6 billion in 2014. Almost 90% of the gain was attributable to new car dealers, which registered higher sales of light trucks.
Non-store retailers generated $23.5 billion in operating revenue in 2014, an 18.7% increase over the previous year. This large gain was attributable to a 25.8% rise in the operating revenue of electronic shopping and mail-order houses, which generated $8.5 billion in sales in 2014.
The cost of goods sold by retailers, representing 73.3% of operating revenue, increased 5.2% in 2014. Total operating expenses, which include labour remuneration, grew 3.9% to $123.5 billion.
The gross margin of retailers edged down from 27.0% in 2013 to 26.7% in 2014, while operating profit margins fell slightly from 4.6% in 2013 to 4.5% in 2014. Gross margins were lower in 7 of 12 retail subsectors in 2014, led by non-store retailers, down from 28.1% in 2013 to 26.0% in 2014.
Store retailers turned over their inventory (cost of goods sold divided by the average inventory value) 5.4 times in 2014, down from 6.0 times in 2013.
Store retailers (excluding non-store retailers) are divided into chain stores and non-chain stores. Chain stores, defined as operating four or more locations within the same industry group and under the same legal ownership, have seen their market share decrease slightly over the past two years.
In 2014, chain stores accounted for over half of operating revenue of store retailers in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and British Columbia.
In-store sales accounted for 92.2% of the operating revenue of retailers in 2014, down slightly from 2013. The remaining 7.8% came from catalogue, mail order, telephone, e-commerce and other methods, such as trade shows and in-home sales.
Note to readers
Data for 2012 and 2013 have been revised.
This release combines data from the Annual Retail Trade Survey and the Annual Retail Non-store Survey. The operating profit is obtained by subtracting total operating expenses and the cost of goods sold from total operating revenues. The operating profit margin is expressed as a percentage of the total operating revenues. The gross margin is the difference between total operating revenue and the cost of goods sold, expressed as a percentage of the total operating revenues.
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