Student worksheet 3
Should I sell my products online?

As a business owner, you are curious to find out how many businesses in your sector of the economy sell their goods and/or services online to other businesses and consumers. Use the following Summary tables in Canadian Statistics, Enterprises that sell goods/services over the Internet and Enterprises that purchase goods/services over the Internet, to answer Questions 1-4:

How does the proportion of businesses selling over the Internet in your sector compare to businesses in other sectors? How does your figure compare to the overall proportion of businesses selling in the private sector? (Hint: See the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) website if you're unsure what industry your business falls under.)

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What percentage of businesses in your industry buys over the internet?

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When comparing data for the last 5 years, does it appear that the percentage of firms in your sector selling their products online is changing? Describe trends (if any) that you observe in the data.

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List some of the advantages and disadvantages of selling your products or services online.

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Now, check to see what some of the other businesses in your sector perceive as important barriers to e-commerce. To do so, follow the instructions below:

E-STAT Instructions

1. On the E-STAT sidebar, select Search CANSIM.
2. In the search field, enter the table number 358-0014 and click Search. (The title of the table is "Survey of electronic commerce and technology, barriers to electronic commerce, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), annual (Percent)")
3. Under the heading Type of Internet Users select the category Users/non-users of Internet who do not use electronic commerce.
4. Under the heading Reasons why Internet users/non-users do not use electronic commerce, click the button Select all.
5. Under the heading North American Industry Classification System, click on View checklist and footnotes and check the box marked "Private sector" (the Private sector includes all private (non-government) businesses, for example grocery stores, mining companies and gas stations. It differs from the Public sector, which consists of all provincial and federal-level government institutions, for example Canada Revenue Agency, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada).
6. Also scroll down until you find the subsector or industry which most closely resembles the type of business you have chosen and check the box (e.g. if you have a grocery store you would select "Food and beverage stores" from the menu). Be patient – you may pass many subsectors before you find the one appropriate for your business. If you are not sure which category your business belongs to, ask your teacher to help you.
7. At the bottom of the page click Return to picklist.
8. Under Reference period select the last five years.
9. Click Retrieve as a Table.
10. Under the heading SCREEN OUTPUT formats select HTML Table: Time as columns and click Retrieve Now at the bottom of the page.

How do the barriers perceived by other businesses in your industry (found in Question 5) compare to some of the disadvantages of doing business online that you listed in Question 4?

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Does your business lend itself to e-commerce? If no, can you think of some way to modify your product so as to make selling on the Internet a viable option?

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