US Shoppers Flock To Canada For Online Shopping

With thousands of miles of a shared border, Americans and Canadians have decades of practice skipping across the international boundary when the strength of their respective currencies suits them. When the loonie’s value drops under that of the U.S. dollar in 2016, though, customers don’t even have to make sure their passports are up to date.

In an interview with Bloomberg Business, Cameron Schmidt, PayPal’s Canadian general manager, revealed some remarkable statistics on how the digital revolution has changed U.S.-Canada cross-border commerce. Since the Canadian dollar has fallen 18 percent in comparison to the U.S. greenback, some American shoppers have predictably begun looking northward for the best possible deals.

However, unlike past years when customers were still content to physically drive across the border, in 2015, there was a 20 percent hike in the number of American consumers who were using PayPal to pay for purchases on Canadian websites — all from the comfort of their American homes.

“If businesses are willing to invest the necessary time and effort to build up an international presence and foster customer trust – cross-border trade can provide a lucrative growth avenue for 2016,” Schmidt told Bloomberg in an email.

While this might seem like waves of deal-hungry Americans are descending onto Canada’s mom-and-pop boutiques, Bloomberg noted that data from comScore in fact proved that many shoppers are simply navigating to international portals for domestic e-retailers; for example, Amazon.ca instead of Amazon.com. Total traffic to Amazon’s Canadian portal increased 161 percent in 2015, and the number of American shoppers alone doubled in December compared to a year earlier.

If anything, Schmidt said, the increase in business is as close to a win-win as retail gets — American consumers find better deals, and Canadian retailers benefit from extra business in a rough economy.

“The recent drop in the Canadian dollar presents an exciting export opportunity for Canadian businesses selling to American buyers,” Schmidt told Bloomberg.

If only they could sell at stateside prices — then they could make a killing.