Shopping online this week? Quebecers have mixed feelings about it

Many Quebecers will be heading across the border on Black Friday, looking to cash in on the shopping frenzy that follows American Thanksgiving.

But many others will turn to their home computers instead of taking a road trip, a trend that is getting a mixed reaction from merchants and shoppers in the province.

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DaveGilliesofLennoxville,Que.,sometimesgoes online if hecan't find what he's looking for in town, but he prefers to support local businesses.

"If everyone starts buying online there will be no more independent stores," he said.

Gilliessaid he gets frustrated with big box stores, citing a recent quest to find a simple ladder hook.

"I went to four different big box stores, and they all had exactly the same stuff,"he said. "I finally went to a local fabricator, and I had him make me what I wanted."

MelissaWilson said she, too, likes to support local stores, but she goes online to get goods she can't find in Rimouski, where she lives, such as English-language books.

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Billions of dollars leaving Quebec

In an Oct. 2015 report one-commerce, HEC Montreal reported, "WhileQuebecersare buying $6.6billion of goods and services online every year, Quebecretailers account for barely $1.7billion in sales to these online buyers meaning that $4.9billion goes to companies outside the province."

That retail realityworries Peter Simons, the CEO of Simons,the 175-year-old clothing retailer whose headquarters are stillin the original store in Old Quebec.The company has 13 stores across Canada, as well as awebsite.

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"Being a business in a community, there's responsibilities, and we have certain values as a society that we need to finance, such as health care and children's education and roads," Simonssaid.

Simons said retail giants are not paying for the cost ofusing the province's infrastructure.

"You can't deliver your packages on the roads in Quebec and not pay your fair share," he said, adding he'd like governments to consider the impact of online shopping in their fiscal decisions and policy-making.

Simons sells online as well, but he said his stores try to focus on improving the shopping experience through design, environmental measures and strong service.

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Booming online business

The most recent datafrom Statistics Canada shows that e-commerce sales make up only1.9 to 2.3 per centoftotalretailsales for Canadian businesses.

Altitude Sports is an exception, doing 99 per cent of its business online.

The company has two retail stores one in Montreal and one in Mont Tremblant but its web-basedsales date back to 1999.

Altitude Sports' marketing manager Mark Smithsaid the company's customer base is Canada-wide, although it attracts clients from the U.S. and beyond.

"The people we see online, they really want a vast selection at their fingertips instantly," Smith said. "I don't think a physical store could hold all the product we have on our website in an easy way."

He said the competition online is fierce because shoppers are looking for the best price.

"Every competitor, every product is just a click away, so that really pushes businesses like ours to stay competitive," he said.

Altitude Sports employs roughly 100 people during the busiest season. Smith said the company also participates in a charity project, sendingused jacketsto the Old Brewery Mission in Montreal

"There is definitely a way for online businesses to help communities," Smith said.

Shoooping.ca lets David take on Goliath

Tech columnist and entrepreneur Franois Charronis trying to help small business owners in Quebec get over their fear factor and establish an online presence.

"They are so afraid because they see their businesses going down," he said.

"They know that the web is the thing, but they don't know how to go there,"Charronsaid. "They think that they need to puttonnesof money to go online and that they need to understandtonnesof stuff."

Last September, Charronlaunched shoooping.ca.

2,000 Quebec businesses are now using the site, helping them compete with giants such as Amazon and eBay.

Charron's website takes the work out of it, and he says business only have to pay $20 to post on the platform.