Ecommerce and retail

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This page is for owners of ecommerce and retail businesses in Canada: online stores, marketplace sellers, wholesalers that take orders online, and physical shops from grocers and florists to furniture showrooms, pet stores, boutiques and licensed cannabis retailers. It explains how shoppers find and choose a store today, which channels move product, what the retail calendar asks of your marketing, the rules on pricing and promotion, and how fees are set. Canada Create is a Toronto digital agency with an office at 126 Willowdale Avenue, Suite 3, serving retailers and brands across Canada since 2008. Each section links to the page where we go deeper on one trade or one channel.

Contents

• The kinds of stores this hub covers
• How shoppers search, compare and decide
• Search visibility for products and store locations
• The online store, checkout and product content
• Shopping feeds, Amazon and paid social
• Email, loyalty, CS+ and AI for repeat sales
• The retail calendar, from flyers to Boxing Day
• Rules and privacy to plan for
• How we work with store owners
• What drives the cost
• How to choose an agency for your store
• Your next step

The kinds of stores this hub covers

Retail is many businesses that happen to share a till. A grocer lives on the weekly flyer and the walk from the parking lot; a direct to consumer skincare brand lives on product pages, shipping promises and the second order. The groups below each have their own page, because the work changes with the way their buyers shop.

Online stores and direct to consumer brands

Brands that sell mainly through their own Shopify or WooCommerce store need traffic that converts at a cost the product can carry. The levers are category pages that rank, product detail pages with clear photos, sizes and shipping times, a feed that keeps Shopping ads accurate, and email that turns a first order into a habit. When you want one team to plan and run the whole online side, start with our ecommerce agency service. When the store itself needs building or rebuilding, our ecommerce website builds and Shopify development for Canadian brands cover the platform work, and custom Shopify app development handles the features a theme cannot do on its own, such as a product configurator or a custom subscription box flow.

Marketplace sellers

Many brands sell on Amazon alongside their own site. The marketplace brings shoppers who are ready to buy, but it sets the rules, owns the customer relationship and charges for visibility. Listing quality, review volume, stock levels and advertising all decide whether your product appears on the first screen. Our Sponsored product and brand campaigns on Amazon are managed with your own site in mind, so the two channels support each other rather than bidding against each other for the same shopper.

B2B and wholesale ordering

Distributors and brands that sell to other stores, salons, clinics or offices need trade pricing behind a login, minimum order quantities, account terms the owner sets, quick reorder and purchase order fields. Retail shoppers should never see those wholesale tiers. We set up wholesale ordering on Shopify for companies that want their trade buyers to order online instead of by email and phone.

Grocery stores and supermarkets

Independent grocers, ethnic supermarkets, butchers and bakeries compete on freshness, specials, selection and convenience. Shoppers check opening hours, look for a weekly flyer, and choose by distance and what they can find on the shelf that the chain store down the road does not carry. Our marketing plans for grocery stores cover the whole picture, from the Google Business Profile to loyalty email, and weekly specials advertising for grocers puts the flyer in front of nearby households on search, maps and social.

Furniture and home stores

Furniture is a considered purchase. A couple may browse for weeks, compare fabrics and dimensions online, visit two showrooms and then decide on delivery dates and financing. That means the website must show real room photos, measurements and lead times, while ads keep the store in mind through a long decision. We offer the full marketing plan for furniture retailers and focused showroom visit campaigns for furniture stores for owners who want the paid side only.

Florists

Flower shops sell by occasion and by deadline: a birthday today, a sympathy arrangement for a service tomorrow, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day for everyone at once. Buyers want to see the arrangement, pick a delivery area and time, write a card message and pay in a few taps on a phone. Our online ordering websites for florists are built around that path, with delivery zones and cut off times the shop controls.

Pet stores

Pet supply stores win on trust and repeat visits. Owners come back for the same food every few weeks, ask staff for advice, and choose shops that carry specialty diets, offer grooming or host adoption days. Searches are local and practical: the brand of food plus the neighbourhood, or a pet store open now. Our advertising that brings pet owners into the store focuses on those nearby searches and on reorder reminders.

Fashion, clothing and jewellery boutiques

Fashion and jewellery sell on image, fit and confidence. Shoppers discover pieces on Instagram and TikTok, then search the brand name, check the size guide and return policy, and look for the item in stock in their size. Fashion marketing for apparel brands covers the brand and campaign side, SEO for clothing and jewellery stores covers collection and product page visibility, and paid social and search for fashion and jewellery covers ads built around new drops and seasonal edits.

Licensed cannabis retailers

Cannabis stores face tight promotion limits, and several ad platforms restrict the category. Organic search and the Google Business Profile carry much of the load, with menus, store hours and accurate product information doing the selling within the rules. Our search visibility for licensed cannabis stores is written with those limits in mind.

Specialty shops and omnichannel retailers

Bike shops, kitchen stores, toy stores, bookshops, gift shops and hardware stores often sell both in store and online. That omnichannel setup brings its own questions: does the website show live stock by location, can a shopper buy online and pick up in store, and do the loyalty points work in both places? Our retail marketing agency service is the place to start when store visits and online sales need to grow together.

How shoppers search, compare and decide

Retail buyers move between three kinds of searches, often within the same afternoon. Knowing which one your store depends on tells you where to spend first.

Product searches

A shopper types the product itself: a model number, a brand and size, a style of sofa, a dog food formula. These searches lead to Google Shopping results, marketplace listings and product pages. The store that wins usually has the item in stock, shows a clear price with shipping, loads fast on a phone and has reviews on the product page. Thin product descriptions copied from the manufacturer rarely stand out, because every other reseller has the same text.

Store type and near me searches

Searches such as florist near me, furniture store open now or Korean grocery in the neighbourhood lead to the map pack. Here the Google Business Profile decides: the right category, current hours including holiday hours, real photos of the aisles and the storefront, recent reviews with replies, and product or menu information where the profile allows it. A shopper standing in a parking lot will not scroll far.

Brand and research searches

Once a shopper has heard of you from a friend, a post or an ad, they search your name. They want your own site, your return policy, your shipping times and what other people say. Brand searches are often the cheapest sales you will ever make, which is why it matters that your own pages and profiles answer them before a reseller or a review site does.

What tips the decision

• Price, shown honestly with shipping, duties where they apply, and any fees included up front.
• Delivery dates and pickup options, stated before checkout.
• A return policy that is easy to find and easy to read.
• Photos that show the product in use, at real scale, in real light.
• Stock accuracy, online and on the shelf.
• Reviews on the product page and on the Google Business Profile.
• Payment options the shopper already uses.

Search visibility for products and store locations

Search covers two jobs for a retailer: getting product and category pages found by shoppers who know what they want, and getting each store location found by shoppers who want it nearby. Our search engine optimization service covers both, and the trade pages above apply it to each kind of store.

Category and product pages

In most stores, category pages carry the most valuable organic traffic, because they match broad searches such as linen bedding or grain free cat food. Each category needs its own written introduction, filters that do not create thousands of duplicate pages, and links to the products that matter. Product pages need unique descriptions, structured data for price and availability, and photos with useful alt text. Our category and product page SEO handles this for catalogues of any size, including the technical clean up after a platform move.

Store pages and local inventory

A retailer with one or more physical locations should have a page for each store on its site, with the address, hours, parking, accessibility notes, services offered at that location and what makes it different. Where the platform supports it, showing which products are in stock at each store helps shoppers who search for an item nearby. Our local search work for store locations connects those store pages with the map results.

Google Business Profile for each location

Every location needs its own verified profile in the business name, with the main category chosen carefully, opening hours updated for every statutory holiday, posts for current specials and events, and a steady flow of photos. Questions from shoppers should get answers, and reviews deserve replies. Google Business Profile management takes that monthly work off the owner's desk, and review and reputation care helps when a product problem turns into a run of complaints.

AI answers and shopping assistants

Shoppers increasingly ask AI assistants which stroller suits a small apartment or where to buy a particular tea locally. Those answers draw on clear, factual pages: product specifications, comparison content, store details and consistent information across the web. Our visibility in AI search answers work focuses on making your store the source those answers can quote accurately. No one can promise a mention, but a store with clear facts is easier to cite.

The online store, checkout and product content

Every channel on this page sends people to the same place, so the store itself sets the ceiling on what marketing can do. A slow theme, a confusing size chart or a surprise fee at checkout wastes every click you paid for.

Shopify or WooCommerce

Both platforms run well for Canadian stores. Shopify is hosted, quick to launch and has a large app ecosystem, which suits most direct to consumer brands and stores that want the platform to handle security and updates. WooCommerce runs on WordPress, gives full control of the code and the hosting, and suits stores with heavy content, unusual product logic or an existing WordPress site. The deciding questions are your catalogue size, the systems you must connect, who will maintain it, and how much custom work your products need. Platform subscriptions, apps and payment processing are paid to those vendors and shown separately from our fees.

Checkout, shipping and return policy pages

Shoppers abandon carts when shipping costs appear late, when delivery dates are vague or when the checkout asks for an account before payment. A fast checkout with guest purchase, saved wallets, clear shipping thresholds, taxes shown by province and a visible return policy page removes most of those exits. Shopify conversion rate optimization tests these changes on real traffic, so decisions come from what shoppers do, not from opinion.

Product photography and video

Photos sell the product before the copy does. A consistent set of clean white background shots, lifestyle images, detail close ups and scale shots helps shoppers decide and reduces returns. Our product photography covers catalogue and lifestyle shoots, and product and store video produces short clips for product pages, Reels and ads.

Speed, accessibility and upkeep

Large images, too many apps and heavy scripts slow stores down, and mobile shoppers leave quickly. Stores selling in Ontario should also plan for AODA and build to WCAG so every shopper can browse and buy with a keyboard or a screen reader. Website maintenance and security keeps plugins, themes and payment pages patched after launch.

Shopping feeds, Amazon and paid social

Paid channels give retailers control over timing, which matters when a promotion ends on Sunday. Each one rewards a different kind of preparation.

Product feeds and Google Shopping

Google Shopping ads and free product listings run from a product feed submitted through a Google Merchant account. The feed carries titles, prices, availability, images, identifiers and shipping details, and Google checks that they match your site. A feed with weak titles, missing sizes or out of date prices earns fewer impressions or gets products disapproved. Fixing the feed is often the cheapest improvement a store can make to paid results.

Shopping campaigns across Google placements

Performance Max campaigns use the feed together with images, video and text to show ads across Google's search, Shopping, YouTube and display placements. They work well when conversion tracking is accurate and the campaign is told which products matter, and less well when they are left to spend on whatever sells easily. Our paid campaigns for Shopify brands and broader Google Ads management set campaigns up around product groups, seasons and the profit each line can carry. Ad spend is paid to Google and shown separately from our fees.

Amazon advertising

On Amazon, the listing and the ad work together: an ad that sends shoppers to a listing with poor images and few reviews burns budget. A brand selling on Amazon should decide which products belong there, protect its brand name searches, and track how marketplace sales affect its own store. The question of whether to sell on Amazon at all depends on your product, your pricing room and how much control of the customer you are willing to give up.

Paid social for product discovery

Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are where many shoppers first see a product they did not know they wanted. Short video, try on clips, unboxing and creator content perform well for fashion, beauty, home and gifts. Meta campaigns for Facebook and Instagram and Instagram Reels and Stories ads can run from the same catalogue as Shopping, so ads show the right product at the current price.

Local campaigns for store visits

Physical stores can run ads that show directions, hours and current specials to people within a short drive. These campaigns are measured by calls, direction requests and store visit estimates where the platform offers them, along with sales from any codes used at the till.

Email, loyalty, CS+ and AI for repeat sales

For most stores the first sale barely pays for the ad that brought the shopper in. The profit sits in the second, third and tenth order, which is why owned channels deserve as much planning as paid ones.

Email and text flows

A welcome series for new subscribers, abandoned cart and browse reminders, post purchase care tips, reorder prompts timed to how long a bag of food or a bottle of shampoo lasts, and win back messages for lapsed shoppers. These automated flows usually earn more than one off campaigns. Email flows and campaigns for Shopify stores set them up inside your store platform, and our wider email marketing programs cover newsletters, segmentation and the flyer email for physical stores.

Loyalty that works in store and online

Points, member pricing, birthday offers and early access to sales keep shoppers coming back. The setup must recognize the same shopper at the till and online, explain the rules clearly and respect consent for every message it sends. A simple program people understand beats a complex one nobody uses.

CS+ for special orders, wholesale and showroom leads

Not every retail sale happens at a checkout. Custom furniture orders, large event flower orders, wholesale enquiries and corporate gift requests arrive as forms, calls and messages that someone must follow up. CS+ is our CRM: we set it up and connect it to your forms, phone line and store so each enquiry gets an owner, a reminder and a record. See CS+ CRM setup and automation for how it fits a store.

AI for answering shopper questions

Shoppers ask the same questions all day: do you have this in stock, what time do you close, do you deliver to my area, where is my order. An AI receptionist that answers store calls can handle those questions by phone and chat, pass complex requests to staff, and take messages after hours, using only the store information you approve.

The retail calendar, from flyers to Boxing Day

Retail marketing runs on dates. Planning backwards from each one avoids the scramble of building a holiday campaign while the season is already under way.

Holiday season, Black Friday and Boxing Day

The stretch from Black Friday through Boxing Day is the busiest period for most Canadian retailers. Product pages, gift guides, shipping cut off dates and holiday store hours should be ready well before November, ad accounts should have history and working tracking, and email lists should be warm. Promotions must state real prices and real comparisons, and the shipping deadline banner matters as much as the discount.

Back to school and seasonal changeovers

Late summer brings back to school shopping for clothing, shoes, electronics, stationery and dorm furniture. Spring and fall bring wardrobe changes, patio and garden ranges, and home refresh season for furniture stores. Each changeover means updating category pages, feeds and ad creative so last season's stock stops getting paid clicks.

Weekly specials and flyers

Grocers, pet stores and many specialty shops run on a weekly rhythm. The flyer should appear on the website as a readable page, not only as a PDF, go out by email to subscribers, show up in Google Business Profile posts, and feed local ads for the week. A consistent day for the new flyer trains regular shoppers to look for it.

Gift days and store events

Valentine's Day and Mother's Day define the florist year. Lunar New Year, Diwali, Eid and other celebrations matter for grocers and gift shops serving those communities. In store events such as tastings, trunk shows, adoption days and workshops give shoppers a reason to visit and give you content for social and email.

Rules and privacy to plan for

Retail advertising in Canada carries clear rules on price and promotion. They are the store owner's responsibility, and we plan campaigns around them. This is a marketing observation, not legal advice.

Pricing and sale claims

The federal Competition Act prohibits misleading representations. In practice, the price you advertise should be the price a shopper can actually pay, with mandatory fees included rather than added at the end of checkout. A sale price compared to a regular price should reflect a regular price the product genuinely sold at, and claims about how a product performs should be supportable before they run.

Online selling disclosures

Each province has consumer protection rules for online sales. Ontario, for example, requires certain information to be shown to a shopper before an internet purchase is completed, such as a description of the goods, the total cost and delivery details. Your checkout, shipping page and return policy page should be written with your province's rules in mind.

Cannabis, alcohol and regulated goods

Licensed cannabis retailers follow the federal Cannabis Act promotion limits as well as provincial rules, overseen in Ontario by the AGCO. In general terms, lifestyle advertising is not allowed, and nothing may appeal to young people. Alcohol retail follows provincial liquor rules. Many other goods, from children's products to cosmetics and food, carry product safety and labelling rules that affect what product pages and ads may say.

Quebec

Stores selling into Quebec must plan for the Charter of the French Language, which affects product information, websites and commercial advertising, and for Quebec Law 25, which sets rules for personal information. Our team works in English and French.

Consent and shopper data

A store collects more personal information than most owners realize: purchase histories, delivery addresses, birthdays for the loyalty club, phone numbers for pickup texts. Under CASL, a promotional email or text to any of those shoppers needs their consent, must say clearly that it comes from your store, and must carry an unsubscribe that works. PIPEDA, in general terms, expects you to collect only what you need and protect it. Purchase patterns can reveal sensitive things, such as a pregnancy or a health condition, so keep those out of analytics audiences and ad targeting.

How we work with store owners

The work follows the same order for a single boutique or a chain of stores, and every stage leaves you with something in writing.

1. A free review: we look at your store website or listings, product feed, Google Business Profiles, ad accounts, email flows and analytics, and tell you plainly where sales are leaking.
2. A written plan and proposal: the channels that fit your catalogue and season, the order of work and the fees, all quoted in writing. Ad spend, platform subscriptions and apps are listed separately. You get a proposal in one business day.
3. Build and set up: tracking first, so every order and call can be counted, then pages, feeds, campaigns, flows and CS+, at agreed milestones.
4. Launch: we place test orders and check every checkout path on a phone before campaigns spend.
5. Monthly reporting: revenue and orders by channel, ad spend, return on that spend, products that sold most, store calls and direction requests, with what changes next month.

Accounts in your business name

Your store platform, domain, Google Merchant account, ad accounts, analytics, Google Business Profiles, email platform and customer list are set up in your business name with you as owner. We work inside them as managers, so the history and the data stay with the store.

Copy written from your shop floor

The strongest product descriptions come from the people who sell the product. We ask your team what shoppers ask at the counter and turn that into category introductions, buying guides and FAQs. Content writing for product and category pages covers this work for catalogues that need many pages written well.

What drives the cost

There are no published prices. Every fee is quoted in writing after a free consultation, because a single location florist and a national online brand with thousands of products need very different amounts of work. Ad spend, marketplace fees, platform subscriptions, apps and payment processing are paid to those vendors and shown separately from our fees.

The main cost drivers

• Catalogue size: how many categories and products need pages, feed fixes and photography.
• The number of store locations, each with its own profile and page.
• Whether the store needs a new build, a platform move or improvements to the current site.
• How many paid channels run, and how often creative must change with the season.
• The depth of email flows, loyalty and CS+ follow up.
• Regulated categories, such as cannabis, alcohol or children's products, which need careful review of every claim.
• Bilingual content for stores selling into Quebec.

Where small stores often start

An independent shop usually gets the most from a complete Google Business Profile, a working product feed and a simple welcome and reorder email flow. Paid campaigns and larger builds come once those foundations are counting sales properly.

How to choose an agency for your store

Agencies that sell to retailers range from feed specialists to full service teams. Whoever you talk to, these questions will show you how they think about your store.

Questions to ask

• Who owns the accounts? The answer should be you: the store platform, Merchant account, ad accounts, analytics, domain and customer list.
• How will you report revenue, and does the report show return on ad spend by product group, not just clicks?
• Which products would you push first, and why?
• How do you handle a sale period, from pricing claims to shipping cut offs?
• Who writes product and category copy, and who approves it?
• How do online campaigns account for sales in the physical store?
• What happens to the feed when prices or stock change daily?

Signs to look for

A capable agency asks about your product costs and return rates before talking about ad budgets, wants tracking fixed before campaigns run, and talks about your shoppers in your trade's own words. Be wary of anyone who promises rankings or a fixed return on spend, or who wants the ad account set up in their own name. You can read more about how Canada Create started and how we work.

Your next step

Send us your store link and the date of your next big promotion. We will check the product feed, the Google Business Profile for each location, the checkout on a phone and the flows that follow a first order, then come back with a written plan and fees quoted in writing before that season starts. Reach our Toronto office at (416) 273-9030, use the 24/7 toll free line at +1 (800) 808-9235, or write through the contact page. We reply within one business day.