rst implication is related to e-commerce growth as an industry in Canada. A website, is essential for allowing SMEs to participate in e-commerce. Mohammad (2018) and Burnett (2017) have linked the slow growth of e-commerce in Canada on the reluctance of SMEs to adopt new technologies such as websites. It is important to note that Canada is considered a laggard in e-commerce when compared to other markets. Canada trails the USA in total retail e-commerce sales by a large margin. In 2018, Statistica reported that retail e- commerce in the USA sales grew by 13% to $504 million. This sales figure is approximately 10 times larger than the total recorded by Statistica for Canada in 2018.

While SMEs may not be entirely at fault they play a vital role in the economy and therefore are believed to contributes to the problem. Statistics Canada (2019) explain that SMEs account for 54.2% of the economic output of the business sector. The largest number of SMEs can be found in the retail and wholesale trade sectors. Therefore it can be argued that the failure of SMEs to adopt websites and new technologies can threaten e-commerce growth and even the economic growth of Canada. As it can result in missed opportunities that could contribute to the growth of e-commerce sales and success of Canadians businesses.

These missed opportunities are another major implication. SMEs could be left behind in favour of other businesses that have websites. Websites are not only an important e-commerce tool, but it can be a useful source of information for consumers. Therefore SMEs that choose to not create a website could find it difficult to compete or differentiate themselves in a market where their competitors have websites. Research by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRCA) found that consumers tend to view SMEs without websites less favourably.

A CIRCA (2016) Internet Tracking Study found that Canadian consumers are less likely to trust businesses without a website. The study also found that consumers thought SMEs without a website looked less credible (CIRA, 2016).

By not having a website, most SMEs in Canada are missing a large opportunity for e- commerce sales in the B2B sector. Laudon and Traver (2017) explains that business to business (B2B) sales is the largest form of e-commerce in the U.S. with over $6.7 trillion USD in transactions in 2016. In Canada, e-commerce has become an important part of the B2B retail landscape. A study by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Purolator (2016) found “B2B online selling is already a major part of doing business in Canada” today. Of the 400 retailers surveyed by Forrester Consulting, half of B2B sellers indicated that over 25% of their sales took place online. Purolator (2016) war