ecommerce tips for canadian small businesses starting out

launching an online store sounds simpler than it is. the platform setup takes a day. the hard parts — shipping rates that make sense, payment processing that works smoothly, tax handling that keeps you compliant — take longer if you're not prepared. here's what canadian small businesses need to get right from the start.

choose the right platform for your actual situation

shopify is the default recommendation for product-based businesses in canada, and for good reason. it handles canadian payments (stripe, paypal, shopify payments), has strong shipping integrations with canada post and fedex, and the canadian tax engine is well-developed. for most product-based businesses selling to canadian and us customers, shopify is the path of least resistance.

woocommerce (wordpress) is a strong alternative if you already have a wordpress site and want to add ecommerce, or if you need more customization than shopify's plan structure allows. it requires more technical management but has no monthly platform fee beyond hosting.

custom-built stores (next.js + stripe) make sense when your business has complex requirements — subscription models, marketplace dynamics, highly custom product configurators — that out-of-the-box platforms don't handle well. the upfront cost is higher but you're not boxed in.

get your payment processing right from day one

in canada, shopify payments is available and typically the easiest setup — it's stripe underneath, with rates around 2.9% + 30 cents for domestic cards. you avoid the third-party transaction fee shopify charges if you use an external processor.

stripe is the other standard. it's developer-friendly, has excellent fraud tools, and handles both cad and usd transactions well. for businesses selling to both canadian and american customers, stripe's multi-currency support is valuable.

avoid: setting up your payment processor improperly and discovering your payouts are going to the wrong account, or that you're being charged in usd when you expected cad. take 30 minutes to verify your payout settings before launching.

canadian tax: don't guess

this is where canadian ecommerce gets genuinely complicated, and getting it wrong has real consequences.

the basics: you must collect gst/hst on most goods sold to canadian customers. the rate varies by province — ontario customers pay 13% hst, bc customers pay 5% gst + 7% pst, alberta customers pay 5% gst. some provinces require you to register for pst separately once you hit certain revenue thresholds.

shopify's tax settings handle gst/hst reasonably well if configured correctly. woocommerce requires a more manual setup. either way, talk to a canadian accountant before launching if you're unsure — the downside of getting it wrong compounds over time.

for selling to the us: you typically don't charge canadian tax to american customers. whether you need to collect us state sales tax depends on your sales volume in each state (the south dakota v. wayfair ruling changed this significantly).

shipping: be realistic about costs

shipping in canada is expensive. many new ecommerce businesses underestimate this and either absorb losses on orders or lose customers when they see the shipping charge at checkout.

practical approaches:

• build shipping into your pricing and offer "free" shipping. psychologically, "free shipping on all orders" converts better than "shipping $12.50" even when the product price is adjusted accordingly.
• set minimum order thresholds for free shipping. "free shipping on orders over $75" encourages larger baskets.
• use canada post negotiated rates. once you have a canada post business account and some volume, negotiated rates are meaningfully lower than retail.
• be transparent about delivery times. false estimates (promising 3 days and delivering in 7) create customer service problems that cost more than the initial sale.

product photography matters more than you think

this is consistently the most underinvested area in canadian small business ecommerce. your product photos are the only physical experience the customer has before buying. blurry phone photos on a cluttered background signal "small hobby project" rather than "trustworthy business."

you don't need a professional photographer. a white background, natural light, and a modern smartphone camera produce perfectly acceptable results. shoot 3–5 angles per product. show scale. show the product in use.

make returns easy and clear

canada has no legal requirement for a return policy, but customers expect one. a clear, fair return policy reduces purchase anxiety and increases conversions. "30-day returns, no questions asked" is table stakes for most product categories.

if your margins don't support free return shipping, say so clearly. hidden return costs discovered after purchase are a bigger trust-breaker than upfront clarity.

launch with less, iterate fast

the biggest mistake new ecommerce businesses make is spending 6 months perfecting the store before showing it to anyone. launch with your 10–20 best products, a clean simple design, and working payment and shipping. then improve based on what real customers do.

if you're building an online store for your ottawa or canadian business and want advice on the right platform and setup, nanushi helps businesses get ecommerce right from the start.