Canadians are still cautious about e-commerce, according to a new survey by Taylor Nelson Softres (TNS), with fewer than two-fifths planning to do any online shopping this year, writes eMarketer. Among the three-fifths of Canadians who do not shop online, 42 percent said they prefer to shop in stores, and 16 percent said they want to examine a product in person before buying. The top e-commerce sites in Canada tend not to be online-only entities. Sears.ca and Futureshop.ca lead in online commerce, followed by Indigo.ca, Amazon.ca and Canadiantire.ca.

TNS estimates that online retail sales will reach $1.8 billion Canadian by the end of 2005 - an increase of about $300 million from 2004.