I recently attended 2 Canadian conference/trade shows and had the pleasure of listening to some great presentations regarding Internet Marketing in general and Internet Marketing with a focus on the Canadian landscape.

The keynote at each conference was that of Kerry Munro, GM of Yahoo! Canada. Here are some of the highlights I picked up from his presentation:

* 78% of Canadians (over 5 years of age) are online.

* 78% of Canadians research products and services online before purchasing either online or in-store.

* Their research shows that house hold income can be directly tied to online usage. The higher the household income, the greater the amount of time spent online.

One of the points that really hits home is that while an online presence and ecommerce functionality may not result in greater sales via the web, it is almost guaranteed to have a direct and positive impact on your bricks-and-mortar store. Best Buy was sighted as an example of a company that saw a 19% increase in in-store traffic directly as a result of their website. Canadians like to research online but tend to purchase off line. It was noted that the average buyer will visit a website 42 times to research a product or service before making a buying decision (usually buying off line). The real key there is that users, no matter where they buy, first look online.