Chrome began switching off third-party cookies for a small portion of its users on January 4. The share is one percent. This is modest, and for a small shop in Quebec it will likely change nothing this month. It does, however, indicate the direction of the market, and it is one of about five developments we highlight when clients ask us what is changing in online sales this year.
Here is our overview for 2024, prepared for small operators: the craft shop, the bakery that ships jam, the outfitter selling gift cards, the one-person brand on Instagram. It is not intended for businesses with a warehouse and a dedicated team.
Why does mobile checkout speed matter so much?
Because most of the people who find your products are on a phone. They may be waiting in line at the grocery store, or on the couch, half watching something. If your checkout asks them to create an account, enter a postal code twice and look for a promo code field, many of them will leave. We have observed this pattern in analytics data many times.
The effective solutions are straightforward: guest checkout; Apple Pay and Google Pay; Shop Pay if you use Shopify, since customers who have already saved it can pay in two taps; large buttons; and shipping costs shown early rather than as a surprise on the last screen.
We recommend a simple test this week. Buy something from your own store on your phone, using cellular data with the Wi-Fi off, and time the process. If it takes more than a couple of minutes, that is your first project for the year, and a better use of your budget than a new ad campaign.
Should you sell on marketplaces or on your own store?
Both, because marketplaces bring reach and your own store preserves margin. The main marketplaces include Amazon, Etsy, Walmart's marketplace and, for local sales, Facebook Marketplace. Temu and Shein ads are now widespread, pushing prices to levels no small Canadian maker can match. Competing with them on price is not a viable strategy.
The strength of marketplaces is that the buyers are already there. Someone searching Etsy for a hand-thrown mug is ready to buy a mug. That kind of traffic is difficult to attract to your own site.
The cost, however, is significant: fees on every sale, rules that change without consultation, and a customer relationship that belongs to the platform. You often do not receive a usable email address, which makes it difficult to sell to that person again.
We therefore recommend using both channels. Use a marketplace to learn what sells and to reach new customers. Then give buyers a reason to order from your own store next time: a card in the box, a small discount for ordering direct, or a newsletter that offers genuine value. Your own online store is where you keep both the margin and the customer relationship.
What can social selling offer Canadian businesses today?
TikTok Shop launched in the United States in September. It is not yet open to Canadian sellers, and we advise against building a plan around a feature that is not available here. The tools that are available are more than sufficient: Instagram and Facebook shops connected to a product catalogue, Pinterest product pins, and short videos that link to a product page.
In our observation, the businesses that perform well on social media are not those with the most polished ads. They show the product being made, used and packed. A 20-second video of someone wrapping an order in the back room sells more than a polished banner. Customers want to see that there is a person behind the shop, particularly when the rest of their feed comes from warehouses overseas.
One caution applies: social reach rises and falls according to what each platform chooses to promote in a given month. It is best treated as a way to gain visibility, not as the main home of your business.
Can AI tools write your product pages?
Yes, provided a person reviews the result. Shopify added its AI writing tool, Shopify Magic, last year, and many other platforms and plugins now offer the same function: you provide a few notes, and the tool drafts a product description.
We use AI writing tools extensively and value them. For a store with 200 products and no copywriter, they save considerable time. The first draft, however, tends to resemble every other store online, with the same adjectives and the same "perfect for any occasion". We recommend reading it, removing half, and adding the detail only you know: where the wool comes from, or why the recipe changed. That detail is what builds trust.
The same applies to photos. AI background removal works well for clean catalogue shots. For the main photo, a real picture in natural light remains more effective.
Do reviews and photos still drive sales?
Yes. This has not changed in fifteen years, and we do not anticipate that it will. Customers buy from stores where others have already bought. What matters is reviews on the product page, reviews on your Google Business Profile, and customer photos where possible.
The key step is to ask for reviews. Send a short email a week after delivery, with a direct link. Respond courteously to negative reviews and correct the issues they raise. A shop with 40 honest reviews and two complaints handled well appears more trustworthy than a shop with ten perfect five-star ratings.
We also recommend taking more photos than seem necessary: the size next to a hand, the back of the label, the product in use. Most of the returns reported to us come from customers who could not picture what they were buying.
What should a Quebec shop plan for in shipping and privacy?
On shipping, Amazon Prime has accustomed customers to fast delivery at very low cost. A small shop cannot match that, so clarity is the better approach. State your shipping times up front, offer local pickup if you have a storefront, and consider a free-shipping threshold suited to your margins. Customers accept waiting a few days if they know it before they pay.
On privacy, Quebec's Law 25 entered its main phase last September. If you use tracking pixels or cookies for advertising, you need to address consent and state clearly what you collect. Combined with Chrome's cookie changes, the trend is clear. Your own customer list, made up of people who gave you their email because they wanted to hear from you, is gaining value every year, while rented audiences are becoming harder to reach.
This leads back to the fundamentals: a clear store, a fast checkout on a phone, honest photos, and a direct channel to your customers. None of these elements is new, yet most small shops do not yet have all four.
For a broader view of how online selling developed, the Wikipedia article on e-commerce offers a reliable overview. That said, we recommend devoting the time to reviewing your own checkout first.