Ontario outpaces Quebec business sites in degree of interactivity: HEC study

Commercial web sites in Quebec are less interactive than their counterparts in Ontario, according to a newly released study by the international CMA chair at the École des Haute Études Commerciales in Montreal. According to report author Hugues Boisvert, Quebec sites lag behind those in Upper Canada in all but six areas of interactivity, often significantly. Quebec sites exceed Ontario ones only in carrying banner ads, portfolios of accomplishments, a word from the president, trustmarks, free samples, and choice of currencies for payment. However, in several areas, including key ones such as providing partner or customer access to intranets or posting news releases and announcements, Ontario sites are much more likely to be advanced. For example, the study finds that 35.6 per cent of Ontario companies provide online submission forms, compared to only 26.1 per cent of those in Quebec. In the case of 10.1 per cent of Ontario companies’ sites, there is access to a corporate network, compared to only 5.7 per cent of those in Quebec. Also, 27.8 per cent of Ontario companies provide news announcements on their sites, compared to 19.7 per cent of Quebec firms. The study uses the various elements of interactivity to classify company sites into one of several categories. Ranging from brochure-ware to more sophisticated sites that manage commercial relationships. Boisvert’s study finds that almost twice as many Ontario companies as Quebec firms fall into the top class of relational/transactional sites, at 5.2 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively. The largest categories for Quebec companies are in promotional or information sites, while only 4.3 per cent of enterprises in Quebec use their sites to manage relationships versus 11.9 per cent in Ontario. Boisvert is careful to note, though, that the number of companies offering some kind of transaction on their site is nearly equal, with Quebec edging out Ontario at 8 per cent versus 7.1 per cent. While the number of companies offering ordering and payment online is nearly equal, significantly more companies in Ontario offer customer support contact information, online submission forms, access to a corporate intranet or extranet, and online product discussion groups. Though he has no scientific proof, Boisvert guesses that some form of web customer relationship management may be a critical element in the success of a site’s transaction features. Quebec firms, on the other hand, are more likely to be bilingual, or even multilingual. Quebec counts 40.9 per cent of its sites in unilingual French, 6.1 per cent in unilingual English, 49 per cent as bilingual and four per cent as multilingual. Sites in Ontario were 2.2 per cent unilingual French, 88.9 per cent unilingual English, 7.1 per cent bilingual, and 1.7 per cent multilingual. The study is just a starting point, says Boisvert, and he’s careful not to state with any authority why Quebec sites might lag behind their Ontario counterparts in using more advanced features. Further study will be needed, he says, including the factoring in of company size. The number of employees in a firm wasn’t included in this study, something that may prove a key factor. He will say that he believes Ontarians have been experimenting with the web for a longer period, and that Quebec companies will follow the same experimental path with different models as web site developers there become more sophisticated. He also postulates that the imperative in Quebec for bilingual sites may consume more resources than in Ontario where webmasters tend to post English-only content. Boisvert will discuss the results in two upcoming workshops in Montreal on October 10, and in Toronto on November 13. Full details and registration are available at http://canarie2.hec.ca/cicma/an/indexmain-en.cfm.

Ontario outpaces Quebec business sites in degree of interactivity: HEC study

News | 09/18/2002 4:00 am EDT

To keep reading, get a free trial.

Already a Subscriber?

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us