This report outlines the structure and general characteristics of the retail sector in Canada.¹ This chapter emphasizes the general characteristics of the sector. Separate chapters of the report focus on recent growth and on the sector labour force. Appendices discuss data sources and definitions as well as provide substantially more statistical detail. Data underlying all charts are also available in the data appendix.

Maintaining the confidentiality of data about single businesses is one of the challenges with the analysis of data by sector in Canada. Many sectors, even nationally, are dominated by one or two key players. To facilitate the most detailed and specific analysis, the report utilizes various aggregations of retail stores or businesses:

• Industry Sectors — based on the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS), identified by a numerical classification with 3 or more digits
• Trade Groups — aggregations of sectors
• Special Aggregations — aggregations of trade groups.

The aggregations are chosen to best reflect the characteristics of the specific data source. The definitions of these aggregations are included in Appendix A. Data are also presented in terms of commodities. It should be noted that some commodities, such as food, may be sold in many different types of stores.