Some Aspects of Canadian Statistics of Merchandising

Extract

A first attempt at a census of distribution, designated the “Census of Trading Establishments”, was made in Canada during the years 1921-4 in connection with the Population Census of 1921. Names and addresses of merchandising concerns were collected on a special schedule by the regular census enumerators and were subsequently checked with local directories, gazetteers, and other sources of information. A questionnaire was then sent by post to each address. Pressure of work in connection with the compilation of the Population Census rendered it impossible to distribute the questionnaire until 1924. By that date many of the addresses were obsolete. Moreover, owing to the necessity, during the economic stringency of 1924-5, of reducing staff to a minimum, it was not possible to have a proper follow-up after delinquent returns, either by mail or supplementary investigation in the field; consequently the census was incomplete. Returns were obtained from 66,814 establishments as compared with 138,143 in 1931. These were classified as retail, wholesale, or wholesale-retail. There were 60,181 retail, 3,782 wholesale, and 2,851 wholesale-retail stores. The questions asked included value of sales, value of purchases, salaries and wages, number of employees by sex, expenses, and capital investment. Thirtynine classifications by kind of business were used. It is probable that approximately 60 per cent of the value of retail trade was covered, but the wholesale coverage was much smaller, the proportion of wholesalers proper being much greater than that of other types. Probably less than one-third of the value of wholesale trade was included. In spite of the shortcomings of this 1924 census, it did give some idea of the importance and operating results of “trading establishments” in the general economy and paved the way for a more comprehensive census.