NAICS 449212Canadian industry · 6-digitlocal market

Computer and software retailers

This Canadian industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in retailing new computers, computer peripherals, pre-packaged software, game software and related products. — Statistics Canada, NAICS 2022A

Establishments · CanadaA: 1,401
Under 10 employeesA: 83%

Size and shape

How many businesses there are and how small they are. Fragmentation is the first thing an entrant — or anyone selling software into this industry — needs to know, and it is one of the few things that is actually measured.

Canadian establishments by number of employeesA

1–490965%

5–924918%

10–191289%

20–49836%

50–99191%

100–19981%

200–49950%

500+0—

Of 1,401 Canadian establishments with employees, 83% have fewer than ten — an industry of very small operators.

Where they areA

Ontario62845%

Quebec30422%

British Columbia21515%

Alberta1219%

Largest four provinces by establishment count. Establishments with employees only — sole operators with no payroll are not in this table, so in trades and personal services the true number of businesses is higher.

How many new establishments are still tradingA

Retail Trade, US · opened 2020

88%

1 year

72.3%

3 years

59.8%

5 years

44.2%

10 years

opened 2015

Measured, not forecast: the share of US establishments opening in one year that were still active later. It counts good operators and bad ones together, which is exactly why it is the honest answer to “what are the odds”. It is for the whole sector rather than this market, and the ten-year figure comes from an older cohort because no younger one has reached ten years.

No US figure is shown. County Business Patterns is coded to the 2017 US edition of NAICS; this code either does not exist there, names a different industry, or is outside the programme's coverage (most of agriculture, rail, postal and public administration are). A figure is attached only where both the code and the title agree.

How businesses here compete

The structural profile of subsector 449, which every industry beneath it inherits. This is analyst judgment from how the subsector is organised — not research into this industry, and not a measurement.

local competitionmedium capitalUNVERIFIEDinherited from 449 Furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers

Showroom retail against online price matching. Buying groups and delivery and installation service are what keep independents alive.

Who sets the price: Online and big-box price transparency.
The software it runs on: Retail point of sale, delivery and special-order management.

Market screens and studies

Market-entry records filed along this branch of the hierarchy. A record at or beneath this code is about this industry; one above it is about something wider that contains it.

Screened one level up. Nothing is filed at this exact code; the screen for 4492 Electronics and appliances retailers covers it.

Operating businessScreenedfiled at 4492

Consumer Electronics & Appliance StoreExecution decides

binding constraint: defensibility

The pre-screen says electronics retail 'has largely moved online'. Best Buy Canada says something more exact. The International segment of Best Buy — which is Canada and nothing else, 142 stores — took US$3,413M of revenue in fiscal 2026, up 3.7%, with comparable sales up 2.3% [A]. So the store-based format has not disappeared. What it earns is the finding: a gross margin of 21.6% and an adjusted operating margin of 3.4% [A], at national scale, with vendor funding, its own distribution centres and a services arm. Computing and mobile phones were 49% of the mix; services were 6% [A]. An independent selling the same televisions, laptops and phones buys them for more than Best Buy does, sells them at the price on the customer's screen, and starts from a gross margin below 21.6% with nothing beneath it. Nothing on the shelf is unavailable elsewhere at the same price the same day — that is the cut, and it holds even if rent and capital were free. Appliances, where independents have traditionally held on through delivery and installation, fell 5.1% on a comparable basis at Best Buy Canada [A], and the existing 449 record already makes the point that the defensible version of that business is installation and service, which is a trade, not retail. Where the 78% of Canadian establishments with fewer than ten staff actually earn a living — phone repair kiosks, carrier dealerships, custom audio-video installation — was not examined; those are different propositions wearing this code.

NAICS 44926 vendors named13 sourced figuresOpen →

Filed above — wider than this industry

Operating businessScreenedfiled at 449 Furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers

Independent Appliance & Furniture RetailOne thing must be true

binding constraint: incumbent vulnerability

The showroom has become a fitting room for a purchase completed online, and the national chains and manufacturers price directly against the independent while carrying the delivery and warranty infrastructure a single store cannot. Inventory is bulky, financed and slow-turning. The defensible version is installation and service on appliances someone else sold — a trade business, not a retail one.

NAICS 4496 vendors named13 sourced figuresOpen →

Software serving this industry

The vertical software markets filed along the same branch — who sells to these businesses and who they would have to displace — and then the generic categories every business buys whatever it does.

No vertical software market has been recorded along this branch. What the subsector typically runs on: Retail point of sale, delivery and special-order management.

And what every business buys · 25 generic categories

Sold to every industry rather than this one, so they are filed against the software industry's own code. The same few vendors recur across most of them.

Who works here

The occupations employed in Retail trade, most concentrated in it first. The share is measured against the whole sector, not this industry — the published cross-tabulation stops there.

Concentrated in this sectorA

Retail sales supervisors One industry 84.7%

Retail and wholesale trade managers One industry 80.1%

Cashiers and other sales support occupations One industry 80%

Retail salespersons and non-technical wholesale trade sales and account representatives Mostly one sector 69.7%

Pharmacists and dietitians Mostly one sector 61%

Medical technologists and technicians One industry 23.6%

Automotive service technicians Mostly one sector 18.7%

Cooks, butchers and bakers Mostly one sector 15.7%

Taxi, personal service and delivery service drivers Mostly one sector 12.2%

Machine operators and related workers in textile, fabric, fur and leather products processing and manufacturing One industry 11.2%

These jobs are mostly done here. An operator in this industry is competing for them against others in the same industry, not against the whole economy.

And the jobs every business has

Customer and information services representatives Across the economy 13.5%

Administrative and financial supervisors Across the economy 8.5%

Financial, insurance and related administrative support workers Across the economy 8.2%

Technical occupations in electronics and electrical engineering Across the economy 6.7%

Building maintenance installers, servicers and repairers Across the economy 6.6%

Administrative services managers Across the economy 6%

Shoe repairers, shoemakers and upholsterers Across the economy 5.7%

Survey, statistical and data entry occupations Across the economy 5.4%

Legislative and senior managers Across the economy 5.3%

Accounting, insurance and related business administrative occupations Across the economy 5%

Found across at least fourteen of the twenty sectors. But note the shape of this industry: 83% of establishments have fewer than ten employees, and at that size most of these roles are one person wearing several hats, or bought in from outside.

All 162 occupations →

Alongside this industry

This is the most specific level NAICS defines. The other industries under 44921 are its nearest neighbours.

Code	Industry	Establishments · CA	What is known
449211	Appliance, television and other electronics retailers	2,541	screened at 4492
449213	Camera and photographic supplies retailers	174	screened at 4492
449214	Audio and video recording retailers	251	screened at 4492