Retail Chain Survey

Retail Chain Survey
Summary of changes
Other reference periods
Related products

Detailed information for 2005

Status:

Active

Frequency:

Annual

Record number:

2447

The purpose of this survey is to collect the financial and operating/production data needed to develop national and regional economic policies and programs.

Data release - March 27, 2007

Description

The Annual Retail Chain Survey measures, on an annual basis, the operating and financial characteristics of domiciled retail corporate chains and department stores. A "retail store chain" is defined as an organization operating four or more outlets in the same industry class under the same legal ownership at any time during the survey year.

Data from this survey provide information on revenue, expenses and inventory. The data are used by all levels of government, government agencies, the retail industry and individuals in assessing trends within the industry, measuring performance, benchmarking and to study the evolving structure of the retail industry. The information is also a critical input into the measure of gross margins in the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA).

Two other annual surveys of the retail industry complement this one: the Retail Store Survey, covering independent retail outlets (survey number 2446) and the Retail Non-Store Survey (survey number 2448).

Statistical activity

The survey is administered as part of the Unified Enterprise Survey program (UES). The UES program has been designed to integrate, gradually over time, the approximately 200 separate business surveys into a single master survey program. The UES aims at collecting more industry and product detail at the provincial level than was previously possible while avoiding overlap between different survey questionnaires. The redesigned business survey questionnaires have a consistent look, structure and content. The unified approach makes reporting easier for firms operating in different industries because they can provide similar information for each branch operation. This way they avoid having to respond to questionnaires that differ for each industry in terms of format, wording and even concepts.

Reference period: The calendar year, or the 12-month fiscal period for which the final day occurs on or between April 1st of the reference year and March 31st of the following year.

Collection period: March to October

Subjects

  • Retail and wholesale
  • Retail sales by type of store

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population consists of all retail chain establishments operating in Canada for at least one day between January and December of a calendar year. Direct sellers and operators of vending machines are excluded from the target population of this survey.

The survey population is the collection of all retail chain establishments from which the survey can realistically obtain information. The survey population will differ from the target population due to difficulties in identifying all the units that belong to the target population because of a possible lack of detailed information for some units, particularly small businesses with low sales levels.

The survey population is comprised of all statistical establishments coded to NAICS 441 through 453 on Statistics Canada's Business Register, as well as those small unincorporated businesses not on the Business Register, which are classified to the retail industry.

For more information on the partial list of retail chain stores of the Retail Chain Survey, please refer to the Documentation Section below.

Instrument design

The questionnaires used in the survey have been successfully designed to minimise different interpretations. The questions asked on the questionnaire are closed questions. The survey forms were field tested with respondents to ensure the questions; concepts and terminology were appropriate. Statistics Canada consulted with the Canadian Retail Trade Council and the Quebec Retail Council and tested the questionnaire with a number of different retail firms in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto also organized a workshop on the survey with representatives of some of Canada's largest retailers.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

This methodology does not apply.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

The survey is conducted using the mail-out / mail-back questionnaire approach, as well as using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) for capture, edit and follow-up.

The questionnaires are mailed to the respondents to the survey after the end of the calendar year. An automatic fax reminder is sent to non-reporters around 15 days after mailing out the questionnaires. A telephone contact is made with non-reporting companies 15 days after the first fax follow-up to discuss reporting delinquency and possible special arrangements. A second fax is sent to persistent non-reporters later on in the collection period before collection is closed.

Respondents can report to the survey by fax or by mail. Information may be transmitted by the Internet or by telephone. In exceptional cases a company may not be able to comply with the legal reporting deadlines and special reporting arrangements are determined.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s).

Error detection

Several checks are performed on the collected data to verify internal consistency and identify extreme values. Data are analyzed within each industrial group and geographic region. Extreme values are reviewed and corrective action taken. These extreme values are excluded from use in the calculation of imputation variables by the imputation system.

Imputation

Units which do not respond in the current period are imputed (their characteristics are estimated). Units are imputed by applying a growth factor to previously reported data when available. The growth factor is estimated using the survey responses for the units that are most similar to the unit being imputed.

When partial survey data covering three key variables (total operating revenue, total operating expenses and cost of goods sold) are received, the imputation factors are calculated at the unit level using these partial data. For records without historical information, a donor imputation system (nearest neighbor) is used. Information on the size of the non-respondent is obtained and a similar sized respondent is found. The size information consists of the three key variables (total operating revenue, total operating expenses and cost of goods sold). If this information is not available, sales from the Monthly Retail Trade Survey (Survey ID 2406) are used. In this case, the monthly sales are directly copied over to the non-respondent and the rest of the key variables are calculated using the sales data.

Estimation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Quality evaluation

Prior to the data release, combined survey results are analyzed for comparability; in general, this includes a detailed review of: individual responses (especially for the largest companies), general economic conditions, historic trends, and comparisons with annualized monthly survey data and industry and trade association sources.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Confidentiality analysis includes the detection of possible direct disclosure, which occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of a few respondents or when the cell is dominated by a few companies.

Data accuracy

While considerable effort is made to ensure high standards throughout all stages of collection and processing, the resulting estimates are inevitably subject to a certain degree of non-sampling error. Non-sampling error is not related to sampling and may occur for many reasons. For example, non-response is an important source of non-sampling error. Population coverage, differences in the interpretation of questions, incorrect information from respondents, and mistakes in recording, coding and processing data are other examples of non-sampling errors.

Measures such as response rate (total number of completed questionnaires as a percentage of the total active, in-scope survey sample) and response fraction (the proportion of the estimate based upon reported data) can be used as indicators of the possible extent of non-sampling errors. For the 2005 survey, at the Canada level, the response fractions (RT) for total operating revenue (TOR) was 77%.

For a more detailed discussion of the data accuracy, as well as for response fractions by province and territory, see the document below.

Documentation

Date modified: