The average worker in the industry earned $14.97 an hour and spent 34 hours on the job each week. Average wages were significantly lower in retail trade ($13.99) than in the wholesaling industry ($18.54). Both wages and hours in this industry were below the average for the economy as a whole.

Metropolitan Vancouver is the major trading area in British Columbia, and accounts for over one-half of total provincial retail sales. The second largest market area is Greater Victoria, and the Kelowna, Kamloops and Nanaimo areas are also major retailing centres.

Wholesalers of building materials and food, beverages and tobacco dominate the industry, accounting for about 45% of total sales in 2005. Machinery and electronic equipment (including computers) wholesalers accounted for 19% of total sales. These shares have been quite stable, changing only marginally during the last decade or so.

Retailers of automotive products, including new and used car and RV dealers, as well as gas stations, typically account for about a third of total sales, while supermarkets, food, liquor and beer stores usually take in about a quarter of total retail revenues. The third biggest group is department stores and other retailers of general merchandise, who accounted for 11% of sales in 2005. These shares have remained quite stable during the period since 1990.

As a whole, retail and wholesale trade's share of GDP has been rising over time, increasing from about 10% in 1990 to just over 11% in 2005, indicating that the industry's value added has been growing faster than the average for all industries in the province.

Faster-than-average GDP growth, combined with slower-than-average increases in employment, means that labour productivity is rising in this industry. Both retail and wholesale trade have experienced higher-than-average productivity growth during the period from 1990 to 2005. These productivity improvements may well be linked to technological and process changes that have been introduced in recent years.

The retail and wholesale trade industry includes everything from “mom and pop” corner stores to large department stores or wholesale distribution centres. Small stores are often operated by self-employed businesspeople. These owner-operators often hire staff to help run their store, and this, together with the prevalence of part-time work, may help explain why self-employment accounts for a relatively small percentage of the total number of jobs in this industry.