Online Shopping Growing in Canada
Vancouver, BC – BUSINESS – Consumers in Canada are spending more time on the Internet than ever before—especially to shop. According to the latest research from the eCommerce chapter of the Ipsos Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report, over eight in ten (82%) Canadian Internet users have made a purchase online in the past year. The study also found that the average amount of reported spending annually for online purchases in Canada is $954.
Results from the study reveal that younger Canadians are significantly more likely than their older counterparts to have made an online purchase in the past year. While 92% of consumers aged 18-34 years old have purchased online this year, it drops to 82% for those aged 35 to 54 years old, and 74% among those 55 years and older.
“The majority of Canadians feel comfortable about spending their money online,” says Karen Beck, Associate Vice President at Ipsos Reid, of this year’s study. “And this is particularly true for Millennials, who greatly surpass all other generations when it comes to buying a product or service online.”
When looking at the most common items purchased online by Canadians and comparing significant changes between 2013 and 2014, the personal products and household goods categories have shown the greatest movement: cosmetic and beauty products are up 6 percentage points to 29%; pet products are up 6 percentage points to 17%; furniture and housewares are up 5 percentage points to 23%; groceries are up 5 percentage points to 15%; and glasses and contact lenses are up 4 percentage points to 15%.
Amazon Top Choice for Canadian Online Shopping
When asked which websites most online Canadians tend to whip out their credit card for, most indicate that they are likely to have made a recent online purchase from Amazon (24%, up 4 percentage points from 2013) and eBay (10%, unchanged).
Despite the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets, desktops and laptops continue to be the device of choice for online purchases, with a whopping nine in ten (88%) online purchases made in the past 12 months through this means. However, the proportion of Canadian online purchasers using their smartphones (20%) and tablet computers (19%) to buy products and services online continues to rise year over year. This is significantly skewed towards younger online consumers, with 33% of those 18 to 34 years indicating that they have made a purchase via their smartphone, compared to 8% of those 55 years and older.“We’re seeing that today’s consumer is approaching shopping from a variety of ways. While PC’s clearly remain a pervasive component of online shopping, this fast-growing enthusiasm for mobile stresses the importance of delivering an enhanced and consistent experience across all devices, whether through mobile websites or apps,” adds Karen Beck.
