Yahoo Finance More Canadians turn online for holiday shopping
Cathy Miyai has already started her Christmas shopping. The Vancouver mother of four does most of her browsing on her computer around 10p.m. at night. For her and millions of other Canadians, online shopping is a boon.
“The only time I can get anything done is once the kids are in bed,” Miyai says. “I find it relaxing. And I always buy stuff on sale.”
Like Miyai, more and more Canadians are snapping up holiday deals online.
Three in four Canadians will purchase items online this holiday season, with Ontarians and Albertans being the most likely to shop via the Internet (80 per cent), according to Visa Canada’s new Holiday eCommerce survey.
Almost 50 per cent of Canadians expect to spend between $100 and $499 online this season, while 16 per cent plan to spend even more than that. Albertans intend to spend the most ($319 on average) and British Columbians are planning to spend the least (average $196).
It appears that Canadians are watching their dollars this season, with two thirds of shoppers setting a budget before going holiday shopping. On average, Canadians will spend about 30 per cent of that budget online.
Overall Canadian holiday retail sales are expected to increase 3.5 per cent over last year, supported mainly by online transactions, according to EY’s recent Americas’ Retail Quarterly Report.
The EY report found that 70 per cent of Canadians research products online before buying. Of those who dig around online, 58 per cent say they then go on to buy something.
Nearly 28 per cent of Canadians prefer to shop online than go to the mall in general, and online sales will make up 19 per cent of holiday budgets, Deloitte’s 2013 Holiday Retail Outlook survey found.
Interestingly, higher-income earners use the Internet more for research and flash sales than lower income groups, according to Deloitte. Almost half of Canadians will use social media to check prices, while nearly 24 per cent say they would like to use their smartphones to check prices while shopping.
Rising smartphone ownership is taking more consumers down the digital shopping route, too, the Deloitte survey found. Overall, smart-phone ownership has increased to 61 per cent of respondents from 42 per cent two years ago. Women, younger generations, and households earning less than $100,000 annually showed the most significant jumps in smart-phone ownership. And shoppers with smart phones plan to spend 27 percent more on holiday gifts than non-smartphone owners.
Stressed over shopping
Online buying may make some people’s lives easier, but most shoppers still find the whole shopping season stressful. According to a recent Staples Canada national survey, two out of three shoppers say that finding gifts for everyone on their list is stressful, while almost nine in 10 encounter at least one person who appears practically “ungiftable”.
The hottest items people will be scooping up this holiday season? Clothing, electronics, jewellery top the list, according to the EY report, and gift cards are expected to remain as popular as ever. So will tablets and smart phones.
