More than every second Canadian will buy festive gifts online this holiday season, setting a new‘click and ship’ record for web-based shopping, according to a survey commissioned by FedEx
Express.The survey by researchers Angus Reid revealed that 55% of Canadian holiday shoppers will turn toe-commerce this holiday season to take advantage of advanced online shopping technology and fastshipping, and to avoid waiting in long queues at check-out counters. Last year, approximately 45%of Canadians were expected to shop online.
In general, Canadian online shoppers tend to be relatively young and well-off but arerepresented in both urban and rural areas, the survey found. Most consumers aged 18-34 (73%) willshop online this holiday season, compared to more than half (58%) of survey respondents aged 35-54(58%) and just over a third of those aged 55 and (36%).
The survey found a strong correlation between income and online holiday shopping intentions,with 75% of respondents who earn over $100,000 expected to shop online for the holidays, comparedto 60% of Canadians who earn $50,000 to $99,999 and 45% of respondents earning less than $50,000.Men (57%) are slightly more likely than women (53%) to shop online.
In geographical terms, consumers in Alberta (70%), British Columbia (67%), and Atlantic Canada(63%) are the most likely among Canadians to shop online this coming holiday season. Consumers inSaskatchewan (38%), Quebec (43%) and Manitoba (44%) are less likely to choose e-commerce but evenin those provinces approximately four in ten consumers will shop online this holiday season.
“With the availability of most major retailers now online and with fast, reliable shippingsolutions like FedEx, more and more Canadians are choosing to browse, shop online and ship thisholiday season,” said Brie Carere, vice president of marketing, customer experience, and corporatecommunications for FedEx Express Canada. “The holiday season is busy, and a lot of us will leaveour shopping to the last moment when stores are overcrowded, so online shopping and fast shippinghelps take the hassle out that hectic end-of-year rush.”
The online shopping survey was conducted online among 1,000 randomly selected Canadian adultsin October 2012.
