Close X
Thursday, January 16, 2025
ADVT 
National

1 In 3 Canadians Relying Strictly On Online Shopping For Holiday Gifts

The Canadian Press , 27 Nov, 2014 11:45 AM
  • 1 In 3 Canadians Relying Strictly On Online Shopping For Holiday Gifts
TORONTO — A growing number of Canadians plan to do all of their holiday shopping online this year to avoid stepping foot in maddening malls, suggests a new survey commissioned by Google.
 
About one in three of the Canadians polled online by Ipsos Reid said they would rely on e-commerce to purchase all their gifts, which was up 50 per cent compared to the results of a similar survey conducted last year.
 
Still, a majority of the Canadians said that while they would be doing some gift-buying research online, they would ultimately brave the crowds.
 
"Consumers, rather than wandering up and down on the high street or through malls, are much more purposeful now when they're making those purchase decisions. They're doing their research online prior to going into the malls and they know what they want," said Rafe Petkovic of Google Canada. 
 
Another recent poll conducted for MasterCard Canada yielded somewhat similar results, with almost one in three Canadians saying they planned to do half or more of their holiday shopping online.
 
Sarah Quinlan, head of market insights for MasterCard Advisors, said she's surprised that some major retailers still aren't open for business on the web in Canada, especially since e-commerce growth has been strong in 2014.
 
MasterCard estimates e-commerce now represents about 6.7 per cent of total retail sales in Canada and is up 22.6 per cent compared to this time last year.
 
"The number is clearly trending up, there's no doubt about it, it's increasing, that's why it's sort of still surprising that there are some major retailers that haven't participated in the game yet," Quinlan said.
 
Canadian Tire and Shoppers Drug Mart are lagging their U.S. counterparts by not offering online sales and struggling Target has not indicated if and when it will open a web store for Canadians.
 
"It's not about everybody shopping on e-commerce versus bricks and mortar, that's not what we're seeing. What we're seeing is (online shopping) is giving the consumer flexibility."
 
According to Google's poll, this year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days should be bigger than ever in Canada.
 
About 44 per cent of the poll respondents said they planned to shop on one or both of those days. Half as many poll respondents were interested in Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year.
 
Google expects almost half of the clothing and electronic holiday gifts purchased by Canadians this year will be bought on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
 
Google's online poll was conducted with 1,054 holiday shoppers between Sept. 10 and 17.
 
The MasterCard online poll was conducted by Angus Reid Forum with 1,005 Canadians on Nov. 14 and 15.
 
The polling industry's professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error as they are not a random sample and therefore are not necessarily representative of the whole population.

MORE National ARTICLES

Yellowstone to Yukon conservation anniversary celebrated

Yellowstone to Yukon conservation anniversary celebrated
EDMONTON - Environmentalists are basking in a warm glow of satisfaction this week as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the largest and most successful conservation programs on the planet.

Yellowstone to Yukon conservation anniversary celebrated

Winners Of First Annual Dhahan Prize For Punjabi Literature Announced

Winners Of First Annual Dhahan Prize For Punjabi Literature Announced
Vancouver, BC (September 22, 2014) – After receiving over 70 eligible entries from 5 countries around the world, the winner of the $25,000 CDN Dhahan Prize for Punjabi Literature is Avtar Singh Billing’s novel, Khali Khoohaan di Katha (The Story of Empty Wells).

Winners Of First Annual Dhahan Prize For Punjabi Literature Announced

RCMP 'Executed' Peter de Groot After Search In The Woods: Family

RCMP 'Executed' Peter de Groot After Search In The Woods: Family
VANCOUVER - The family of a B.C. man who was shot by the RCMP during a manhunt that shut down a small town says police failed to attempt to end the ordeal peacefully and instead "executed" him.

RCMP 'Executed' Peter de Groot After Search In The Woods: Family

B.C.'s LNG Emissions Law Greenest, Cleanest In The World: Environment Minister

B.C.'s LNG Emissions Law Greenest, Cleanest In The World: Environment Minister
VICTORIA - Environment Minister Mary Polak says new legislation governing greenhouse gas emissions from liquefied natural gas plants sets pollution benchmarks that will establish the British Columbia industry as the cleanest in the world.

B.C.'s LNG Emissions Law Greenest, Cleanest In The World: Environment Minister

B.C. Police Officer Charged With Second-degree Murder In Fatal Standoff

B.C. Police Officer Charged With Second-degree Murder In Fatal Standoff
VICTORIA - A Vancouver-area police officer has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with a standoff outside a casino two years ago.

B.C. Police Officer Charged With Second-degree Murder In Fatal Standoff

B.C.'s LNG green law expected, followed by tax legislation

B.C.'s LNG green law expected, followed by tax legislation
VICTORIA - Environment Minister Mary Polak is set to introduce environmental rules governing the development of liquefied natural gas in British Columbia.

B.C.'s LNG green law expected, followed by tax legislation