‘New World’ Stats
PWC conducts surveys of the markets. These are stats from respondents about how their shopping trend have changed.
- Customers continuing to shop online in greater numbers than ever before, citing price, convenience, and health and safety concerns as the predominant reasons.
- When considering their shopping habits online and in-store, more than half (52%) of respondents agree they’re making less frequent but bigger basket shops, putting a pause on the previously popular microtrips. And while 41% have been buying more from local independent retailers, 38% have been shopping more with large retailers.
- More than half of Canadian respondents say they’re shopping less or not at all in-store for fashion (55%) and consumer electronics (54%). But consumers continue to shop in stores for groceries—39% of shoppers aren’t buying groceries online at all.
- Customers are demanding an ever-increasing level of service, including lower prices and faster response times.
- When it comes to online shopping, Canadian respondents highlighted the importance of in-stock availability (62%), fast/reliable delivery (61%) and a good return policy (54%), making those the top three consumer concerns.
- Retailer memberships and next-generation loyalty programs that offer free shipping or guaranteed shipping times are increasingly becoming what consumers expect as a matter of course, and this is a trend that’s likely to continue.
- 51% of Canadian respondents say they’re extremely or somewhat concerned about how their data is being used when shopping online.
Some Stats to Get You Started in Your Strategy/Tactics
- 17% of Canadian online shoppers prefer retailers that offer loyalty programs.
- Internet advertising revenue in Canada totalled $8.76 billion in 2019.
- Canadian advertisers have allocated over 50% of their budgets to digital campaigns.
- Search advertising accounts for nearly 50% of Canada’s total digital ad spending.
- COVID-19 caused the worst year in a decade for marketing agencies.
- Canada’s monthly online spending is currently up by over $2 billion.
- Mobile advertising spending in Canada reached $7.29 billion.
- 84% of Canadian online consumers shop more often with a retailer that offers free shipping.
- More than four in five Canadians (82%) shopped online in 2020, up from 73% in 2018.
- Online spending rose by approximately one-half over this period, from $57.4 billion to $84.4 billion.
- Over two-thirds of Canadians (68%) bought digital goods and services in 2020 such as music or video downloads and online data-storage services, up from 52% in 2018.
- Shoppers who bought digital goods and services spent on average $568 in 2020, up from $346 in 2018.
- In 2020, 38% of Canadians reported purchasing online goods or services from a business specifically because it was Canadian, compared with 29% in 2018.
- This type of behaviour was most pronounced among those in the 25 to 44 age group, with almost half (49%) reporting that they bought from businesses specifically because they were Canadian.
- Over two-thirds of Canadians who shopped online (69%) encountered problems while ordering.
- The most frequent issues included the speed of delivery which was slower than indicated (48%) or the product ordered was of a lower quality than expected (26%).
- Of the Canadians who did not shop online in 2020:
- almost three-quarters (73%) said they had no need to, or were not interested in ordering online
- 23% were concerned about security or privacy
- 18% wanted the opportunity to see, hold, or try the product before buying it
- 16% said ordering online was too difficult.