Christmas is a holiday that always seems to sneak up on us. A decade ago we would have to bundle up, get in the car, and drive around the mall parking lot for an hour just to try to find the perfect gift for our loved ones. But now things are much easier and times are changing, e-commerce and social media are on the rise as they continue to increase in importance as key sources of research for gifts. A study conducted by Deloitte found that up to 70% of shoppers will ‘pre-shop’ on the web before going to the mall.
Younger Canadians are leading the charge towards using mobile shopping applications, with one-third planning on using mobile apps for shopping this holiday season. Some of the most common mobile shopping apps used are location-based (i.e. store locator), followed by productivity, banking and entertainment.
Peter Barr, who is Partner and National Consumer Business Leader stated that “the number of Canadians who plan to buy online has been stable in the last couple of years, but this is poised to change”. Canadian consumers have been relatively slow to adopt online shopping with 45% saying they plan to online shop this holiday season. However this is likely to change in the near future because a lot of pressure is being placed on Canadian retailers as U.S. retailers are becoming increasingly available to ship to Canada. This is causing Canadian retailers to revisit their e-commerce strategies and invest in new e-commerce platforms.
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