Are Canadians Buying Online?

Here’s a little piece for my fellow Canadians who like to shop online or who are contemplating it and are wondering if many other Canadians are doing it. Well, we can start by answering this question with a big “Yes”, you are not alone. More and more Canadians are buying online, and more regularly too.

**UPDATE** According to a recently published article from pwc Canada (PricewaterhouseCoopers), nearly half of Canadians complete an online purchase at least once a month. A rather impressive figure when considering the figures mentioned in past surveys. Plus, another interesting statistic from this survey is that nearly 87% of the Canadians who participated in this study claim to complete an online purchase at least once per year.

Apparently, the number one reason mentioned for not making online purchases is that people are worried about how secure their personal information is when making online purchases. A really interesting statistic is that this answer rose by 10% since the last survey. Potentially, this has something to do with the whole Edward Snowden situation. So people are increasingly concerned about their online information.

Anyway, if you’re interested in reading the whole study, read it at pwc Canada. **UPDATE**

According to a recent survey conducted by Statistics Canada, 56% of Canadian internet users have completed an order online in 2012, compared to 51% last year. A considerable increase if we consider that just 10 years ago online shopping was quite marginal.

What surprised me the most though is the quantity of orders the average online consumer completed. With an average of 13 separate orders for an approximate $1450 total. In other words, the people who shop online are not scared to spend online.

The most popular types of purchases completed on the world wide web, with 58% of online shoppers are plane tickets and completing hotel reservations, whereas 52% bought event tickets.

According to this survey, even Canadians aged 65 years and over are joining in the fun, with 48% off them claiming to have used the internet during the past year. A jump of over 20% since 2010. Maybe with time, more and more of them will become online bargain hunters. Who knows?

So, I hope you found this short piece interesting. Have a look at the whole piece over at Stat Can’s site. Personally, I always find that there aren’t enough statistics about shopping online concerning Canadians. Anyway, feel free to share you impressions about this subject.