Canadians On Online Shopping And Holiday Shopping

Toronto, ON - According to a new study conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Indigo, the majority of Canadians would prefer to support Canadian websites, with (82%) agreeing with the statement "if I were to shop online, and the price and the product were the same, I would prefer shopping online at a Canadian owned and operated website versus an international one. In addition, 71% of Canadians say they "would be more comfortable shopping online if they knew the website also had reputable retail outlets which would allow them to browse the products before purchasing them online or return or exchange the items in the store after purchasing them online."

When would they do their online shopping? Two in ten (19%) Canadians say that if they "were to shop online they would do most of my online shopping during the day, while at work. "

When it comes to holiday shopping in general, Canadians report spending a mean average of 22 hours holiday shopping, including researching, browsing and purchasing.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Indigo poll conducted from October 19th to October 21st, 2004. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Eight In Ten (82%) Canadians Would Rather Support A Canadian Website

The majority of Canadians would prefer to support Canadian websites, with (82%) agreeing (57% "strongly agree," 24% "somewhat agree") with the statement "if I were to shop online, and the price and the product were the same, I would prefer shopping online at a Canadian owned and operated website versus an international one." One in seven (15%) Canadians disagree (9% "strongly agree," 5% "somewhat agree") with this statement, while 4% of Canadians "don't know" if they would agree or disagree that all things being equal, they would prefer shopping online at a Canadian owned and operated website.

  • Residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (92%) are the most likely to agree that they would prefer to shop online at a Canadian owned and operated website versus an international one, followed by those in Atlantic Canada (87%), Alberta (86%), British Columbia (82%), Ontario (80%), and Quebec (78%).
  • Canadians aged 18-54 (85%) are more likely than older Canadians aged 55 and over (74%) to say they would rather support Canadian websites.
  • Those with at least a high school education (84%) are more likely than those with less than a high school education (69%) to agree that they would prefer to shop online at a Canadian website.

Most (71%) Canadians Agree That They Would Be More Comfortable Shopping Online If The Website Had Reputable Retails Outlets

Most (71%) Canadians agree " (43% "strongly agree," 28% "somewhat agree") with the statement "I would be more comfortable shopping online if I knew the website also had reputable retail outlets which would allow me to browse the products before purchasing them online or return or exchange the items in the store after purchasing them online. One-quarter (24%) of Canadians disagree (15% "strongly disagree," 9% "somewhat disagree") with this statement and the remaining 5% "don't know" whether they agree or disagree.

  • Canadians living in Saskatchewan/Manitoba (82%) are the most likely to agree that they would be more comfortable shopping online if they knew the website also had reputable retail outlets, followed by those in Atlantic Canada (74%), Ontario (74%), Alberta (73%), and British Columbia (70%). Residents of Quebec (63%) are the least likely to agree with this statement.
  • Canadians aged 18-34 (86%) are more likely than those aged 35-54 (75%) and those aged 55 or older (55%) to say they would be more comfortable shopping online if they knew the websites had reputable retail outlets.

Two In Ten (19%) Canadians Would Shop Online At Work

Asked whether or not they agree with the statement "if I were to shop online I would do most of my online shopping during the day, while at work," two in ten (19%) Canadians agree (8% "strongly agree," 11% "somewhat agree"). Three-quarters (76%) of Canadians disagree (57% "strongly disagree," 18% "somewhat disagree") that if they were to shop online they would do it at work, while the remaining 5% "don't know."

  • Residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (81%) are the most likely to disagree, followed by those in Quebec (80%), British Columbia (78%), Alberta (77%), Atlantic Canada (73%), and Ontario (71%).

Canadians Spend A Mean Average Of 22 Hours Holiday Shopping When asked to think about approximately how many hours they spend doing holiday shopping, including researching, browsing and purchasing, three in ten (31%) Canadians say they spend 15 hours or more on these activities, one-quarter (23%) spend 1-4 hours, 18% spend 5-9 hours and 20% spend 10-14 hours, while 7% say they "do not shop." The remaining 2% say they "don't know" how much time they spend holiday shopping, researching, browsing and purchasing. As a whole, Canadians spend a mean average of 21.74 hours holiday shopping.

  • Canadians living in Saskatchewan/Manitoba (46%) are the most likely to say they spend 15 hours or more holiday shopping, followed by those in Atlantic Canada (36%), British Columbia (33%), Alberta (32%), Ontario (30%), and Quebec (24%).
  • Women (38%) are more likely than men (23%) to say they spend 15 hours or more doing holiday shopping, while men (9%) are more likely than women (5%) to say they "do not shop."
  • Canadians aged 18-54 (35%) are more likely than those aged 55 and over (22%) to say they spend 15 hours or more holiday shopping.

Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900

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