Fifty-nine percent of Canadians boosted their online shopping habits when compared to before the pandemic, according to a new survey from PayPal Canada.
It notes that Canadians increased their monthly online shopping spending by more than $2 billion when compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Canadian are spending $178 per month on average on shopping online, an increase of $69 compared to pre-pandemic levels. Across the country, this translates to almost $5.5 billion in current monthly online spending and an overall increase of over $2 billion in monthly online spending.
The survey outlined that there has been a significant jump in online grocery shopping. An initial survey conducted in March 2020 found that only 19 percent shopped for groceries online. In a second survey conducted in April 2020, only 30 percent of Canadians purchased groceries online. The most recent survey now shows that the number has jumped to 49 percent.
In terms of locations, Ontarians are most likely than others to have increased how often they shop for groceries online.
There has also been a 42 percent increase in Canadians shopping online for home office furniture and equipment. Further, there has been a 25 percent increase in Canadians shopping for fitness equipment or apps online.
“Last year in April, only 44 percent told us they anticipated shopping online more than what they were already doing. Today, that number is 59 percent,” said Jill Cress, PayPal’s vice-president of consumer marketing, in a statement.
“Looking back at how overwhelmed we were at the challenges of finding toilet paper and hand sanitizers in store last year it’s great to see that just one year later, we are turning to e-commerce for all of our needs and the data shows this shift is here to stay.”
Interestingly, the survey found that 61 percent of Canadians say they believe cashless transactions will be part of their typical shopping experience.
For those who don’t shop online, the main deterrents are shipping costs, delivery time and a preference to pick out their own products in person. Additionally, 19 percent of respondents say they are held back from online shopping because they are worried about safely transacting online.
PayPal compiled these findings by conducting a survey of 1,528 nationally representative Canadian adults between April 21st and 23rd in collaboration with Angus Reid.
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