PayPal Canada research reveals three-quarters
(73%) of Canadians plan to buy gifts online from Canadian retailers
this holiday season
TORONTO, Nov. 24, 2016 /CNW/ - PayPal, a global
digital payments leader, along with Ipsos ahead of Black Friday
released research on holiday shopping trends. The study revealed
that a buy-local mentality is sweeping across the nation with three
out of four (73%) Canadian online shoppers planning to buy holiday
gifts online from Canadian retailers instead of buying from U.S. or
international websites. Of those people, 43 per cent are planning
to buy more gifts from Canadian retailers than they did last year.
Millennials are more inclined to shop online from domestic websites
with 83 per cent saying they plan to do so.
Shopping local is now officially in vogue. The research reveals
that this trend is driven by a multitude of factors with more than
half (56%) of Canadians revealing that they plan to shop online
from Canadian retailers because they want to support local
businesses and the economy. Canadians are also choosing to shop
online from domestic retailers because they want to avoid the cost
of international shipping, taxes and duties (51%), unfavourable
exchange rates (44%) and many (32%) prefer goods that are made in
Canada.
"Canadian retailers are embracing e-commerce more than ever
before and offering greater choice to consumers who want to shop
online this side of the border," said Kerry
Reynolds, head of consumer marketing at PayPal Canada.
"Canadian-sold goods are in demand and the Canadian economy stands
to benefit immensely from this trend."
Social commerce is now trending
PayPal's research
revealed that Canadian online shoppers are warming up to 'social
commerce' which is defined as buying directly from an advertisement
on a social media platform. One in four (26%) Canadian online
shoppers have already engaged in social commerce and half (54%) say
they would consider it.
Canadians are the one of the most plugged-in social media users
in the world, spending an average of two hours and 19 minutes on
social media platforms everyday1. In the last two years,
social media and e-commerce intersected when popular social media
platforms launched "Shop Now" and "Buy" buttons making it easier
for customers to purchase products without leaving their social
media accounts.
Social media enables people to gather instant feedback on
products and services from friends, family and peers. To connect
with consumers more directly, many brands engage celebrities or
'influencers'– with large social media followings – to promote
products. Recognizing this trend, PayPal looked at consumer
purchase behaviour to gather insights on Canadians' attitudes
towards influencer marketing and found that only seven per cent of
Canadian online shoppers would consider buying a celebrity-endorsed
item on social media. Looking at millennials specifically, this
number almost doubles to 13 per cent.
Recommendations from friends and family have a greater influence
on buying behavior. The study revealed that close to one in three
(34%) Canadian online shoppers said they would consider buying an
item directly from a brand's advertisement on a social media
platform if recommended by a peer, with Baby Boomers leading the
way at 38 per cent.
What else entices Canadians to buy directly from social media
platforms? Some of the leading reasons Canadians would consider
social commerce include discounts or promotions (56%), the item
advertised would make a good holiday gift (45%), or they've shopped
from the brand before (32%).
Millennials are shopping mindfully
Millennials are
leading the way when it comes to 'responsible shopping' – buying an
item where a portion of proceeds are donated to a social cause or
charity. Nearly seven out of ten (67%) millennials are planning to
shop online for gifts that give back this holiday season. Not only
are millennials more likely to consider responsible shopping, one
in four (26%) are willing to pay more for gifts that give back,
compared to only 15 per cent of 35-54 year olds and seven per cent
of those above 55 years of age.
tentree is a PayPal-powered, Regina-based lifestyle brand that for every
item sold, plants 10 trees in areas where they can influence the
greatest transformation both ecologically and socially. Offering an
interactive experience, shoppers can enter a code found on their
purchase tag to track where their ten trees have been planted by
visiting www.tentree.com.
tentree's business model has gained significant traction with
Millennial shoppers. Kalen Emsley,
co-founder of tentree, shared the following insight: "Millennials
in particular want to do good and they want to invest in the
give-back experience. Brands that invest in engaging their
customers will earn greater brand loyalty, see the benefit to their
bottom line, and ultimately will be better positioned to do more
good for their chosen cause."
Study Methodology
The findings are based on an Ipsos
poll conducted between October 26 and
October 28, 2016, on behalf of PayPal. For this survey, a
sample of 1,002 Canadian online shoppers from Ipsos' online panel
was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance
demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that
of the adult population according to Census data and to provide
results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision
of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility
interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ -
3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian online
shoppers aged 18+ been polled.
1 Canadian's Internet, Canadian Digital, Social and
Mobile Statistics on a Global Scale, 2014
About
PayPal
At PayPal (Nasdaq:PYPL), we put people at the center of everything
we do. Founded in 1998, we continue to be at the forefront of the
digital payments revolution. PayPal gives people better ways to
manage and move their money, offering them choice and flexibility
in how they are able to send money, pay or get paid. We operate an
open, secure and technology agnostic payments platform that
businesses use to securely transact with their customers online, in
stores and increasingly on mobile devices. In 2015, 28% of the 4.9
billion payments we processed were made on a mobile device. With
our 192 million active customer accounts, PayPal is a truly global
payments platform that is available to people in more than 200
markets, allowing customers to get paid in more than 100
currencies, withdraw funds to their bank accounts in 56 currencies
and hold balances in their PayPal accounts in 25 currencies. For
more information on PayPal, visit https://about.paypal-corp.com.
For PYPL financial information visit:
https://investor.paypal-corp.com.
SOURCE PayPal Canada