Yet, Canadians are Flocking for Online Deal
this U.S Thanksgiving
- The number of Canadians who plan on
purchasing items online from U.S. retailers over the November
Thanksgiving is planned to increase
by 33% from 24 percent in 2013 vs. 32 percent in 2014. Triple the
number in 2011 when only 13 percent intended to leverage U.S.
deals.
- The number of Canadians who plan on
purchasing items through traditional cross-border shopping has also
increased by almost 43 percent (14 percent in 2013 vs. 20 percent
in 2014).
MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 17, 2014 Canadian shoppers are off to an
earlier start with holiday shopping. UPS Canada's annual Black Friday survey conducted
by Leger shows that one third of Canadians plan to take advantage
of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
Canadians say that the arrival of U.S. retailers north of the
border hasn't reduced their traditional cross-border shopping. The
findings forecast that Canadians travelling to the U.S. to shop
will more than triple compared to 2011 (six percent in 2011 vs. 20
percent in 2014).
Despite increasing competition from Canadian retailers both
online and in-store, Canadians still flock to take advantage of
cross-border deals. U.S. online retailers will also see significant
growth in Canadian purchases from 24 percent who anticipated buying
online in 2013 to 32 percent in 2014. Similar to last year (24
percent), roughly one-quarter of Canadians (26 percent) highlight
that Canadian retailers are now offering Black Friday deals.
"The growth in e-commerce innovations and product offerings
south of the border is still enticing a lot of Canadian shoppers,
but Canadian retailers are starting to pick-up the pace as seen
through the ubiquity of online deals during the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend as well as the strong desire
among Canadians to buy Canadian," says Jim
Bena, vice president of marketing, UPS Canada. "We're seeing
this first-hand in our advisory capacity working with Canadian
businesses, particularly with small- and medium-sized businesses,
of which 80 percent of those we recently surveyed are involved in
e-commerce and as such are experiencing exponential growth in their
bottom lines."
Still, U.S. retailers compete for their share of the Canadian
market. Some 44 percent of those unlikely to make purchases from
the U.S. expressed a preference to shop Canadian. This preference
was significantly lower in Quebec
than the rest of Canada (29
percent vs. 48 percent).
Another significant regional finding in the survey was that
Albertans are the most likely to shop online (95 percent). Age was
also a key factor with the likelihood to purchase although
decreasing significantly with age. Those ages 18-34 are more likely
to purchase goods from the U.S., either online or in person, than
any other age group.
Post-purchase experience and shipping options are priorities for
Canadians shopping online, including clear delivery dates and
package visibility:
- specific delivery times (36 percent)
- text or email alerts of shipment status (35 percent)
- same day shipping (29 percent), and,
- convenient pick up locations (25 percent).
These conveniences are now being offered through the UPS
My Choice™ application and UPS
Access Point™ locations – launched just over a month ago – where
individuals have new personalized solutions to manage their
residential package deliveries.
UPS predicts to deliver 34 million packages globally on its peak
day of Dec. 22. Over the course of
the month of December, the company forecasts a record volume of 585
million packages, an increase of 11 pecent.
UPS Canada surveyed 1,537
Canadians online between Sept. 30 to Oct. 2,
2014, using Leger's online panel, LegerWeb. A
probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error
of +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.
About UPS
UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad
range of solutions including transporting packages and freight;
facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology
to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in
Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220
countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on
the web at ups.com® and its corporate blog can be
found at longitudes.ups.com. To get UPS news direct,
visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.
SOURCE UPS Canada Ltd.