Official Google Canada Blog: How Canadians are shopping this holiday season

Official Canada Blog

News and notes from Google Canada

How Canadians are shopping this holiday season

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Are you a last-minute shopper? Well, you’re not alone. With only 10 days until the holidays, a new study tells us that Canadians have completed less than half of their holiday shopping!1 But these last-minute shoppers aren’t panicking.

We partnered with Ipsos to survey Canadians on how they’ve used technology to shop this holiday season, and we found that holiday shoppers are using their smartphones, search and online video to be savvier than ever. This year, 34 percent of Canadian shoppers say they always do research or check digital sources before going to the store. Canadians may be last-minute shoppers, but they certainly have a game plan for when they hit the mall.

Today we’re sharing three trends that surfaced during Canada’s peak shopping season:

Smartphones are the ultimate shopping companion
The smartphone is a ubiquitous part of Canada's shopping experience, and when Canadians incorporated smartphone searches into their holiday shopping activities it resulted in a purchase 49 percent of the time. Savvy shoppers are turning to their smartphones to make purchases. Of the transactions that were made online this holiday season, 33 percent were purchased via smartphone.

While more people are willing to buy on mobile, we know that mobile is still used as a personal research assistant in and out of the store. This year, 38 percent of Canadian shoppers that bought in-store used their smartphone to search for products and services, and 74 percent used mobile apps as part of their holiday shopping experience.

Digital research influences purchases
Digital tools like smartphones and online search are friends, not foes, to in-store shopping. Canadian shoppers are conducting online research before they hit the mall to determine what they want to buy, the best products in a given category and which stores to visit to find that they need. We’ve seen mobile searches related to “best” products in the top retail categories grow by more than 44 percent in the last year.2

This year, shoppers are prepared, as one in five Canadian holiday shoppers say they’ve checked prices online before going in store. Almost half (43%), wish retail stores would do a better job of sharing inventory information.

YouTube is the new gift guide
Whether it’s watching a product review or learning how to bake gingerbread cookies, Canadian shoppers look to video in countless moments throughout to the day to help get things done. And this includes shopping. This holiday season, shoppers will turn to devices to learn more, make a decision or purchase a product. This year, 26 percent of holiday shoppers used online video to look at products and services

Whether you’re a last-minute shopper or you’ve checked off your whole list, have a happy holiday!

Posted by Sarah Bradley and Naumi Haque, Research and Market Insights Managers, Google Canada.

1 Google/Ipsos, 2016 Holiday Shopping Study, Nov 17 to Dec 9, 2016, with n=1,387 Canadian shoppers 2 Google internal data, Canada searches related to apparel, home & garden, beauty & personal care, computer & electronics, and gift (excluding terms “best buy,” “best man,” and “best friends”). Jan-March 2015 vs. Jan-March 2016

Google

Labels: Canadian , Google Holiday , GoogleCanada , Holiday , Insights , Shopping , Think Insights

Labels

#AI 1
#chromebooks #googleforeducation #googlecanada 1
#Chromecast #ChromecastGames #Christmas #Xmas2015 #AngryBirds #Google #AngryBirdsFriends 1
#digitalskills 1
#EarthDay 1
#Google 1
#Google #GoogleCanada #Innovation 2
#Google #GoogleCanada #Arctic #Whistler 1
#Google #GoogleCanada #GoogleCalendar #Android #iphone 1
#Google #GoogleCanada #GoogleKW #Waterloo #Engineering #Innovation 2
#Google #GooglePlay #Family #FamilyLibrary 1
#Google #GooglePlayMusic #Beatles #Music 1
#Google #GooglePlayMusic #GooglePodcasts #GoogleCanada 1
#Google #Olympics #GoogleOlympics 1
#Google #Olympics #GoogleOlympics #GoogleCanada #Rio #Rio2016 2
#GoogleCanada 3
#googlecanada # google.org #challenge #GIC #ImpactChallenge #canada 1
#GoogleCanada #GooglePlay 1
#googlecanada #pixel3 1
#googlecanada #pixelslate 1
#GoogleExpeditions #SaveThePolarBears #GoogleCanada #PolarBearsInternational 1
#GoogleMaps 3
#GoogleNewsInitiative 1
#GoogleSearch #Events #MarchBreak 1
#GoogleSearch #GoogleMaps 1
#GoogleStreetView #StreetView 1
#GrowwithGoogle 2
#Indigenous #nationalaboriginalday #indigenousmapping #google #googlemaps #googleearths #canada #canada150 1
#JobsOnGoogle #Employment 1
#MobileMonth 3
#NewsWise 2
#ParksCanada 1
#ParksDay 1
#photos #food #GoogleCanada 1
#PledgeToVote 2
#saferinernetday 1
#SmallBusiness 2
#streetartproject 1
#StreetView 2
#ThinkBrand 3
#WorldEnvironmentDay #Environment 1
#YearInSearch 1
#youtube #creators #canada #montreal #quebec #YouTubeSpace 1
#youtube #creators #nextup #canada 1
#youtube #Toronto #Google #advertising #ad #pulse #youtubepulse 1
#YouTube #YouTubeFanFest #YTFF #Toronto #Google #iisuperwomanii #unicornisland #molsonamp 1
2018 1
360 1
Ads 15
Adwords 5
Agency 3
Agency Edge 2
AI 1
Allo 1
Analytics 1
Android 5
Android Apps 4
Arctic 6
art 1
Assistant 2
Availability 1
Award Winners 1
Back to School 7
bestbuy 1
bestbuycanada 1
Big Tent 1
Billboard Charts 1
Brand 4
Buffer Festival 2
Buffer Industry Day 2
Canada 2
Canada 150th 1
Canada NGO 1
Canadian 1
Canadian Innovation 2
Canadian Music 2
Canadiana 1
CBC 2
CBC News 1
CBCMusic 1
CBCNews 1
ChanningTatum 1
Chrome 9
Chrome Experiments 4
Chrome OS 3
Chrome Webstore 1
Chromebooks 5
Chromebox 1
Chromecast 6
chromecastultra 1
ChromeOS 1
Civic Engagement 3
Cloud 1
Cloud Computing 2
Codemakers 4
Comedy Week 1
Community Grants 4
contest 1
CSS3 1
D4G Canada 1
Daydream 1
Digital Economy 6
DIY Videos 2
Doodle 1
Doodle 4 Google Canada 2
Duo 1
Elections 4
engineering 1
Enhanced Campaigns 1
EnMasse 1
Enterprise 5
eTowns 1
Francais 1
French 1
French Canadian 1
Full Value of Mobile 1
Geek Street 1
GIC 1
Gmail 4
Gmail App 1
Go North 1
GoneGoogle 4
GoNorth 1
google 4
Google Allo 1
Google App Engine 1
Google Apps 5
Google Apps for Business 2
Google AR & VR 1
Google Art Project 4
Google Assistant 1
Google Books 1
Google Calendar 2
Google Camp 1
Google Canada 4
Google Cloud 2
Google Cloud Platform 1
Google Cloud Storage 1
Google Coder 1
Google Cultural Institute 2
Google Currents 1
Google Developer 1
Google Docs 1
Google Doodle 1
Google Education Team 3
Google Engage 1
Google for Education 1
Google for Entrepreneurs 1
Google for non profits 1
Google for Seniors 1
Google Giving 1
Google Hangouts 3
Google Holiday 3
Google Impact Challenge 1
Google Kitchener-Waterloo 3
Google KW 2
Google Maps 30
Google Montreal 4
Google Music 1
Google My Business 1
Google Partner Serach 1
Google Partners 1
Google Play 10
Google Play Gift Cards 1
Google Play Music 4
Google Retail 2
Google Rise Award 1
Google Sites 1
Google Translate 1
Google TV 1
Google Waterloo 2
Google Wifi 1
Google+ 2
GoogleCanada 3
googleshop 1
GoogleWifi 1
Grammys 1
Guest Blog 1
Hackathon 1
Hangouts 3
happy birthday Canada 1
Hardware 1
Holiday 2
Home 1
How-to 2
How-to videos 2
Innovation 6
Innovation Week 5
Insights 1
LilySingh 1
LiveCase 1
machine learning 1
Made by Google 1
madebygoogle 3
Maps 15
Mobile 12
Montreal 1
Multi-Screen 2
Music 2
MyLiveCase 1
O2S 1
Online Impacting Offline 1
Open Data 2
Peter Mansbridge 1
pixel 5
Play TV 1
playmusiccanada 1
Product 1
Product Launch 1
Products 1
ProudToPlay 1
Public Alerts 1
Quebec 1
Research 1
Retail 3
Search 10
Search Trends 23
security 2
Shopping 1
small business 2
SMB 6
Songza 1
STEM 2
STEM Education 5
Street View 1
StreetView 1
Super Bowl 1
technology 1
Templates 1
The National 1
TheHip 1
TheTragicallyHip 1
Think Insights 3
TouTube FanFest 1
Travel 2
Trends 12
Updates 1
Video 1
Video Trends 6
VideoCalling 1
Videos 1
Vimy150 1
Virtual Reality 1
VR 1
Web Audio API 1
WebGL 1
WebRTC 1
WomenatGoogle 7
YouTube 51
YouTube 360 1
YouTube Creators 14
YouTube Debates 1
YouTube FanFest 2
YouTube Gaming 1
YouTube Kids 1
YouTube Live 1
YouTube Music 7
YouTube Music Awards 2
YouTube NextLab 1
YouTube Partner Program 3
YouTube Rewind 2
YouTube Space 1
YouTube Space Toronto 1
YouTubeCreators 1
YouTubeRewind 1
YPP 2
Zeitgeist 2

Feed

Follow

Read this blog in French: Blogue officiel de Google Canada

Give us feedback in our Product Forums.

Company-wide

Official Google Blog
Public Policy Blog
Student Blog

Products

Android Blog
Chrome Blog
Lat Long Blog

Developers

Developers Blog
Ads Developer Blog
Android Developers Blog

Google
Privacy
Terms