November 23, 2010

Border no barrier for Canadians shopping online

U.S. retailers make shipping easier

As the holiday shopping season revs up south of the border, Canadians will be logging onto the internet to hunt for cross-border shopping deals. Nearly 30 per cent of Canadian online shoppers said they were likely to shop at American online retailers to take advantage of deals offered on Black Friday - the day following American   Thanksgiving  - an increase of five per cent from last year.

According to a recent survey conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Visa   Canada, one-third (34 per cent) of Canadian online shoppers were planning to spend more online over the course of last weekend, on average expecting to spend $242  online, up from   $226  in 2009. Male shoppers expect to spend $251, with women slightly behind at   $233.

Clothing and accessories (63 per cent) were the most anticipated online purchases for Black Friday shoppers followed by books (37 per cent) and computers and computer related products (36 per cent). Phones and electronics were the online items on which shoppers intend to spend the most money. 

"Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two well known U.S. shopping days following American Thanksgiving, are becoming increasingly popular with Canadian online shoppers who are looking for bargains south of the border," said Stephanie Wallat, Business Leader, Ecommerce, Visa Canada.

Shoppers in British Columbia and Alberta (72 per cent) are the most likely to purchase clothing and accessories online, whereas Quebec  residents are the least (44 per cent). Forty-eight per cent of online shoppers in Atlantic Canada  plan to buy books, whereas only 26 per cent of shoppers in Western Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have books on their holiday list. 

A simpler way to ship

The survey also found that eight-in-ten online shoppers say that the ability to ship purchases hassle free would increase their likelihood of shopping at American websites. U.S. retailers are listening and more are now shipping to Canada  and abroad. And for those must-have items from U.S.-only sites, Visa has partnered with Borderlinx, an e-commerce solutions company allowing Canadians to shop at any retailer in the U.S. and have their purchases shipped across the border. Borderlinx also provides a simple calculator that estimates the entire cost of the purchase before it is final. Itemizing the taxes, duties, currency conversion, and shipping costs to Canada, shoppers will have the information they need before they make their final purchase decision. Purchases from separate websites can be consolidated by Borderlinx into one shipment for delivery to   Canada  for convenience and additional savings.