Ready, set, click: Canadians seeking cross-border deals online

Visa Canada survey reveals that among online shoppers 44 per cent of Canadians intend to take advantage of "Black Friday and Cyber Monday" online bargains - a 10 per cent increase from 2011

TORONTO, Nov. 15, 2012 /CNW/ - As the holiday shopping season kicks off in the U.S., Canadians will be going online to hunt for cross-border shopping deals. A new survey conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Visa Canada showed that nearly 44 per cent of Canadian online shoppers say they are likely to take advantage of discounts offered on Black Friday and Cyber Monday (the days following American Thanksgiving) by shopping at American online merchants - a 10 per cent increase over last year.

Survey results also reveal that on average, Canadians expect to spend $220 online this year, down from $262 in 2011. Male shoppers will be the bigger spenders at $235, with women slightly behind at $208. Residents from Ontario ($237) and the Prairie provinces of Canada ($232) are the regions with the highest expected online spend, while those surveyed in Quebec ($184) are expected to spend the least during this period.

"Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest shopping days in the U.S. and unofficially mark the beginning of the holiday shopping season," said Ann-Marie McIntosh, Head of Strategic Solutions and Partnerships, Visa Canada. "Although overall spending levels are down from 2011, we see that more Canadians are planning to take advantage of online sales offered by American retailers this year."

According to the survey, clothing and accessories (49%) are the most popular online purchases among Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers, followed by music or movies (37%), books or e-books (35%), toys (29%), health and beauty products (20%), computers and/or computer accessories (21%) and other electronics (25%).

Regionally, among Black Friday shoppers, those in Atlantic Canada (67%) are the most likely to purchase clothing and accessories online, whereas residents in Quebec (31%) are the least likely to make these purchases. Forty-three per cent of online shoppers polled from the Prairie provinces are planning on purchasing music or movies, compared to online shoppers polled in British Columbia (44%), Quebec (38%), Ontario (34%) and Atlantic Canada (23%).

McIntosh also highlights that Canadians purchasing goods with Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards can be confident shopping online knowing they're protected by Visa's layers of security.

"While survey results reveal that 32 per cent of Canadians refrain from online shopping due to concerns about security, Visa cardholders can rest assured that our multiple layers of security provide the extra protection they require to make secure online purchases with confidence."

Canadians still shopping at Canadian websites

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals attract Canadian shoppers, the survey also found that the most common type of online shopping among Canadians is a purchase from a Canadian website. Among Canadian online shoppers who have shopped at U.S. sites, their key motivators to make more purchases at Canadian sites include free or flat rate shipping (76%), better prices or deals (74%) or prices and deals equivalent to those available in the U.S. (72%).

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 24,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About the Ipsos Reid survey

The Ipsos Reid poll was conducted between October 23 and October 26, 2012, on behalf of Visa Canada. For this survey, a national sample of 1,134 adults (60 per cent of whom had an online purchase from either a Canadian or American online retailer in the past twelve months) was conducted as part of Ipsos Reid's regular online omnibus poll. For the base sample group (n=1,134), an unweighted probability sample, with 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For the sub-group of online shoppers (n=693), the margin of error would be plus or minus 4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error for any other subgroups would be larger.

SOURCE: VISA Canada Corporation