As more businesses are re-opening and Canadian consumers are out shopping, new consumer behaviours have emerged. Like consumers across the globe, Canadian consumer behaviours are different from their behaviours pre-pandemic and their shopping patterns have adjusted accordingly to adapt to new health and store policies. Here are seven new Canadian consumer retail stats from Think With Google that we bet you didn’t know about!

1. 34% of Canadian consumers are searching online to see whether the items are in-stock or carried at the store

   Get in and get out. This is the motto for many consumers today. Shoppers are no longer taking their time browsing different aisles and checking out various product selections. Consumers are doing their research online prior to visiting a store to make sure that the items that they want are available. Once they find out that the items are available, Canadian shoppers will go to the store, purchase the products, and leave the store while minimizing their time at the store.

   For retail stores, this newly emerged shopping behaviour means that you have to ensure your online product information is updated. Make sure your inventory level accurately reflects the inventory stock status on your website because it’d be horrid for you and your customers if your shoppers drive all the way to your store only to find out that the item that appears to be available on the website isn’t in-stock in your store!

2. 65% of Canadian shoppers are spending less time browsing in-store

   Similar to the point mentioned above, Canadian consumers are spending less time shopping in-store. Canadian shoppers have specific items they want to purchase in mind before entering a store and quickly find and purchase them as soon as they enter the store. Businesses should adapt to this new shopping trend by ensuring they have all the latest product information updated on their websites so their customers can go to their retail websites, gather information about products they want to buy, and go to the stores to purchase them efficiently.

3. 58% of Canadian consumers are looking online in advance for deals or promotions

   Instead of flipping through flyers to get the latest deals or promotions, Canadian shoppers are actively turning to the web for promotions. Hence, it’s vital for businesses to update the promotions on their product pages (e.g. 25% off specific items) or their promotions page or create pop-ups so shoppers can receive notifications about the latest promotions when shoppers land on the retail websites.

4. 56% of Canadian consumers think buying online and picking up in-store or curbside will be a beneficial way for them to shop even when there are no restrictions

   In-store or curbside pickup is here to stay. Many Canadian shoppers are incredibly fond of the convenience that in-store or curbside pickup delivers and want the service to continue. By ordering online and picking up items at the store or curbside, Canadian shoppers can reduce the wait time for finding items at the shelves and standing at the checkout counter. If your retail store has the capacity to offer in-store or curbside pickup and the customer demand for the service is positive, consider offering such service.

5. 50% of shoppers would use self-serve checkouts if retailers offered them

   To minimize contact, shoppers are preferring self-serve checkouts. While self-serve checkouts are a fantastic choice for customers and staff to minimize interactions, self-serve checkout machines aren’t always financially plausible for retail stores. If purchasing, leasing, or financing a self-serve checkout machine isn’t financially feasible at the moment, consider using curbside or online order and in-store pickup services since in-store pickup also allows customers to reduce interactions with retail staff.

6. 42% of Canadian consumers have experienced at least one issue when ordering online during COVID-19

   Ensuring your eCommerce is functioning properly is especially in today’s world since more Canadian shoppers are shopping online. Encountering technical website issues will drastically impact a consumer’s user experience. To make sure your entire website is working properly such as text is readable on mobile, shopping cart is processing transactions, or the contact form is accepting form submissions, perform a routine website audit. A routine website audit ensures that all your website elements are working accordingly and the user-experience is optimized. If you’re interested in learning about our website audit service, please feel free to contact us.

7. 71% of Canadian consumers say they are consolidating their shopping

   Rather than making frequent trips to buy a few items, Canadian shoppers are consolidating their shopping to reduce the number of times they have to go to stores. This new shopping behaviour means that retail stores should send out newsletters to customers to promote their products or sales items more frequently so their customers will purchase the retail stores’ items in their consolidated shopping trips.