68% worried that the items they desire could be unavailable or out of stock due to ongoing supply chain issues.
MONTREAL, October 17, 2022 – Sharethrough, one of the top global independent omnichannel ad exchanges, released a study on ‘Consumer Holiday Shopping Behavior’. The results suggest that saving money is top of mind for shoppers this holiday season with 61% of Canadians considering affordability as the most important factor when shopping for the holidays. In fact, a whopping 88% are tracking prices either frequently or occasionally, for the products they want to buy, with men (25%) more likely than women to track prices frequently.
While over 6 in 10 Canadians have already started their shopping lists for the season, the sentiment this year reflects the effects of the current macroeconomic conditions and post pandemic supply chain perils. 59% are planning to spend the same or more on holiday shopping this year, however, 68% of them are worried that the items they desire could be unavailable or out of stock due to ongoing supply chain issues.
With Black Friday discount deals around the corner, consumers can barely wait to go holiday shopping -
- 41% of Canadians have started shopping for the holiday season in October. But a majority of them (49%) are waiting for the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday deals to begin.
- Online remains a popular source for shopping, more so for the UK (71%), followed by Canada (53%) and the USA (52%). However, shoppers in Canada (47%) and the USA (48%) seem to be equally pulled towards in-store shopping in this first pandemic free retail environment.
- Black Friday/Cyber Monday makeup over 50% of the holiday shopping for a majority of Canadians (52%)
- Even though Canadians are eyeing for discounts, 27% of them plan to spend more than they did last year.
What do Canadians Turn to For Gifting Ideas?
A vast majority of Canadians turn to their friends and family for recommendations. When asked to rank sites, blogs and websites emerged as the most influential source for suggestions. However, Tiktok ranked #1 for gifting ideas among the Gen Z audience (16-24 year olds).
Holiday ads are also seen as a good source of inspiration for gifting ideas, with 73% of Canadians having considered purchasing a gift after seeing an ad online. Moreover, 86% are likely or very likely to click on an ad with a discount code or offers when browsing and 67% of the consumers say that they would be more likely to look at ads if the brands share gifting suggestions instead of product descriptions.
Commenting on the survey, Frank Maguire, VP Strategy & Insight at Sharethrough, said that, “We at Sharethrough strive to understand the constantly evolving human behavior to bring innovative technology that enhances the brand-customer relationships. Our aim for this study was to analyze consumer shopping behavior for the first post pandemic holiday season, and study how shoppers are responding to current macroeconomic conditions and post pandemic perils in order to help brands communicate better and bring more value to their customers.”
Methodology: Survey was run towards 1,000 individuals from US, Canada and UK.
About Sharethrough:
Sharethrough is one of the top global independent omnichannel ad exchanges. Driven by our conviction that advertising should be underpinned by respect & care, we believe taking a human-centric approach to advertising and monetization is the key to a sustainable path forward for the independent and accessible internet to thrive. Advertisers & publishers leverage Sharethrough’s unique technology to enhance every impression by rendering a higher-performing banner, video, CTV or native ad that dynamically fits into any placement on any site. Our publisher partners benefit from directly-sourced demand, scale, and quality, prioritizing their monetization efforts while elevating performance. With its headquarters in Montreal, Sharethrough has several offices across North America including San Francisco on the west coast & New York City in the east.
