Canadians expected to spend C$1.9 billion online during holiday season

[mandy]

Canadians are expected to spend C$1.9 billion online during the holiday season, up 26.7% from C$1.5 billion a year ago, according to a new report from TNS Canadian Facts. The study found that 39% of Canadian adult Internet users plan to do some holiday shopping online, each spending an average of C$327

...12% of online Canadians said they would not shop on the Internet because they fear credit card fraud or mistrust the security of online transactions in general. 10% cited the high cost of shipping as a deterrent to online shopping.

.

full article: http://internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=17084

[dnc_ont]

"10% cited the high cost of shipping as a deterrent to online shopping."

Sadly, in Canada, unless you're getting a unique item that you can't get *anywhere* else, shipping really does make online shopping pointless.  Unless you're getting stuff for pennies on the dollar on eBay.  But then, with all the great publicity eBay gets, that brings you back to

...12% of online Canadians said they would not shop on the Internet because they fear credit card fraud or mistrust the security of online transactions in general.

[dnc_ont]

Online holiday shoppers are most likely to buy goods from Sears.ca (41%), Futureshop.ca (40%), Indigo.ca (28%), Amazon.ca (27%), and Canadiantire.ca (27%), according to the study.

Hmm, and look at that.  eBay is nowhere to be seen in the list of likely shopping sites.

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=dnc_ont link=topic=1859.msg6504#msg6504 date=1135346853]

12% of online Canadians said they would not shop on the Internet because they fear credit card fraud or mistrust the security of online transactions in general.
[/quote]

That's actually half the "won't shop" rate of the US buyer surveys I've seen recently.  The latest one said 24% of US buyers  will avoid shopping online due to fraud/security concerns.

[Nat]

And those 12% or 24% who are afraid to give their credit card info over the internet I bet have no problem giving their waiter/waitress in a restaurant who is usually a complete stranger their credit card who takes the card away out of site from them to write up the bill but can easily copy down all that credit card information? 

They trust their card like that out of site to a complete stranger or trust giving it to a person who knocks on their door claiming to be a charity or give it over the telephone?  People are funny to be paranoid in one way yet trusting in another way that apparently has even more fraud than on the internet.

[Nat]

Oops, I forgot to say...this Canadian  , I did half my shopping online and half my shopping in person in a store.  But, for the shopping online I was smart enough to buy mine early enough that allowed me time to watch various auctions of the items I wanted to see which would give me the better deal when you factor in the shipping.  And I was smart enough to shop early enough to know that my item would arrive in plenty of time for Christmas - not like so many people on the eBay boards this week panicking that they didn't get their item yet in time for Christmas (when they just ordered it like this past weekend or even last week and many are international?)

[bargainbloodhound]

And those 12% or 24% who are afraid to give their credit card info over the internet I bet have no problem giving their waiter/waitress in a restaurant

Fear of the unknown.   In the majority of online credit card purchases the merchant never sees your credit card number--it goes straight to their automated processing gateway.  The vast majority of credit card info that is stolen is stolen offline.  Buyers don't have nearly as much to worry about when using a credit card online as online sellers do when they accept credit cards because a large percentage of those credit cards that are stolen offline are then used for online purchases.