UPS: 1 in 3 Canadian consumers will shop Black Friday, Cyber Monday

Mississauga, Canada -- Canadian shoppers are off to an earlier start with holiday shopping. UPS Canada's annual Black Friday survey conducted by Leger shows that one-third of Canadians plan to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.



The findings forecast that 20% of Canadian consumers will travel to the U.S. to shop for Black Friday deals and 32% of Canadian consumers will make online Cyber Monday purchases from U.S. retailers.



"The growth in e-commerce innovations and product offerings south of the border is still enticing a lot of Canadian shoppers, but Canadian retailers are starting to pick-up the pace as seen through the ubiquity of online deals during the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend as well as the strong desire among Canadians to buy Canadian," said Jim Bena, VP of marketing, UPS Canada."



Still, U.S. retailers compete for their share of the Canadian market. Some 44% of those unlikely to make purchases from the U.S. expressed a preference to shop Canadian. This preference was significantly lower in Quebec than the rest of Canada (29% compared to 48%). Age was also a key factor with the likelihood to purchase although decreasing significantly with age. Those ages 18-34 are more likely to purchase goods from the U.S., either online or in person, than any other age group.



Post-purchase experience and shipping options are priorities for Canadians shopping online, including clear delivery dates and package visibility:



• specific delivery times (36%)

• text or email alerts of shipment status (35%)

• same day shipping (29%

• convenient pick up locations (25%)



UPS predicts to deliver 34 million packages globally on its peak day of Dec. 22. During the course of the month of December, the company forecasts a record volume of 585 million packages, an increase of 11%. UPS Canada surveyed 1,537 Canadians online between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, 2014.