Canadians lead the world when it comes to the Internet. 83% of us have Internet access from any location, and almost a quarter of us (22%) are connected through a smartphone or PDA. We spend more time online than any other country in the world, according to a recent comScore study. The average Canadian spends 43.5 hours a month online, compared to the worldwide average of 23.1 hours.
So how do we spend all those hours online? Here are the top 10 online activities, according to the latest IpsosReid Canadian Internet Fact Guide:
- 89% visited news or information websites
- 86% visited a newspaper website; 34% do so at least weekly
- 78% conducted banking; 44% bank online at least weekly
- 78% purchased product or service; 20% make purchases online at least monthly
- 75% comparison shopped
- 72% clicked on a website advertisement
- 70% looked for movie times/critic reviews
- 68% used instant messaging
- 66% listened to radio
- 65% visited a magazine website
The majority of Canadians consume social media on a regular basis, according to eMarketer.com. Nearly 60% of Canadian internet users are on social networks monthly, and that rate is expected to increase to 68% by 2014, when 18.4 million people in Canada will be socializing online at least once a month.
Of the top social media sites, it’s no surprise that Facebook is by far the number one visited site, trailed by Windows Live Profile, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace. For more details, see the full article.
More Canadians than ever are shopping and researching purchases online according to a new report by Statistics Canada. Almost 40% of Canadians aged 16 and over used the Internet to place more than 95 million orders in 2009. This was up from 32% and the 70 million orders placed in 2007.
Key findings from the report include:
- - 51% of Canadians aged 16 to 34 purchased a product online. Men (42%) were more likely than women (37%) to have made an online purchase.
- - While more Canadians are shopping online, the average value per order declined from $183 in 2007 to $158 in 2009.
- - The most popular online orders are travel services, entertainment products (concert tickets, books, magazines), clothing, jewellery and accessories.
- - Younger consumers were more likely to make smaller ticket purchases like clothing and accessories, while older consumers were more likely to buy bigger ticket items like travel services.
- - The majority of Canadians (52%) are now researching and browsing products online. Of those browsing online, 69% reported making a purchase directly in stores.
Do your consumers/clients trust your advertising and website claims more than conversations or word of mouth? Ever wonder what sources your consumers/clients are using to gain information on your organization? And which of those sources they view as credible? Take a look at this article from Ipsos to learn more. For more of the Marketing research you should know, take a look at the articles below.
The Best Day/Time to Send an Email
3 Ways to Make the Most of a Corporate Blog
How to Socialize a Marketing Campaign in 3 Months
How to Encourage Employees to become Brand Ambassadors
