Online shopping more popular than ever

Last year, 78% of Quebec adults made at least one purchase online, an increase of 15% compared to 2019.

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The increase is particularly pronounced among those 55 and over.

This is what reveals a survey by NETendance, made public by the Academy of digital transformation, which reports to Laval University.

The proportion of Quebecers aged 55 to 64 who have made at least one online purchase rose from 48% in 2019 to 77% in 2020. Even larger increases in proportion were observed among the older groups, reaching 68%. in 2020 among 65-75 year olds and 43% among 75 and over (43%). For the latter two groups, this is a jump of 32 percentage points from 2020

Unsurprisingly, Amazon’s website was the preferred platform for buyers, who spent an average of 41% of their total purchases there. More than one in four adults now subscribe to Amazon Prime, up from 12% the previous year.

After Amazon, it is the websites of Quebec merchants (25%), Canadian merchants (18%) and foreign merchants (16%) that are popular with the public.

For some, however, it was more difficult to identify Quebec products. 44% of respondents indicated that they had difficulty doing so. An equal number of buyers found it easy.

When they turned to the web, buyers were, in the majority of cases, looking for “clothes, shoes, jewelry and accessories”. Then follow the category of “electronic products”, then that of “music, films and video games”.

The vast majority (92%) of Quebec buyers were satisfied with the delivery times for products purchased online in 2020. Among those who made a return, 84% were also satisfied with the ease of the process.

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