73 percent of young Canadians are more likely to shop online than in-store: survey

A new study from Payments Canada finds that more and more Canadians between the ages of 18-34 are turning towards high-tech payment options.

According to the payment management association, 73 percent of Canadians in this age group are more likely to shop online than in-store because they find the payment process more convenient. This is notably higher than the average of 58 percent of Canadians who would do the same.

Additionally, Payments Canada found that nearly half of young Canadians are more likely to make a spontaneous purchase online because their payment data is already stored in-app or on the website.

In terms of transportation, 50 percent of young Canadians prefer ride-hailing apps to taxis because of simple payment, versus 29 percent on average across all demographics.

Twenty-five percent of Canadians aged 18-34 say they’ve stopped using cash for low price purchases (compared to 17 percent of all Canadians). Meanwhile, 70 percent of Canadians say they’re willing to move away from cash in favour of other payment methods (compared to 62 percent of all Canadians). Altogether, cash use is dropping, with 42 percent of Canadians use cash less than four times per month, compared to 20 percent in 2018.

Other miscellaneous payment findings for Canadians aged 18-34 include:

• Seventy-seven percent are interested in a web dashboard that puts all of their financial data in one place for easier tracking (compared to the average of 63 percent)
• Sixty-four percent say they use credit cards because there are no better options for in-app purchases (compared to the average of 53 percent)
• Sixty-one percent have used their phone to deposit a cheque (compared to the average of 38 percent)
• Twenty percent of Canadians aged 18-34 are more likely to see a payment on their bank statement that they don’t recognize (compared to the average of 12 percent)

“The findings validate the relevancy of the payments experience for today’s consumer and the need for a modern payments system that will make payments easy, fast and data-rich,” said Gerry Gaetz, president and CEO of Payments Canada, in a press statement.

“This is why the time is now for our payments Modernization initiative. We need a system that can set the platform for innovation, while maintaining the high security and resiliency standards Canada is known for.”

Leger Marketing conducted the survey on behalf of Payments Canada between April 12th and April 19th, 2019. During this time, Leger used an online panel to survey 1,564 Canadians. The study has a margin of error of +/-2.8%, 19 times out of 20.