A new survey has found that Canadian men are shopping on social media more than women.
PayPal Canada’s Social Commerce Trend Study found that 33 per cent of men who use social media are doing their shopping through those platforms on a monthly basis, compared to 26 per cent of women.
“We wanted to find the gender differences obviously, because sometimes you assume certain things with gender, so going into it we wanted to ask,” Malini Mitra, PayPal Canada’s director of communications, told Global News.
The study, conducted by the Logit Group on behalf of PayPal, captured opinions of 1,825 social media users across Canada.
The survey found that 47 per cent of Canadian social media users were making purchases on social platforms, spending $924 per year on average.
The most popular social media sites Canadians were using for shopping were Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. Canadians who use social media averaged 6.4 hours across their online platforms every day, Mitra said.
PayPal’s study also broke down the types of items Canadians were purchasing the most on social media.
Fashion came in first at 54 per cent, followed by electronics at 26 per cent, games at 21 per cent, home decor at 20 per cent and event tickets at 19 per cent.
Mitra said that the percentage of retailers in North America using social media platforms to sell their products almost doubled in the last two years. 2017 saw 17 per cent of retailers using social media to broadcast their products, which bumped up to 33 per cent in 2018.
“I can only imagine the number must have gone up in 2019,” said Mitra.
One interesting aspect of the study was the consumer trends behind influencer marketing on social media, she said.
“Many of us who are on social media today start following celebrities, influencers or content creators,” said Mitra.
According to Mitra, two out of every five Canadian on social media admits to being “inspired” to buy a product recommended by an influencer.
About 62 per cent of Canadian social media shoppers in the study have also admitted to being influenced more by holiday gift recommendations they see on social media versus the ones they see in store.
PayPal’s survey also tracked the preferred location and timing for shopping on social media, with the results showing that 32 per cent of Canadian users shopped during a conference call or meeting at work.
Another 42 per cent shopped on social media while commuting.
According to PayPal, “social commerce” is being driven by the expectation of convenience — Canadians want a “hyper-relevant, targeted and interactive” shopping experience.
“A few years back, people could browse on social media platforms but that’s as far as you could go,” PayPal president Paul Parisi said in a press release.
“Today, ‘Buy Now’ buttons are a reality and allow people to shop when they are scrolling through social media platforms — making it a popular commerce trend.”
[“source=newmarkettoday”]
