Border no barrier for Canadians seeking deals online

More Canadians expected to take advantage of "Black Friday" bargains

TORONTO, Nov. 22 /CNW/ - As the holiday shopping season kicks off this coming weekend south of the border, Canadians will be logging onto the internet to hunt for cross-border shopping deals. Nearly 30 per cent of Canadian online shoppers say they are likely to shop at American online retailers to take advantage of deals offered on Black Friday - the day following American Thanksgiving - an increase of five per cent from last year.

According to a recent survey conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Visa Canada, one-third (34 per cent) of Canadian online shoppers are planning to spend more online over the course of this weekend, on average expecting to spend  $242 online, up from $226 in 2009.  Male shoppers expect to spend $251, with women slightly behind at $233.

Clothing and accessories (63 per cent) are the most anticipated online purchases for Black Friday shoppers followed by books (37 per cent) and computers and computer related products (36 per cent).  Phones and electronics are the online items on which shoppers intend to spend the most money. 

"Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two well known U.S. shopping days following American Thanksgiving, are becoming increasingly popular with Canadian online shoppers who are looking for bargains south of the border," said Stephanie Wallat, Business Leader, Ecommerce, Visa Canada.

"Canadians purchasing goods with Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards can be confident shopping online knowing they're protected by Visa's layers of security."  Wallat also highlighted that Canadian online shoppers can also take advantage of special offers from American retailers as Visa cardholders.

Shoppers in British Columbia and Alberta (72 per cent) are the most likely to purchase clothing and accessories online, whereas Quebec residents are the least (44 per cent).  Forty-eight per cent of online shoppers in Atlantic Canada plan to buy books, whereas only 26 per cent of shoppers in Western Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have books on their holiday list. 

	Percentage of online shoppers who intend to shop at American websites over Black Friday weekend
British Columbia	33%
Alberta	27%
Prairie Provinces	27%
Ontario	24%
Quebec	27%
Atlantic Canada	32%

A Simple Way to Ship

The survey also found that eight-in-ten online shoppers say that the ability to ship purchases hassle free would increase their likelihood of shopping at American websites.  U.S. retailers are listening and more are now shipping to Canada and abroad. And for those must-have items from U.S.-only sites, Visa has partnered with Borderlinx, an e-commerce solutions company allowing Canadians to shop at any retailer in the U.S. and have their purchases shipped across the border.  Borderlinx also provides a simple calculator that estimates the entire cost of the purchase before it is final.  Itemizing the taxes, duties, currency conversion, and shipping costs to Canada, shoppers will have the information they need before they make their final purchase decision.  Purchases from separate websites can be consolidated by Borderlinx into one shipment for delivery to Canada for convenience and additional savings. Visa cardholders can sign up for the service at www.borderlinx.com/visa/ca.

Shopping online with Visa Debit

The survey also found that four-in-ten online shoppers (39 per cent) say that the ability to use their debit card would increase their likelihood of shopping at American online retailers.  Visa Debit allows Canadians to safely pay for holiday purchases directly from their personal bank accounts and also lets them shop in more places online and around the world.  It can be used for purchases in over 200 countries at millions of merchant locations around the world wherever Visa debit is accepted.

"Visa Debit offers expanded functionality to Canadian holiday shoppers, enabling them to shop online, over the phone, and in-store internationally," continued Stephanie Wallat.  Visa Debit cards are accepted at millions of merchant outlets and over 1.7 million ABMs around the globe. And cardholders are protected by Visa's layers of security including Verified by Visa, zero liability and the three digit code (CVV2).

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency.  Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 10,000 transactions a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants.  Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers.  Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products.  For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About Borderlinx

Borderlinx is the industry leader in global cross-border ecommerce. Delivering to consumers across the world, Borderlinx's innovative eCommerce management solutions enable U.S. and UK e-tailers to sell online to a global marketplace, while allowing consumers to access the best quality products at the best possible prices. Established by experts in ecommerce, multi-channel marketing, international trade and logistics management, Borderlinx has partnerships with many of the world's leading companies. Borderlinx is an international company headquartered in Europe, with offices in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. For further information visit: www.borderlinx.com. For more information contact: Abigail Harrison, thebluedoor, [phone], [email protected]

About the Ipsos Reid survey

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between November 1 and November 4, 2010, on behalf of Visa Canada. For this survey, a national sample of 1,155 adults (53 per cent of whom had an online purchase for either a Canadian or American online retailer in the past twelve months) conducted as part of Ipsos Reid's regular online omnibus poll. For the base sample group (n= 1,155), an unweighted probability sample, with 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For the sub-group of online shoppers (n=597), the margin of error would be plus or minus 4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error for any other subgroups would be larger.

For further information:

Melissa Cassar, Visa Canada, 416-860-8895, [email protected]

Sarah Van Lange, Fleishman-Hillard, 416-645-8173, [email protected]