57% spike in Canadian online grocery shoppers: Report

Source article: grocerybusiness.ca (April 22, 2020)

In just four weeks, the number of Canadian online grocery shoppers jumped 58 per cent according to a survey PayPal commissioned in early April.

PayPal announced earlier in April its partnership with Walmart Canada, the first time the online payment platform company has teamed up with a retailer for online grocery purchases.

The survey shows that 30 per cent of Canadians are shopping online for groceries. This marks a 58 per cent jump from a comparable survey conducted just four weeks earlier, before the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Canadian consumers had already embraced online shopping before the pandemic, as 95 per cent reported in early March that they had made an online purchase. Before the health crisis, online grocery shopping was less popular, with only 19 per cent reporting engaging in the activity at the time.

Now, the most recent survey shows close to one in three Canadians surveyed (30 per cent) are shopping online to buy groceries. That survey also found that since the outbreak, more Canadians have started to shop online for essential items like household supplies (41 per cent increase) and toiletries (33 per cent increase), as well as other items like entertainment, toys and games (18 per cent increase).

The most recent survey found that among Canadian respondents who don’t shop online, 39 per cent are worried about putting their financial information on the Internet. Walmart has chosen to include PayPal into their online checkout to help put shoppers at ease as the payment platform doesn’t share personal financial details with third parties.

Choosing PayPal during checkout means Canadians have the flexibility of paying for their purchase with their bank account, Visa Debit card, or credit card linked to their PayPal account while earning their card-associated reward points. Opening an account is free and customers are not charged a fee when making purchases.