Don't be a hoser: What Canadians expect from online order experiences

^{Image caption: “horizontal image of a cardboard box sitting on a doorstep with a canadian flag.” Artwork by DALL-E / Courtesy OpenAI, edited by Pitney Bowes.}

This month on BOXpoll, we’re focusing on Canadian consumers, digging into their sentiments about ecommerce with a lightning round of delivery questions:

• Are Canadian consumers happy with their ecommerce variety?
• What do they consider fast delivery?
• Do they measure delivery time in calendar or business days?
• How often do they check delivery tracking?
  

Ecommerce product variety

While Canadian shoppers are (mostly) satisfied with their online shopping options, no product category was immune to the ‘wandering eye,’ with less than two-thirds satisfied with domestic product selection. Auto parts, jewelry, sporting goods, and pet supplies are the categories where consumers were the least satisfied, presenting opportunities for new and expanding brands to sell to Canadian consumers.

Speed expectations

To Canadian shoppers, the average definition of fast—for all online orders except food and beverage—is almost 4 days. That’s a very different definition of “fast” than (ahem) certain logistics giants would have you believe.

Weekend delivery days

In the logistics world, measures of speed often prompt the question, “are we talking calendar or business days?”  

To find out, we asked consumers to imagine they were making an online purchase on a Friday with 3-day shipping, then asked them what day they expected their order.

We discovered that to the majority of Canadians (54%) and almost three-quarters (74%) of Atlantic Canada residents, 3-day shipping on a Friday order means their package should come on Wednesday. These consumers assume business days, giving retailers more leeway for processing/transit time.

(For context, when we asked Americans the same question, 61% expected Monday or Tuesday delivery, revealing that most US consumers think in “postal days”—counting Saturday but not Sunday.)

Checking order tracking

The average Canadian consumer reports checking delivery tracking an average of 3.2 times per order, while women and younger shoppers hit refresh significantly more often (3.8 times and 4.4 times, respectively). For comparison, the average American consumer polled the same week reported checking tracking an average of 3.1 times per order. 

_{BOXpoll™ by Pitney Bowes, a weekly consumer survey on current events, culture, and ecommerce logistics. Conducted by Pitney Bowes with Morning Consult // 811 Canada consumers surveyed February 2022 and 935 Canadian consumers surveyed September 2022. © Copyright Pitney Bowes Inc.}