The rise of ‘commuter commerce’
More people using smartphones taking advantage of opportunity to make purchases on the go
There’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday and Boxing Day and online shopping and now there’s something else: Commuter commerce. About14 per cent of commuters say they shop on their smartphones on the bus, streetcar or the subway when they can, according to research from PayPal Canada and Ipsos.
Another 76 per cent would consider commuter commerce if it were easier to do — 45 per cent of public transit users identified poor or no cellphone reception or lack of Wi-Fi as the reason they don’t shop while in transit.
“This is public transit we’re talking about here. No texting and driving was involved in this survey,” said Kerry Reynolds, head of consumer marketing, PayPal Canada.
Reynolds was on the King St. streetcar recently, scrolling through Facebook on her mobile when an offer popped up from Sport Chek for a pair of volleyball shoes. She bought them on the spot for her husband, a volleyball coach.
“They happened to catch me at the right time. It’s a perfect way to use your time more effectively when you’re on the go,” said Reynolds, adding that she probably wouldn’t have done it without PayPal because she would have had to enter her credit card information. “We’re pretty excited about this trend.” The study found that those who shop online while commuting spend an average of $529 per month per person.
Here is a breakdown of how they spend their money:
62 per cent reported buying movie, game or concert tickets;
62 per cent bought clothing, shoes or accessories; 55 per cent bought gifts for others; 53 per cent bought food and groceries; 50 per cent bought games, gadgets and tech accessories;
37 per cent bought furniture and home decor.
A little more than seven out of 10 commuters with mobile phones agreed they would like to browse their favourite stores on their phones during their commute.
PayPal estimates the proportion of commuter shoppers could increase fivefold if they had better online access during their commute.
The findings are based on an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between Oct. 15 and 19, on behalf of PayPal. A sample of 2,002 Canadians (293 of whom are transit users who connect to the Internet with their mobile device during their commute) from Ipsos’ online panel was interviewed online.
Wi-Fi is available on some subway platforms in Toronto.
But the trend is toward more Wi-Fi everywhere, said Alex Arifuzzaman, of Interstratics Consultants Inc., pointing out that there are apps to help mobile phone users access free Wi-Fi around them.
“Wi-Fi is becoming ubiquitous. It was a luxury in the past. It’s slowly transforming from a luxury to a utility,” said Arifuzzaman.
But while online retail has grown in recent years, 82 per cent of Canadians surveyed by the data analytics firm SAS said they plan to shop in-store this holiday season.
They’re also planning to spend less than last year and shop at discount retailers, according to SAS.