Even though Ipsos Reid pollsters Darrell Bricker and John Wright will be providing real time data on Canadian customers at the 2016 CADA Summit, they said their presentation will go well beyond polls.
“It’s not going to be so much about polling as it is going to be about the transition of the Canadian population and what’s going on,” said Wright, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director of the Public Opinion Polling Division of Ipsos Public Affairs, in an interview with Canadian auto dealer.
Wright and Bricker point to three sweeping trends that are characterizing the Canadian landscape, including an aging population, increased suburbanization and urbanization, and the changing face of what the customer looks like, driven by immigrants coming in from Pacific nations.
Bricker said that 2015 was the first year in Canadian history in which there were more people in Canada age 65 and over than there were under age 15.
All of this means that dealers will be facing aging boomer customers, millennials transitioning into adulthood, and visible minorities with radically different cultural expectations. This is coupled with the challenges that rural Canada is facing as Canadians move into urban and suburban areas, said Bricker.
Wright added that technology is also changing mobility options, further dictating what consumers will need from manufacturers and auto retailers.
“We are not so much anymore in the car business as we are in the mobility business. And moving people from place to place using different modes of transportation, including those outside the automotive sector, is probably where we are headed,” said Wright.
One thing the dealers in the room can expect is a fun and engaging presentation, said Wright and Bricker.
“I’m looking forward to bringing some understanding to the folks who are going through all of these experiences, and tell them why they are going through what they are going through to help them plot out what their path is going to be in the future based on what we know is coming in terms of the Canadian population,” said Bricker.
“[Our presentation] challenges the stereotypes that everyone in that room will have about their own country. I think they will walk away from it knowing that this country is changing rapidly and it’s not some far off, distant idea of a changing landscape. Within the next 15 years it’s going to come like a tsunami,” said Wright.
TD Auto Finance is the exclusive sponsor of the CADA Summit, held Feb.10 at the Omni King Edward Hotel in Toronto. The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association are the hosts and organizers of the annual event.
Visit www.cadasummit.ca for full details and to register.
Look for exclusive coverage of the 2016 CADA Summit in the March issue of Canadian auto dealer magazine.
Click to watch a sneak peak of the CADA Summit.
