Digital platforms and body style diversity are some of the main factors that appear to be shaping the shopping behaviour of Canadian car buyers, according to a report from Jumpstart Automotive Media.
The media, insights, and marketing solutions company releases its eighth annual Insights Book in June, with the information, focusing on the Canadian market, revealing some interesting data and trends. For example, smartphone usage among shoppers is up 11 per cent compared to the same period in 2017, and desktop and tablet usage has decreased.
In terms of the path-to-purchase, Jumpstart has identified an 18 per cent increase in cross-shopping between new and used vehicles, with the luxury category experiencing the greatest increase with a 27 per cent boost in preference.
The company also says that more than 50 per cent of all new Canadian car shoppers are thinking about buying a used car or CPO vehicle as their next purchase. Interestingly enough, these two categories shoppers are “11 per cent more likely than new car shoppers to be open to different brands.”
As for body styles, shopper preference in five of the 13 provinces/ territories in Canada shifted in 2017 compared the previous year — with vans, alternative fuel, and coupes demonstrating the strongest consumer affinity, particularly in the Yukon, British Columbia, and Ontario. SUVs and crossovers remain popular across the board, although hatchbacks and wagons are also showing strong growth, possibly due to rising gas prices.
“The Canadian auto shopper continues to display a wide variety of diversity, not only in the type of vehicle they’re shopping for, but also which platforms and resources they turn to when doing their research,” said Libby Murad-Patel, vice president marketing and strategic insights at Jumpstart. “We expect motivators such as gas prices, vehicle pricing in general, and the continued expansion of luxury-oriented features found in non-luxury vehicles to be main drivers of shopping behaviour in the near future for this audience.”
To view the report, click here.
