Published on July 22, 2021

 

With CEO Ransom Hawley & Head of Marketing Camille Kennedy

Topics Covered:

???? Deep dive into the value consumer
???? Opportunities for discount retailers
???? Threats to conventional stores
???? Predictions on who will win the retail race
???? Key takeaways for retailers and brands

Livestream on July 21, 2021

 

*Disclaimer: all data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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Published on July 13, 2021

 

What are Ratings & Reviews and Why is it Important?

Did you know? Word of mouth marketing results in 5 times the sales that paid media does. According to Forbes, TrustRadius, and Nielsen, consumers are 90% more likely to trust and buy a product recommended by a friend or peer. With the rise of eCommerce, online Ratings & Reviews have grown significantly in importance. 95.2% of consumers state that online reviews are important to their shopping experience.

Digital Natives put even more emphasis on online Ratings & Reviews, with 96% of Millennials and 98% of Gen Z stating it is important.

Even when shopping in-store, online reviews are influencing purchase decisions at shelf. 88% of in-store shoppers are checking online reviews to aid purchase decisions at shelf.

What this Means for Brands and Retailers

 

Timely Reviews Are Critical

Maintaining consistent, timely, relevant reviews are critical to attracting and retaining consumers, because 57% of Canadians think Ratings & Reviews older than 4 months are considered “outdated”.

 

Score Is Everything

Not only should Ratings & Reviews be timely, they also need to meet the minimum criteria to gain consumer confidence. 62% of consumers look for a 4.0+ star-rating when purchasing a product online.

Caddle has an average star-rating of 4.1 due to our hyper- targeting and screening process. Learn more here.

No Reviews Costs You Money

Not only do Ratings & Reviews increase revenue, not having them will impact your business’ bottom line negatively as well. Decreased basket sizes and losing consumers to competitors are the two factors impacted when a brand or retailer doesn’t have Ratings & Reviews. 57% of consumers will have decreased intentions to purchase when there are no Ratings & Reviews. 41% of consumers would switch to another retailer if Ratings & Reviews are not on their website.

 

One Review is Not Enough

Caddle data shows that 30-50 reviews every 4-6 months is a healthy starting point. 87% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. 64% of Canadians read 3 or more reviews before committing to purchase!

 

More Ratings & Reviews = Higher SEO

68% of consumers are more likely to buy a product if there are 1000’s of Ratings & Reviews. Ratings & Reviews also drive traffic to your website, providing SEO value.

 

Do Reviews Improve Vendor Relationships? Yes!

Having Ratings & Reviews can directly impact your vendor relationships:

• Provide valuable feedback on products to vendors
• Provides guidance for reassessment of product assortment
• Sparks product innovation
• Reinforces commitment and partnership to long term growth

 

How Do I Get More Reviews? Enter Caddle…

76% of consumers want to be incentivized and/or rewarded to leave a Rating & Review. The number one reward for over 70% of consumers for sharing their opinion is cash or product – luckily Caddle provides both solutions! Caddle collects Ratings & Reviews without shipping a single product – enabling speed and cost efficiencies, and giving you 90% of your time back.

After strong demand from our clients, Caddle now offers Ratings & Reviews on Walmart.ca. Syndicate to Walmart.ca without syndication fees. Get started today and claim your first product free.

Learn more here.

 

*Disclaimer: all data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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Published July 6, 2021

In continuation of our ‘Return To’ Series, Caddle dives deeper into what Canadians will be returning to as lockdown restrictions are lifting.

As we uncover insights from our ‘Return To’ Question Series, Caddle discovered more about what else Canadians will (or will not) be returning to from 8,500 Canadians in May.

 

Where Are We Headed?

After a long and tiresome period of lockdown, Canada is slowly beginning the process of re-opening. Caddle wants to understand where the minds of Canadians have been wandering to as their favourite places begin opening back up. We discovered that vaccine requirements are the driving factor to get Canadians back to their favourite restaurants, movie theatres, and gyms from our previous blog post. Could this be the same for getting back into the office, shopping malls, and sports arenas?

 

Hey Google, Take Me to Work

Remote work has been a favourable experience for many as it allows more flexibility and freedom for employees. With an increase in online jobs and options to work from home, will Canadians be returning to the office? Prior to the pandemic, approximately 60% of Canadians responded that they used to go into the office for work. When we asked how often they would be returning after the pandemic, approximately 55% said they would be returning the same amount, and about 32% responded that they would be returning less. Now, as much as a pleasure working from the comfort of our own homes may be, Caddle also asked what factors would get Canadians from their home office chairs back into their corporate office chairs. The leading factors (come as no surprise) are vaccine requirement (21.9%), overall cleanliness (11.7%), and mask-wearing policies (10.8%).

Hey Google, Search Malls Near Me

Alright, let’s face it… shopping when you can walk around your favourite stores, try things on, and maybe even grab a bite to eat from the food court is WAY better than surfing through sites at home and pressing a checkout button. Or is it? Over 93% of Canadians used to go to shopping malls prior to the pandemic, a majority at a less than monthly basis (29.9%). However, while approximately 47% of Canadians will be returning the same amount, about 39% responded saying they would be visiting less!

Again, Caddle wanted to determine what exactly would push Canadians to return to shopping malls. According to our survey results, the three most important factors are mask-wearing policies, physical distancing policies, and overall cleanliness- with selection rates of 39.5%, 39.1%, and 38.3%, respectively. An interesting discovery, as vaccine requirements have consistently ranked amongst the top 3 in our other surveys! It looks like personal space might be valued more than vaccines during retail therapy.

Hey Google, Search Sports Arenas Near Me

To many, sports go further than solely being a source of entertainment, they bring people together to celebrate (hopefully) and have a good time! Before the pandemic, about 62% of Canadians used to go to sports arenas- a majority of them less often than a few times a year (24%). Looking into the future, over half of Canadians (55.2%) responded that they would be attending sports arenas at the same rate they used to before the pandemic, however, over 33% will be going less. Again, when asked what would encourage Canadians to return to sports arenas the top 3 responses were vaccine requirements (25.8%), physical distancing policies (11.1%), and overall cleanliness (11%).

So, what’s the deal?

We can see that a majority of Canadians will be reverting back to the same routine behaviour prior to the pandemic as lockdown procedures become more lenient. Consequently, those who will not be following the same patterns will be attending far less. Across all of Caddle’s surveys, at least 30% of Canadians will be visiting establishments less than they had before.

 

But, there is hope!

The number one factor encouraging Canadians to return to the office, shopping malls, and sports arenas is the requirement of vaccines (which was also the number one answer for restaurants, movies and gyms!). As the vaccination process is accelerating and more Canadians continue to get their shots, Canadians are hopeful that normalcy is closer than we think.

 

Main Takeaways

No.1 |

Overall cleanliness and vaccine requirements are the top 2 factors that encourage Canadians to return to the office, shopping malls, and sports arenas. Tied for the third most important factor are physical distancing and mask-wearing policies.

No.2 |

Vaccine requirements are the most important factor to encourage Canadians to return to the office, shopping malls, and sports arenas.

 

 

*Disclaimer: All data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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Published on June 25, 2021

At a time when “value for price” seems to trump all other drivers of grocery consumer intent, Costco has firmly staked its claim on consumer spending in this regard. But beyond that, the banner also leads the way for multiple Canadian demographics on brand and product availability, speed of shopping and checkout, and other benefits they’re able to deliver in store and online.

 

Join us as we delve into the data to uncover the key insights that lead us to declare Costco as the winner of pandemic grocery spending for the majority of Canadian consumers.

Interested in the freezer aisle? Read all about it in our deep dive into the frozen category: Stocking Up in the Freezer Aisles | The Pandemic’s Effect on the Frozen Food Category in Canada

 

*Disclaimer: all data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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Published June 24, 2021

 

As Canada shifts to fewer restrictions, how much have Canadians’ attitudes toward going out changed? After being in the pandemic for over a year, are consumers gravitating towards the stay-at-home life or hungry to get back to pre-pandemic times? After asking for the opinion of 8,500 Canadians this May 2021, Caddle made some interesting discoveries on what exactly Canadians will (or will not) be returning to.

 

So, what’s the big change?

As the provinces move out of a state of lockdown, Caddle wonders how the reopening of different industries will be impacted. Specifically, Caddle wanted to know what would encourage Canadians to return to some of their favourite spots – restaurants, movie theatres, and gyms.

Hey Google, Search Restaurants Near Me

Admit it, there’s nothing better than heading to your favourite Italian, Chinese, Indian, or ANY restaurant for that matter to indulge in some of your favourite foods! Prior to the pandemic, a majority of Canadians responded that they used to visit restaurants a few times a month (24.2%). While 41% of Canadians will be visiting restaurants about the same amount in the next 6 months, over 40% will be visiting less. With this information in mind, Caddle wanted to identify the factors that would increase restaurants’ attendance. Physical distancing, overall cleanliness, and vaccine requirements ranked amongst the highest with scores of 41.5%, 41.1%, and 36.8% respectively.

 

Hey Google, Search Movie Theatres Near Me

Whether it was a trip to Cineplex, Landmark Cinemas, or even from the comfort of our own homes, movies provide a great source of entertainment. A majority of Canadians responded that they used to attend movie theatres multiple times a year (32.9%). However, similar to the responses from our restaurant survey, over 45% of Canadians will be visiting movie theatres less in the next 6 months. When asked what would encourage Canadians to return back to movie theaters, it is no surprise that the top 3 responses are physical distancing, vaccine requirement, and overall cleanliness- with scores of 39.9%, 34.2%, and 33.6% respectively.

 

Hey Google, Search Gyms Near Me

When was the last time you laced up your gym shoes and headed to the gym? Before the pandemic, not including those who did not go to a gym, The biggest cohort of gym-goers went to the gym a few times a week (14.2%). Over half of Canadians say in the next 6 months they will be visiting the gym the same amount as before (57.3%) and approximately 29% will be attending less than before. So, what will make Canadians return? To get Canadians back into the fitness world, the top 3 reasons (that have been consistent across the board) are overall cleanliness (24.3%), vaccine requirement (23.3%), and physical distancing (21.1%).

 

How Are We Going To Return To Normal?

Of all the reasons to go back to some of our favourite places, what did Canadians voice would encourage them the most? According to our survey results, a majority of Canadians responded that when returning back to restaurants, movie theatres, or gyms they would be most encouraged if vaccines were required. With the accelerated vaccine distribution, could this mean normalcy isn’t so far around the corner?

 

Main Takeaways

No.1 |

Physical distance, overall cleanliness, and vaccine requirements are the top 3 factors that encourage Canadians to return to restaurants, movie theatres, and gyms.

No.2 |

Vaccine requirements are the most important factor to encourage Canadians to return back to restaurants, movie theatres, and gyms.

 

 

*Disclaimer: all data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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Published on June 14, 2021

 

With Mick Higgins, Head of Growth and Sonia Sharma, Research Consultant

Topics Covered:

???? Why Costco was the winner of the pandemic and how they maintained the highest NPS throughout the pandemic

???? The profile of Costco members: A demographic breakdown and insights on their shopping behaviour

???? Costco’s shift to online grocery shopping and their partnership with Instacart

???? What the future of Costco looks like as competitors pick up on trends

Livestream on June 10th, 2021

*Disclaimer: all data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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Published on June 9, 2021

 

COVID-19 has been- and still is- making an impact on the mental health of Canadians, specifically with increased anxiety and stress. With this in mind, while Canadians continue to work on their mental well-being, what can employers do to assist their employees and ensure they are doing their part?

 

Meditation comes to mind.

When we asked Caddle’s largest daily active panel in the Canadian market, we received over 8,500 respondents! What did we discover? 69% believe that regularly meditating would improve their work-life balance, especially the younger generations. Millennials and Gen Zers have a profound interest in meditation as well as a keen interest in integrating meditation into their work lives, particularly during the pandemic, where isolation and anxiety are rampant.

In partnership with Victoria-based meditatehere.com, a leading producer of meditation products and services for individuals and businesses, Caddle’s Daily Survey Panel had some interesting insights on meditation.

 

What is Meditation?

Many Canadians have somewhat of an understanding as to what meditation really is. It comes as no surprise that a majority of those very familiar with the practice are from Gen Z. In comparison, approximately 17% of Gen Z know meditation well, whereas only about 5% of Baby Boomers do.

 

How familiar are you with meditation (practice using mindfulness to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state)?

The younger generations (Millennials, Gen Z) also demonstrate more interest towards meditation as they are more likely to practice meditation and have a stronger desire to learn about meditation than older generations (Baby Boomers, Gen X). About 16% of Gen Z and 12% of Millennials agree that they have developed a desire to learn more about meditation while working from home. In comparison, only about 6% of Gen X and 4% of Baby Boomers do.

 

Meditation in the Workplace

While 63% of Canadians agree that employers should provide services to improve their mental health, 69% believe that regularly meditating would improve their work-life balance. With the constant practice of meditation potentially leading to higher productivity levels and more stable mental health, is this the secret ingredient to success?

 

“This is the largest survey ever done about Canadians and meditation,” said Eric J. Gerritsen, co-founder of meditatehere.com. “We did not know what to expect, but we discovered a huge interest among Millennials and Gen Zers to not only learn and practice meditation, but to see meditation offered by their companies as part of an overall progressive and modern approach to mental health and well being,” added Gerritsen.

 

Generation Zen

Meditation practices appear to be favoured by the younger generations, specifically Gen Z. In fact, Gen Z is 21.7% more likely to strongly agree that employers should provide mental wellness services to employees working from home when compared to Baby Boomers. While a majority of Canadians believe that meditating regularly can improve work-life experience, only 7% of those who strongly agreed were Baby Boomers, compared to over 22% of Gen Z.

 

How do you feel about this statement: “Regular meditation practice will improve my work-life experience”?

Siri, Start My Meditation Practice

According to Caddle’s panel data, we discovered that a majority of Canadians prefer to meditate at home by themselves (35.3%). The second most favoured option is meditating through an app. Over 27% of Gen Z agreed that they prefer to meditate while using an app and approximately 16% use meditating apps to assist them with combating anxiety.

 

How would you prefer to learn how to meditate?

 

Mindfulness at Work

So, what happens if employers decide to offer meditation sessions as a company benefit? Our panel results show that over 30% of Canadians are likely to participate in Zoom meditation sessions if provided by their employer. About 24% of those who indicate a strong interest are Gen Z, and 23% are Millennials.

 

If your employer offered live Zoom meditation sessions (20 min or less) with highly qualified teachers, how likely are you to attend?

For businesses, these are interesting trends to pay attention to. As the Baby Boomer generation is retiring from the workforce, the younger generations will be taking their places. To ensure productivity increases and mental health levels remain stable, should employers accommodate the present desire that Generation Z and Millenials are presenting? Our statistics indicate that the younger generations are looking to satisfy their “zen” and manage their mental health while at work, which leads us to believe that meditation could be the answer.

 

Key Stats

• 73% believe regular meditation practice will improve work/life balance
• 22% of Canadians meditate once per week
• 49% had an increased desire to learn to meditate as a result of WFH
• 56% use meditation for stress relief
• 41% use meditation for health benefits
• Gen Zs are 15% more likely to agree that regular meditation practice will improve their work experience, compared to Baby Boomers
• 58% are likely to attend Zoom meditation sessions offered by their employers

 

 

Main Takeaways

No.1 |

Younger generations demonstrate a higher level of understanding and desire toward meditation compared to the older generations.

No.2 |

Generation Z had the highest response rate in favour of meditation and believe employers should be providing services to support the mental health of their employees.

No.3 |

A majority of Canadians agree that they prefer to meditate at home by themselves, however, Gen Z favours meditation through an app.

 

 

*Disclaimer: all data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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Published on June 3, 2021

 

It’s hard to find an industry that was exempt from COVID-19’s impact, and the vital industry of grocery stores was no exception. According to Statista, 24% of Canadians are frequent online shoppers in 2021 but did that number change with the pandemic? And how does this number translate to grocery purchases?

In November 2019, almost 16% of Canadians stated that they currently buy groceries online. Of those that do not buy groceries online, over 53 percent were willing to try the service in the future. One year later, Caddle found that 29% of Canadians began shopping for groceries online during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it’s no surprise the grocery industry is responding, as 30% of Canadian independent grocers began offering online ordering options this year.

 

What else are Canadians saying about online grocery in Canada?

 

Panel Stats:

Earlier in November, 2020, over 8,000 Canadians were surveyed through Caddle’s panel on the topic of grocery shopping online. Now, six months later, Caddle was curious to find out if grocery shopping online is a behaviour that will stick post-pandemic. Or, will Canadians revert back to their old ways of good old fashioned shopping in-store.

 

And the results are in

So, how do Canadians feel about online grocery shopping now compared to six months ago? We see a slight increase in the adoption of online grocery shopping from November to today – 29% vs. 32%. However, much of what Caddle discovered points to consumers opting back to in-store grocery shopping.

Plus, with the majority (59%) of Canadians planning on getting the COVID-19 vaccine, perhaps it makes sense that consumers are looking to go back to their old ways of grocery shopping in a physical store. Before we get into why Canadians are a no-go with online grocery shopping, let’s start with the top reasons why Canadians adopted the behaviour shift of shopping for groceries online in the first place.

 

What do you like most about online grocery shopping?

 

Top 3 reasons Canadians grocery shop online today: ‘Saves time’, ‘I don’t leave my home’, and to ‘Avoid lines + protects me from COVID-19’ are the main reasons why Canadians today are shopping for groceries online. We can see from the chart above that in November, there was higher concern about walking through the grocery store itself, which came in at the 3rd spot.

 

How likely are you to continue to grocery shop online after the COVID-19 pandemic?

Consumers begin shifting back to in-store: Canadians are less likely to continue online grocery shopping after the pandemic. (44% unlikely in Nov 2020 vs. 49% unlikely in May 2021). This 5 basis point shift suggests that Canadians may be feeling more confident in a return to normalcy. What’s more, it’s the drastic shift towards ‘very unlikely’ to grocery shop online that indicates consumers’ preference for in-store grocery shopping.

 

What do you dislike most about online grocery shopping?

What are the consumer pain-points? According to our panel, Canadians agree that the most disliked factor of online grocery shopping is the inability to see and touch their produce, followed by a lack of product discovery, and additional fees such as shipping costs. This is consistent in the last six months, suggesting that there has been little innovation in online grocery shopping platforms to address these roadblocks for consumers.

 

Fresh produce is a large part of the grocery shopping experience.

For example, Costco shoppers make up the majority of baskets with fresh produce, with the top 50 products purchased at Costco being fresh produce. Though the top reason for not shopping for groceries online is the inability to touch and feel the product, 70% of Amazon Subscribe and Save users are likely to use Amazon Fresh once available. While there are aspects of the online grocery shopping experience consumers are frustrated with, this high adoption rate points to the fact that online grocery shopping is not going away. Rather, it is quite the opposite- it needs more attention from companies to strengthen their position among competition.

 

How do you feel about the following statement: “Online grocery shopping is a frustrating experience”?

 

There has been a growing frustration amongst Canadians with online grocery shopping (+3.8%) since November 2020. This is consistent with our earlier findings that the top pain points of online grocery shopping have remained the same, so consumers are feeling increasingly frustrated with online grocery shopping since there’s been little evolution of the user experience.

 

Main Takeaways

No.1 |

Companies have an opportunity to investigate their online grocery user experience and stand out among their competitors by relieving consumer pain points in creative ways.

No.2 |

32% of Canadians are currently shopping for groceries online. What are the roadblocks preventing consumers from hitting the checkout button on your brand/product? Contact us to find out.

No.3 |

Top 3 reasons Canadians grocery shop online today: ‘Saves time’, ‘I don’t leave my home’, and to ‘Avoid lines + protects me from COVID-19’.

No.4 |

Fresh produce is a large part of the grocery shopping experience, and companies need to spend more time and energy investigating how they can make the online shopping experience more satisfying to consumers.

 

The grocery industry will look very different after the pandemic. Read our latest report in partnership with The Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University on the future of the grocery sector.

 

*Disclaimer: all data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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Published on May 27, 2021

The grocery industry will look very different after the pandemic.

The Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, in partnership with Caddle, is releasing a new report on the future of the grocery sector. A total of 10,024 Canadians were surveyed on grocery shopping in May 2021. The aim of this project was to better understand how the pandemic could impact the grocery experience over time. Many questions were asked to Canadians about how they choose stores and how they feel about their store experience overall. A wide variety of topics were covered, including questions on store memberships, store design, local foods, self-checkouts, plants, gardening, location, and online purchasing.

Colleen Martin, VP of Insight Solutions at Caddle and Sylvain Charlebois, Director of Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University discuss the findings at Shopper Marketing Forum 2021 hosted by Strategy Online.

View the complete presentation of Discovery + Disruption: The future of food shopping in Canada

 

*Disclaimer: all data presented is owned by CaddleⓇ and has a Margin of Error of 1% or lower.

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