How many consumers are there in canada

Source: International Telecommunication Union , Latest available data. Any Comment About This Content? Report It to Us. Learn more about Sales in Canada on Globaltrade. Latest Update: October OK By continuing your navigation on our website, you accept the data privacy policy of the website as well as the use of cookies to secure your connection, facilitate your navigation, offer services and offers adapted and make visits statistic.

For more information click here: More info. Reaching the consumer. Please check the spelling. Canada: Reaching the consumer. Consumer Profile Consumer Profile Canada population is estimated at The median age of the Canadian population is The number of households is increasing but their individual size is decreasing: one-person households are the most numerous, followed by couples with children.

However, the now infamous Target Canada fiasco has provided a much needed reminder that new entrants must be sophisticated when it comes to their Canadian expansion strategy. Despite their surface-level commonalities, Canadian and American consumers are incredibly different and retailers must understand the nuances between them in order to successfully cross the border. For instance, one of the many cultural differences is in how Canadians consume advertising and marketing.

There is an incredibly low transferability rate between ads that were created in the U. This small example is only in regard to advertising and marketing and does not account for the greater totality of consumer shopping patterns. Ultimately, U. Highlighted below are two critical differentiators.

Well, perhaps the short answer is that virtually everyone is a consumer, from young children who pester their parents to buy the latest toy they have seen advertised on television, to seniors who are trying to sort out whether a new cell phone might be something useful for them and something they can afford.

One thing is certain: consumers are a key driver of the market economy. As illustrated in Figure I. The degree of confidence consumers have in their ability to spend and manage debt can have a significant effect on overall demand in the economy, and in turn, on economic growth, job creation and investment. In addition to their very important role in supporting economic activity in Canada, consumers play a key role in making the economy function in an efficient and innovative fashion.

Companies, in their search to become more efficient and to develop the new products and services demanded by knowledgeable consumers, are forced to become more innovative and competitive in the areas of product design and manufacture and in how goods and services are marketed, distributed and sold. As we will see, the key to consumers playing this role, supported by existing consumer protection laws, is their ability to understand the information and apply the skills needed to make effective choices.

There can be little doubt that consumers are key players in the economy, but it is also clear that since the major innovations in consumer policy and legislation in the s and s, a great deal of change has taken place in both the marketplace for consumer goods and services, and in the circumstances of consumers themselves. For instance, consider the following:. Consumers are clearly interacting with a different marketplace than they were 20 years ago.

But it is equally important to recognize that consumers have not remained static over this time. In fact, many important socio-economic trends have emerged within the population as a whole. Consumers' ability to take full advantage of the new marketplace is related to their socio-economic status, from possessing the right skills and resources, to having sufficient time, to make important decisions.

Consider the following:. Despite the vast quantity of economic data available in Canada, many gaps in consumer research exist. Comprehensive and authoritative information on what has happened to consumers over the last two decades is often lacking. There are some significant information sources on consumers and their activity in the marketplace, but these are often limited in what they can tell us. For example, the Conference Board of Canada's Index of Consumer Attitudes also known as the consumer confidence index provides a useful, but very general, indicator of Canadians' optimism regarding current economic conditions.

However, by its very design, the index has limited potential to provide information on the underlying factors that shape consumers' behaviour in the marketplace; for example, what they are spending their money on, which of their needs are being met and how well, and which are not. For example, one of the most significant consumer issues of the past two decades is the growing use of services.

From to , real average per-household consumption of goods dropped by On the plus side, they can provide innovative solutions to time-consuming and difficult tasks. But because services are intangible by their very nature they can change rapidly and are difficult to judge until they are consumed.

Nevertheless it is widely acknowledged that comprehensive and timely data on the quantity and quality of services offered in the economy are unavailable at anything like the level of detail we have for the goods-producing sector of the economy. In addition to the need for more and better data, we also need to know more about the consumer research work that is actually being conducted in Canada.