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This year’s EY Decoding Digital Home Study surveyed 2,500 households in Canada and seven other major markets around the world. What does the 2023 report reveal?
1. The cost-of-living crisis has changed Canadian consumer behaviours towards product preferences and service providers.
The path to purchase looks different in Canada compared to pandemic times and the years before COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Household budgets are strained, and value for money is more and more important to families as they make decisions about what products and services they need — and don’t need.
By the numbers, Canadian consumers:
- Continue to see value for money from their connectivity providers, even though interest in new products and services has dipped since 2022. Broadband content value for money increased by almost 15% year over year.
- Avoid belt-tightening where connectivity is concerned. Only one in five consumers is taking specific actions to reduce this spend. By contrast, more than 40% aren’t taking any steps to cut connectivity costs.
- Remain concerned by the costs of multiple streaming platforms. Almost 40% of Canadian households have cancelled, or plan to cancel, a streaming service.
- Increasingly see bundling — especially related to the smart home, including connected devices like appliances, lighting, locks, doorbells, speakers, vacuums and voice-controlled digital assistants — and price comparison sites as good ways to hunt for the best deals.
- Believe it would be better to get all their connectivity and content services from a single supplier. In fact, we saw a 12% year-over-year jump in Canadian households embracing this mindset.