This holiday season, only a small minority of British Columbians have bought or plan to buy the latest technology gadgets as gifts. Specifically, less than one-tenth bought or plan to buy e-readers (8%), tablet computers (6%) or smartphones (3%) as gifts for others. The majority will not be shopping for any of these items (77%) and a few are currently undecided (9%).

Interestingly, however, high tech devices prove to be a little more popular on British Columbians’ wish lists compared to their shopping lists. More British Columbians are hoping to receive a new tablet computer (17%, nearly three times as many as plan to give one), e-reader (13%, about double as many as plan to give one) or smartphone (9%, three times as many as plan to give one) this year. So in this case, it seems that it is better to receive than to give!

While the percentages who plan to buy/have bought or who want to receive these newer technology items are fairly small, they are in fact very similar to more “traditional” electronic items. These include computer equipment (7% plan to buy/have bought as gifts in 2011, 12% want to receive), electronic items such as video or audio equipment (11% as gifts, 12% want to receive), digital cameras or camcorders (3% as gifts, 8% want to receive) and video game hardware (4% as gifts, 3% want to receive).

Further, when planned gift-buying rates are compared to current ownership of these same newer technology items, it continues to highlight just how desirable these products are as gifts. According to Ipsos’ Inter@ctive Reid Report from July 2011 (fielded among 842 online Canadians), 32% of Canadians own a smartphone/web enabled phone, 10% an e-reader and 7% a tablet computer.

“These results demonstrate to us that the newest technology items have very quickly taken their place in the holiday shopping roster and suggest they are likely to prove popular as gift items for the holiday season in 2011,” says Catherine Dawson, Senior Vice President at Ipsos Reid.

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid study fielded from October 26 to 30, 2011. This online survey of 1,299 adult British Columbians, 18 years and older, was conducted using Ipsos Reid’s proprietary “Voice of the West Interactive Forum” – an online panel of more than 6,000 British Columbians who have been randomly recruited to match the overall characteristics of the adult residents of the province. Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online studies of this nature, however, an unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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Vancouver, BC - 9 November 2011