Consumer detriment is the harm or loss that consumers experience.
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)’s recent survey, included the findings of 1,000 Canadian consumers.
44% of respondents suffered a form of detriment in online transactions in the previous 12 months. Canada ranked on the low end of consumer detriment among the 13 countries surveyed, with only Norway, Germany, and Japan experiencing lower rates of consumer detriment on online purchases in the previous 12 months. In Canada, among those who experienced consumer detriment, their personal characteristics including age and educational attainment were as follows.
Canadian consumer detriment demographics
44% of survey respondents suffered a form of detriment in online transactions in the previous 12 months.
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Pie chart illustrating that 44% of survey respondents suffered from a form of consumer detriment.
The percentage of consumers who faced issues in e-commerce was highest among 18-29 year-olds.
A smaller number of 30-64 year-olds experienced consumer detriment while it was experienced at the lowest rate in the 65+ age bracket.
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|
Age |
Canada (%) |
|---|---|
|
18 to 29 |
56% |
|
30 to 64 |
44% |
|
65 and older |
30% |
Canadians with the highest education levels in the study fell victims at the highest percentage of 47%.
43% of those with the lowest level of education fell victim and those with a medium level of education were least affected at 40%.
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|
Educational attainment |
Canada (%) |
|---|---|
|
Low |
43% |
|
Medium |
40% |
|
High |
47% |
Causes of consumer detriment
The top consumer detriment issues identified in the study were:
- delivery (44%), problems with the product (35%)
- the price of the goods or tariffs (21%); and,
- product returns or cancellations (20%).
Invoicing, complaints handling, fake goods and breaches of contract terms and conditions had the lowest impact, but were still all encountered by over 10% of the online shoppers that had faced a problem.
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| Cause of Detriment | Mean (%) |
|---|---|
| Delivery | 44% |
| Problem with product | 35% |
| Price or tariff | 21% |
| Cancellations or returns | 20% |
| Payment or invoicing | 16% |
| Complaint handling | 16% |
| Scam or fake goods | 12% |
| Contract terms and conditions | 11% |
Consumer detriment per category
Detriment %
Within consumer purchasing categories, Canadian respondents most frequently encountered problems with clothing (including footwear, sporting goods and toys) as the category with the greatest number of e-commerce issues (31%).
Purchase %
The high share of issues related to purchases of clothing, footwear and sporting goods partly reflects that these products have also been more frequently purchased (65% of consumers).
On the other hand, while flights, train and car rentals were among the least frequently purchased product categories, at 0.62%, they still caused problems frequently.
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| Category | Purchase % | Detriment % |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing | 65% | 31% |
| Food | 40% | 12% |
| Bicycle, cars | 5% | 1% |
| Computer equirement, consumer electronics, appliances | 39% | 11% |
| Furniture, home acessories or gardening | 30% | 11% |
| Personal care | 43% | 9% |
| Printed media, CDs | 31% | 6% |
| Medicine | 19% | 3% |
| Telecommunication services | 20% | 3% |
| Financial products | 20% | 2% |
| Downloads, streaming | 39% | 2% |
| Flights, train, car rental | 6% | 2% |
| Entertainment events | 9% | 1% |
| Household services | 9% | 1% |
| Rideshare services | 6% | 1% |
| Accommodation | 13% | 1% |
| Electricity, water, heating | 13% | 1% |
Related links
- Return to the Consumer detriment main page
- Read the full OECD report: Measuring financial consumer detriment in e-commerce