I can’t deny it – I love the feeling of being in a brick and mortar store, holding a product that I want to buy in my hands, turning it around, maybe reading the side of the box of pressing on the buttons, looking it over as though I still am not sure I am going to buy it (even though I know I am, I have already researched it online). Or maybe I feel the material between my fingers, or smell the fragrance of the perfume, or sit on it to see if it is comfortable. I did some searching around and I found a few seemingly defunct projects aimed at making a “touch-like” interface for online shoppers but these are animations and no different than videos essentially. And color swatches are helpful too. But in the end, people like to see and possibly try a product before buying it. That is…

Unless you’re Apple. Apple products, pre-ordered online in large numbers, often selling out before shipping date. Just some videos and pictures to go on. (I can’t do it, I will bide my time until they are in-store) Somehow Apple has found a secret recipe for e-commerce success without the need for a tactile shopping experience, which begs the questions how did they do that and how can retailers scale this to their much larger number of products.

Well – I think the idea is, “the cool kids” buy Apple products and anticipate them and everyone wants want “the cool kids” want, these are the influencers and enthusiasts. Retailers can scale by finding the influencers and enthusiasts within their niche to listen, learn and engage to hear what they have to say about their brand and products already, and to give them something to talk about too. These “cool kids” within your consumer niche are the people most likely to shop more, most likely to share recommendations, most likely to voice their opinion.

* North American Technographics Retail Online Survey, Q1 2008-2009

I have put together a short survey to learn more about how Canadians are using Twitter – so if you have a Twitter account and currently reside in Canada please respond to the following survey and definitely tweet the link.

Survey: Canadians on Twitter

I will be releasing the data to be used freely so please be honest and candid in your responses.

Twitter In Canada: The Numbers

So how many people are there  using Twitter in Canada anyways? Is it worth it? At the end of the day, is it a numbers things? Getting a clear answer on how many users there are in Canada is not easy. There are no good estimates – I found one indicating 40% of Canadians use Twitter which clearly is wrong.

First some facts about Twitter and Canada:

1. There are 75 million users on Twitter
2. 80% of users tweet have fewer than 10 tweets, 40% have never tweeted
3. 4.36% of Twitter users are from Canada
4. The population of Canada is 34,074,000

The facts armed with some basic percentages math and here is what I come up with:

• 9.59% of Canadians have a Twitter account – 3 270 000 Canadians
• 1.9% more than 10 tweets – 654 000 Canadians

I am guessing that a vast majority of Twitter users in Canada are either from the early adopters/tech segment or corporate/business accounts interested in social media marketing for their products and services. This being said, the potential of Twitter must not be overhyped but on the other hand, should not be underestimated.

Twitter In Canada: The Users

I will leave the corporate/business accounts aside, those being more relevant to a discussion on B2B marketing – here I want to focus on B2C marketing with regards to the “early adopters” that are currently using Twitter in Canada.

Most Twitter users in Canada are between the age of 15-24 – you have a younger, with-the-times group that enjoys technology. They are savvy about how technology works and likely have been marketed to online in many ways throughout the years and are more likely to “learn for themselves” than just trust the word of a stranger. They spend a great deal of time “connected”. There are subgroups within this as well, but generally these qualities are common among personal Twitter users in Canada. This group wants consumer electronics and gadgets, software, gaming, music, news, events, technology updates, interesting products. They want innovation, creativity, sincerity. And if this group likes your product they will recommend it and people will be more likely to listen to their recommendations.

Twitter In Canada: The Bottom Line

Sure, 654 000 Canadians sounds like small peanuts, especially when you consider not all accounts are personal accounts. But when you consider that Twitter accounts are integrated to Facebook and other social media platforms and that tweets spread via word of mouth as well, the power of Twitter cannot be discounted. Especially when you consider the power of the group wielding the accounts.