Canadian shoppers may be savvy when it comes to using product reviews and comparing prices online, but the majority of the country’s consumers plan to do their holiday shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores this year, according to a study released Tuesday.

The survey by analytics and data company SAS found that Canadians are the least willing to shop online during the busiest shopping season of the year, compared to consumers in the United States and United Kingdom. Eighty-five per cent of Canadians said they will shop in-store for holiday gifts, compared to 59 per cent of British consumers and 70 per cent of Americans.

Monique Duquette, customer intelligence expert with SAS Canada, said the slower adoption of e-commerce highlights Canadians' “sentimentality for those on their Christmas list.”

“When you look at Canadian consumers, there is a level of conservatism – much more than their U.S. and U.K. counterparts,” Duquette said in a telephone interview with BNN.

“We’re still tactile shoppers. We want to see and touch it to see if this is a spot-on gift.”

That level of conservatism can also be seen in Canadians’ hesitation to embrace mobile payments, Duquette said. The survey found that 90 per cent of shoppers do not use mobile payments, as 62 per cent said their credit or debit card is just as convenient, while 31 per cent said they were worried about security.

“If you look at mobile payments in Canada, adoption has not quite skyrocketed as much as it has around the globe, and that comes down to our conservative nature,” Duquette said.

Still, Canadians who do shop online appear to be extremely savvy: 90 per cent of respondents said they read product reviews, while 97 per cent said they compare prices online, the survey found.

The SAS study surveyed a sample of more than 4,000 adults in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom in an online questionnaire.