NORTH BAY -- With Christmas season quickly approaching, people across Canada are faced with the annual task of buying presents for under the tree, however, a new survey from FedEx Express Canada suggests that holiday shopping is going to look a bit different this year with many opting to buy online instead.

"We asked 1,500 Canadians about what they plan to do when it comes to shopping online this holiday season," said FedEx Express Canada Communications Advisor James Anderson. "Of the 1,500, 90% of them have said they shopped online this past month, 80% of them still plan to do so in preparation for the holidays."

Although online shopping seems like a good solution this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is causing some concerns for FedEx with an influx of packages and shipments expected over the next two months.

"We’re expecting, to be blunt, unprecedented surge of volume in both domestically and internationally this holiday season," said Anderson. "We usually call [November and December] the peak season because it’s our peak, it’s our Super Bowl. This time of year as Canadians get ready to purchase gifts online and send them across to loved ones or even give Santa a little helping hand and have everything delivered in times to put underneath the Christmas tree. That is our peak season."

He said the delivery business has been busy due to COVID-19, but it is about to get even busier.

"This year, it’s a whole new phenomenon. We have been at peak levels since the onset of the pandemic, what we’re bracing up, for now, is what we call, tongue and cheek, the ship-a-thon," said Anderson.

FedEx has labelled the next two months as a "ship-a-thon" as they prepare for record numbers according to officials.

"This year, because we have been running at these peak levels and our team has been doing just an incredible job delivering this essential service for Canadians and for Canadian businesses, we’ve had to pace ourselves," he said. "So we’ve had to take on the approach of a marathon runner, but we’re not running a marathon, but we certainly are gearing up for a ship-a-thon."

Meanwhile, in North Bay, several shoppers downtown are still conflicted on how they plan to conduct their holiday shopping this year with many planning on doing a mixed approach.

"I haven’t quite planned as much as I should have, some of it will be online but a lot of it is going to be donations to like Eco Justice or The United Church has something called Gifts for Visions," said Donna Sinclair. "What I’ve done most years is given the children of friends, or the grandchildren of friends, a holiday card from Eco Justice that has a whale or dolphin so that they can see that we're doing something to help the planet."

The North Bay shopper plans to support local businesses as much as possible.

"Then I think the other thing would be usually I give homemade gifts to friends in town, so I’ll be doing that still. I haven’t really checked out the stores downtown, but I am going to try to get as much as I can from downtown," Sinclair said.

She isn’t the only one who is hoping to shop local as much as possible this year.

"I have been enjoying a little bit of early shopping at local businesses," said Lana Belanger. “I just came from The Farm on Main Street. So excited that these places are still open for us. I am doing some shopping online, but love that a lot of local businesses are making that available as well so you can shop online here in North Bay.”

Although only the middle of Nov., Belanger isn’t alone in starting Christmas shopping already. Ottawa resident, Pauline Obrien, said she only has five more gifts to buy before shes finished buying gifts.

"Mostly in person because I like to see what I’m buying and sizing like for my sisters and close people is very important," said Obrien. "I know their style so chances are I don’t have to return it. So it’s much easier in person for me."

She adds that some items will be bought online, but not many.

"I have done a little bit, but they’re items that I know for sure. Like I bought a Cannon Camera and those items that I know I want to buy, those are online definitely," said Obrien.

The survey released by FedEx states that "35% of Canadians who report never having shopped online for holiday gifts indicating they intend to skip physical line-ups this year and shop online."

Adding that those 35% per cent are joining the "resounding 81% of Canadians who plan to do their holiday shopping online."

Anderson says that FedEx is "ready" for the influx, adding that the company has done a lot of work to prepare for the upcoming season including the opening of a new small package sort facility in Etobicoke, Ont. which has the ability to sort 20,000 packages per hour. FedEx has also increased its number of employees from 7,500 in June to over 10,000 to date.

"In years past we’ve always published an estimate at what we expect to do and always from a global perspective because our Canadian volume levels are proprietary information," said Anderson. "Every year we usually do come up with a project either what our busiest day will look like, or what our busiest months will be or what the entire season looks like, this is the first year we’re not doing it. The reason is because the situation is that complex and it is fluid. We just know that we’re in store for some major records."

With the projected influx of online shopping, FedEx officials are also warning people of "Porch Pirates."

This is a term used for people who steal packages off of porches or mailboxes when the person of the house isn’t home for delivery.

According to the survey, 1 in 3 of respondents have been a victim to this crime.

However, Anderson says with FedEx the power is in the hands of the buyer.

"If you’re not going to be at the destination when it’s expected to arrive, you could go online, you can download our app, or you could even go from you tracking number to our website and you can have the package either redirected to an address of your choice, you can have it held a tour FedEx location until you’re ready to receive it or, what people are finding as a very popular option, is to have it redirected to one of our retail alliance partners," he said.

Belanger said she has ordered online so far and hasn’t had any problems with lost or packages not arriving.

"I find so far that everything has gone fairly smoothly. I have ordered a few things already that have come on time. Even here in North Bay, you can pick up curbside as well from some places," she said.

The main message from FedEx officials is the time for online shopping is now.

"A quarter of our survey respondents aren’t planning on starting their shopping until Black Friday, which in years past has made complete sense. But right now, because the surge and demand for shipping, not just with FedEx but with companies all around the world, the demand could outpace the capacity," said Anderson. "If you generally have the means to start your holiday shopping, start now."