As the winter holidays creep closer and closer, many people start to get the panicked feeling that it's crunch time. Alongside that sentiment is the real fact that as late December approaches, many store shelves get more and more sparse, because consumers are trying to snatch up the perfect gift for friends and family members.

But what's on shelves isn't always indicative of what's in a company's inventory altogether. Even if a Toronto shop doesn't have much left of a given product in the backroom, the Ottawa merchandise warehouse might be chock full of the item. This is just one reason why it's so helpful to shop online. While your local store might not have something in stock, it could likely be found online.

This is just one of the theories that went into experts' recent sentiment that online Christmas shopping is going to hit record numbers in Canada this year. A lot of retail veterans think that after the massive Internet purchasing trends seen last year, 2013 will eclipse those numbers.

More people going on the Internet than before
According to the recent Visa Canada Holiday eCommerce Survey, 75 per cent of Canadians plan on doing at least some of their Christmas shopping on the Internet. Almost half of all respondents to the poll noted that they intend to spend between $100 and $499 online before the end of December, and an additional 16 per cent said they'll probably exceed $500. In all, 30 per cent of the budget Canadians set aside this holiday season will be spent online.

This trend is also made easier by the fact that 78 per cent of Canadians shop online using their credit cards. This way, they can just enter card information and place their order almost automatically.

A competition between the provinces
Canadians in certain areas plan to embrace the Internet this December more than others. The Visa report explained that Albertans plan on spending about $320 online individually, while British Columbians will likely spend nearly $200 each.

That being said, people in Saskatchewan could easily catch up to Albertans, as the Leader Post revealed that they intend to put about $310 into online shopping, which averages out to 38 per cent of their budget.

Why is online better?
There are so many reasons why Canadians would want to head online for their shopping needs this holiday season. For instance, Credit Counseling Society President Scott Hannah told the source that people can shop from the comfort of their own homes without tiring themselves out, and they don't have to shell out extra dollars to pay for the gas needed to get to the store in the first place.

People can save time, money and effort when they go on the Internet to shop, so why would they do any differently?

These trends could signal that Internet shopping is here to stay and company leaders need to embrace the online tendencies of their customers in order to stay in business well into the future.