What do you mean Santa Claus isn't a big fat guy with a long, white beard?

Well, if you believe in statistics collected by BMO, Santa is actually a woman armed with a smartphone instead of reindeer and a sleigh.

The company's annual Holiday Spending Outlook indicates around 80 per cent of the shopping is done by the female head of the household, and she's using online tools more often.

About 43 per cent of women use the Internet to shop during the holidays, an increase of nine per cent compared to last year, the survey of married people found.

The reason behind that finding may be that it's more convenient to compare prices and buy online to save both time and money, Su McVey, vice-president of BMO Bank of Montreal, said in a media release.

"People of all ages are becoming much more comfortable with the technology and with the security behind online shopping," she said.

About 89 per cent of Canadians used a credit card to shop online last year, according to Statistics Canada.

Breaking it down by province, Atlantic Canada leads the way for female holiday shoppers at 87.1 per cent, followed closely by Manitoba and Saskatchewan at 86.8 per cent.

In British Columbia, that number is 86.4 per cent, followed by Alberta, Ontario and Quebec at 80.7, 79.2 and 72 per cent respectively.

The survey polled 1,508 Canadians and is considered accurate within plus or minus 2.5 per cent 19 times out of 20.