I am still waiting for your Christmas gift. While I wait, I’ll share a few numbers I dug up on Christmas spending from Consumerism-mas 2009.
Retail in Canada
Despite the media’s incessant wailing about the economy all year long, Canadians spent more during the 2009 holiday season than the 2008 holiday season according to data from the largest debit and credit card processor in Canada.
December 22 was the busiest day (up 4.5% over last year).
December 24-29 saw a 7.9% increase in debit and credit card purchases.
"Every major merchant category experienced spikes in consumer spending on debit and credit cards throughout December 2009."
The spending increase was highest in Prince Edward Island. Albertans, on the other hand, spent less in the weeks leading up to Christmas than they did last year. That is because all the Atlantic Canadians working in northern Alberta send their money home for their families to shop with. <oh snap />
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Moneris-Solutions-1098650.html
Online Spending
Holiday spending on the Internetz was also up from 2008, but keep in mind that 2008 was down from 2007. comScore reported an increase for "the holiday season from November 1 through Christmas Eve. During this period, approximately $27 Billion was spent online, which represents an increase of 5 percent over the same period a year ago."
http://ir.comscore.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=433560
Your Experiences?
I noticed this year that online retailers were offering free shipping much closer to Christmas than I’ve ever seen before. That didn’t do me much good as I didn’t order much online this year (though I wished I had after finding a few items incredibly difficult to locate locally).
What were your Christmas spending experiences? Do you wish you had spent more? Less? Wish you had given more to charity?
(photo courtesy of Sister72)