Holiday spending is expected to rebound by 10% this year compared to last, rising to an average of $1,478 – which is still well below historic levels, according to Deloitte Canada’s Holiday Retail Outlook. The findings are based on an early September survey of more than 1,000 Canadian consumers across age groups, financial situations and geographic regions.
Travel spending and charitable donations are expected to increase more than 20% and 35%, respectively, while spending in non-gift apparel is expected to see the largest decrease.
According to Deloitte, 80% of shoppers are searching for the best deals, while 70% plan to shop at retailers offering the lowest prices, search for items on sale or change brands if their preferred choice is too expensive.
Additionally, 42% of consumers believe Black Friday offers the best deals of the season, 17% plan to start their holiday shopping the week of Black Friday and 48% plan to shop on Black Friday itself. The survey pointed out that this year’s late Black Friday on Nov. 29 – a full five days later than last year – will see retailers battling it out over a significantly shorter holiday shopping season. Overall, consumers plan to spend about 22% of their holiday budget on Black Friday, while younger consumers plan to spend 30%.
Of the $350 average planned Black Friday spend, $200 will be spent online. Overall, 43% of holiday budgets are expected to be spent online, up from 41% last year and 36% in 2019.
Fifty-one percent of consumers say they’re Amazon Prime members, the highest proportion ever recorded in a Deloitte survey. Membership is more common among those earning between $50,000 and $150,000 (56%) or above (52%). Younger consumers aged 18-34, meanwhile, are more likely to be Prime members (58%) than those aged 55 and up (45%).
Deloitte data also reveals that data breaches continue to pose a challenge to consumer trust in retailers. One in four have been impacted by a retailer data breach, driving some to either stop shopping (21%) or shop less often (40%) at the affected retailer.
