A lot of Canadians are looking to increase their holiday shopping spend this year – but only slight more than those who are planning to cut back, according to the latest global MiQ insights.
MiQ polled over 9,000 consumers in 10 markets, including Canada. Globally, an average of 46% of consumer plan to increase their holiday spending this year, compared to 27% who plan to cut back.
However, those numbers are heavily influenced by markets like Germany, China, the Middle East and India, which have a much higher number of people looking to spend more due to economic resilience.
In Canada, the gap tightens: 37% of shoppers are planning on spending more, just slightly more than the 31% who plan to spend less over the holiday shopping season. In the U.S., 33% of consumers plan to spend more and 34% plan to spend less; in Australia, 34% plan to spend more and 27% plan to spend less.
Regardless of geography, the motivation remains the same: the specter of inflation and supply chain disruptions. Hence, shopping journeys are starting earlier this year because of these twin challenges. One in two shoppers in North America will shop during holiday shopping events, from Thanksgiving through Boxing Day, the report notes, with Millennials the top demo searching for deals. Self-gifting is also up among the millennial cohort, while older audiences will buy gifts for family and friends during the Christmas period.
However, the nature of spend is changing, MiQ notes: people are spending more money, but they are buying fewer products due to the heightened price of goods, and are also being more selective, and doing more research.
The most impacted categories this year, according to those MiQ surveyed, will be fashion, beauty, health and electronics, with have between 14% and 21% fewer consumers planning to make purchases compared to last year. Though they also had drops, books, home improvement, toys and baby products were not as starkly affected.
The MiQ report stresses that hybrid shopping means omnichannel is a must-have, as four in 10 consumers will switch between online and offline shopping platforms.
