Canadians On Tight Holiday Budgets

With the holidays fast approaching including the traditional gift-giving celebrations like Hanukkah and Christmas as part of the festivities, Canadians are experiencing their most expensive time of the year. Retailers everywhere, of course, are prepped to cash in on this busiest of shopping seasons.

As mentioned in previous blogs, however, consumers are constantly looking for ways to save money while picking up today’s hottest items as gifts. Always being a voice of reason and having helping hands to match, the Synergy Merchant Services Blog has been offering tips and advice on how Canadians can shop without going into debt, as of late.

It seems as if the concept of frugal holiday spending is a widespread one. The QMI Agency reports today that 40 per cent of Canadians are keeping a strict holiday budget this year. Based on a recent CIBC poll, it appears as if Canadian shoppers are utilizing more ways to save cash in the post-recession era.

Two thirds of the poll’s respondents who use smartphones reveal that they make use of their mobile apps in order to keep track of their spending. 37 per cent of those polled mention that they have access to their banking information that allows them to stay within their budgets when they shop.

It’s no surprise that Canadians would want to save their money. The recent “Black Friday” which followed American Thanksgiving and offered extraordinary discount prices on some of today’s most popular items, attracted many Canadians south of the border to take advantage of the significant savings.

Said Christina Kramer, the executive vice-president, CIBC Retail Markets: “Staying on budget is clearly top of mind for many Canadians this December.” Another study, conducted by TNS, found that holiday spending is likely to be at its lowest level in five years.

The study found that “Canadians plan to spend $812 this holiday season” which is down from $866 last year, and is the lowest average since consumers indicated that they would spend only $782 in 2005. Notes QMI: “The CIBC poll surveyed 1,049 adults and is considered accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.”