Last year’s Christmas season brought something of a surprise to Canadian retailers — and it looked a bit like a lump of coal.
Statistics Canada has just released its report on consumer spending patterns in December, which also gives us a tally for the entire year. And, surprisingly, we pulled back on last minute shopping for Christmas. It was the first time in years that sales fell in every province.
Overall retail spending in December was almost two per cent lower than November across the country but still almost 9 per cent stronger than in the previous December.
Here in Saskatchewan, we were down nearly 2.5 per cent for the month and 10 per cent ahead of the same time a year earlier.
Here are some of the year-end findings contained in the report:
· Online spending rose nearly 15 per cent for the year but it still accounts for six per cent of total spending so bricks and mortar stores still deliver a more attractive consumer experience than the internet.
· We spent strongly on home building materials early in the year but the clothing and fashion sector finished strongly with gains of 20 per cent for the year.
