Canadian Holiday Spending on the Decline

Canadians are continuing to curb their spending heading into the holiday season, according to a recent Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of RBC. Of the eight in ten (82%) Canadians who intend to give gifts this holiday season (18% of Canadians will not give gifts), the average amount of money intended to be spent on gifts averages $624, down significantly from the $728 that gift-giving Canadians intended to spend last year.

When it comes to spending on other areas of the holiday season, including clothing, travel, decorations, beauty services, food and drink and entertainment, the average Canadian intends to spend another $513, up slightly from $490 last year. In total, Canadians intend to spend $1,137, down from $1,218 - representing roughly a 7% decline in overall holiday spending this year over last.

One in three (31%) Canadians says that they will spend less on gifts and other expenditures this holiday season, compared to just 14% who will spend more than last year. The majority (55%) of Canadians intend to spend the same amount as they did last year.

In terms of how Canadians intend to finance their holiday spending this year, while the majority (63%) will use their savings to pay for all their holiday goodies, two in ten (21%) will finance the holidays on their credit card. Others will use a holiday/year end bonus (6%) or a line of credit (5%). Two in ten (20%) aren't sure or haven't thought about how they'll finance their holiday spending this year.

The survey also revealed that one in three (35%) holiday gift-givers intend to do some of their holiday shopping online.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of RBC. For this survey, a national sample of 3,160 adults from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of +/-1.7 percentage points 19 times out of 20 of what the results would have been had the entire population of adults in Canada been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.