Canadians' Gift Giving Plans for This Holiday Season

`Tis the season! And if you are like the vast majority of Canadians, you're likely to spend a fair amount of time this month inside a shopping centre getting geared up for the big day.

According to a new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of RBC, four in five (82%) Canadians plan on giving gifts to others this holiday season. This number is up slightly from last year (80%) and on par with those who planned on giving gifts in 2010 (82%). Less than two in ten (18%) don't plan on giving gifts to others this holiday season, which is down 2 points from last year and identical to those who gave the same answer in 2010.

On average, Canadians who plan on giving gifts this holiday season expect to spend approximately $1,182 on holiday purchases that include gifts and other holiday items like clothing, travel, decorations, and entertainment, down six per cent from the anticipated spending amount of $1,251 in 2011. Canadians buying gifts anticipate spending $629 on such purchases this year, down slightly from $640 last year although on track with 2012 ($624). While expected expenses for gifts has remained relatively consistent, anticipated expenses for other holiday items like clothing, travel, entertainment, etc. is noticeably down. Other anticipated holiday expenses are done to $553 in 2012 from $612 in 2011.

Interestingly, Atlantic Canadians anticipate spending the most ($877) on gifts in 2012, as they did in 2011 ($793), but reveal the largest drop in anticipated spending towards non-gift-related holiday expenses (down from $767 in 2011 to $418 in 2012). Quebecers (+$14) and British Columbians (+$4) are the only Canadians who anticipate spending more on gifts this year than last year, while British Columbians (+ $106), along with Albertans (+ $65), are the only Canadians who anticipate spending more on other holiday-related items this year compared to last. The following table outlines national and regional breakdown of anticipated holiday and non-holiday expenses in 2012:

To finance this anticipated spending, Canadians planning on giving gifts this holiday season will use a variety of means. A majority (56%) will use savings to finance their holiday spending, while one-quarter (24%) will use a credit card. One in ten (8%) plan on using their year end/holiday bonus to finance their holiday spending and 4% will use a line of credit. One-quarter (23%) of Canadians, however, say they are not sure how they plan to finance their holiday spending because they've not thought about it.

Quebecers (62%) are most likely to finance their holiday spending via their savings, while Albertans (25%) are most likely to use credit cards. 11% of Ontarians plan on financing their holiday spending using their year end/holiday bonus, making them the most likely to do so, while Albertans (27%) are most likely to be not sure or have not thought about it. The following table outlines how Canadians in different parts of the country plan on financing their holiday spending:

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between October 1st to 10th, 2012, on behalf of RBC. For this survey, a sample of 3,375 Canadians from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to 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. The precision of Ipsos online polls are measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/- 1.9 percentage points of the entire Canadian population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.