Canadian online shopping demand is weak! Many categories will suffer setbacks during the year-end peak season!

According to Mastercard Spending Pulse, Canadian retail sales will increase by 5.7% during this holiday season (November 25 to December 24) compared to last year, with e-commerce sales increasing by 3.8%.

Steve Sadove, senior consultant at Mastercard, said: Although there are many promotions before Black Friday to attract consumers to shop in advance, it is expected that many Canadians will still wait until the last minute to buy gifts during this holiday season. On the other hand, the easing of supply chain problems and the return of in-store shopping will weaken people's demand for online shopping.

Key trends to watch this holiday season

It is predicted that by holiday category, sales on Black Friday in Canada in 2022 will increase by 2% year-on-year, sales on Boxing Day will increase by 7.5% year-on-year, sales in the two days before Christmas (December 23) will increase by 24% year-on-year, and sales on Christmas Eve will increase by 17.5% year-on-year.

By category, sales of electronics are expected to fall 4.2% year-on-year and sales of jewelry and leather goods are expected to fall 4.5% year-on-year this holiday season, as consumers shift their buying behavior to focus more on necessities. In contrast, sales of apparel are expected to increase 6.9% year-on-year (December 23: +17.1%; Christmas Eve: +4.9%).

“Canadians are looking to save money this holiday season amid economic challenges, including higher interest rates, which means retailers must encourage spending through seasonal sales,” said Michelle Meyer, chief U.S. economist at Mastercard Economics.

Canada October Retail Sales

Data from Mastercard SpendingPulse shows that Canadian retail sales increased 9.1% year-on-year in October (up 24.4% from the same period in 2019). Among them, in-store sales increased 11.2% year-on-year (up 16.7% from the same period in 2019), and online sales increased 0.5% year-on-year (up 78.5% from the same period in 2019).

By category, in October, sales of electronic products fell 2.5% year-on-year, sales of home furniture and furnishings fell 2.3% year-on-year, while sales of other categories increased. (See the table below).

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