National trends point to Canadians spending less this holiday season

Shopping local may be the desire, but affordability might decide where shoppers spend their money this Christmas season.

While many Canadians changed their purchasing habits this year to boycott American products during the ongoing trade war with the U.S., reports point to people focusing on value during the holiday shopping period.

This comes as businesses of all sizes struggle to make ends meet, and hope holiday spending boosts the bottom line.

“Seventy-three per cent of us want to shop Canadian and 56 per cent of us want to shop local,” said Ed McHugh, a Halifax-area business professor. "The problem is that the online shopping world is growing exponentially.”

McHugh said he expects people to buy more thoughtful gifts, like food baskets, homemade presents and second-hand toys and clothes. He pointed to a Deloitte report that shows consumers are cutting back in other discretionary categories by eight per cent.

In Cape Breton, the local chamber of commerce has been pushing for shoppers to keep their money in the community, given the economic uncertainty.

"[Businesses] bring in extra stock for this time of the year, so it's costing them more,” said Megan Penney, CEO of the Cape Breton Regional Chamber of Commerce. “So this is the most important time for them to really have that increase in sales and the support from the community.”

GST holiday not renewed

McHugh said he was surprised the federal government did not bring back a GST holiday that was aimed at supporting shoppers during the 2024 holiday season. Select items like toys, restaurant meals, beer and children’s clothing were sold GST-free.

“I thought it would because it seemed to actually boost sales a bit,” he said. “So I think the reason why it didn't occur is that they just didn't want to set a trend of losing that revenue year after year after year.”

McHugh said a program such as the GST holiday could have been more useful this year due to the economic hardships being felt by both shoppers and retailers.

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