Retail Review: Post-Holiday Stats – What to Take From These Numbers

The reports have only been out for a few weeks now, but it is clear that the end of the year was stellar as far as sales. The predictions for the holiday season were good, and clearly the outlook matched the output.

Check out this recent article from the Huffington Post, “Holiday Cross-Border Shopping Down, Canadian Sales Up, Retail Council Says”.  In it, numbers for the 2014 holiday season suggest a strong 2015 - which is never a bad thing for retailers.

Here are some post-holiday stats and a few other highlights from the article:

• According to Canada’s largest processor of debit and credit card payments, sales were up this year overall.
• Comparing the last Saturday before Christmas for both 2013 and 2014, this year’s numbers were far better: amount per transaction up 10% this year, and total dollars spent increased by approximately 4-5% for 2014.
• First two weeks of December 2014 saw an increase of 5.6% compared to 2013.

Thanks to a number of different factors, including the price of gas and the value of the Canadian dollar, Canadians also did far less shopping across the border compared to 2013 - which is great. Less competition from our southern neighbours means a greater chance of sales on home turf.

Less competition, coupled with the recent space being vacated by a big box giant, equals both pros and cons for all Canadian retailers - both big box and bricks and mortar mom and pop shops. The right marketing can both take advantage of the opportunity this represents and help deal with the competition.

For more post-holiday stats or to improve your merchandising strategy, please contact Storesupport today by calling 1-877-421-5081.