Canadians love to be outdoors and they also love to entertain friends and family during summer – a fact reflected in consumer spending patterns. Data from Interac Association shows that we spend more money during the summer months than at any other time of year, particularly around long weekends.
In the summer of 2015 for example, Canadians spent more than $56 billion with their debit cards, compared to $51 billion in the winter. The biggest long weekend in terms of spending was Canada Day, with $2.52 billion spent across 59 million transactions. After Canada Day, the second biggest long weekend for shelling out the bucks was the August civic holiday at $2.49 billion, followed by Victoria Day with $2.45 billion and finally Labour Day with $2.29 billion.
What are we buying? The data reveals that the highest spending category during summer long weekends in 2015 was groceries, making up about 25% of total transactions, significantly more than any other category.
The second-highest spending category was discount stores, followed by restaurants, beer, wine and liquor stores, fast food restaurants and service stations. Interestingly, while groceries lead in the number of dollars spent, fast food comes second in terms of the number of transactions. These numbers confirm what most of us already know — Canadians spend their long weekends eating and on the go.
Related Stories
