Survey suggests Canadian shoppers will spend nearly $600 on gifts

Lansdowne Place in Peterborough is bustling with shoppers – matching a results of a survey on generosity.

“People are really in the holiday spirit this year” said mall marketing manager Emily Dart. “It started pretty early for us and they’re shopping and visiting Santa. We haven’t seen better results at our Santa set in the last few years.”

A new holiday survey by Ebates.ca suggests 86 per cent of Canadians plan to be as generous or more this year versus last.

The survey suggests a person will spend on average $570 on Christmas gifts.

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Most mall shoppers CHEX News spoke with on Thursday agreed with that amount, with only one suggesting she would go over that amount since “it was the first year she was living on her own with her own money.”

Some of the other findings show that parents with kids will cough up a little more than $700 while those without just under $500.

Fathers will spend around $165 dollars more than mothers while 82 per cent are turning to online shopping, mostly to avoid the crowds.

87 per cent of those asked will buy gift cards. Only 21 per cent report disappointment in receiving a gift card, and 36 per cent feel a little guilty about giving one.

“Canadians may not be spending less, but they are leveraging pre-holiday sales to save money and stretch their dollar further,” said Belinda Baugniet, director of marketing at Ebates.ca.

“Our survey indicates that convenience is increasingly important to their shopping habits and decisions.”

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Whatever they do, it’s looking like this holiday season could be the most healthy in years, said Dart.

“There’s so many great events going on in the community and it gets people excited, feeling very festive,” said Dart. “Once they go to those events with the family you start thinking about all those names on your list and you come and shop.”

The Ebates Canada online poll was conducted in October. A total of 1,000 Canadians were surveyed. For comparison purposes only, a sample of this size is accurate to within +/-3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.