Hey, Big Spender
It's nice to be a child in Alberta if you're into presents
according to Statistics Canada, because compared to the rest of the country, Albertans are the big spenders.
The research, which was done a few years ago, has lead to a second study by the company expected to be released on December 6 and will narrow the findings down to a city-by-city basis.
“Last time we took a look at capital sales, it wasn't too surprising that Alberta came out on top,” said Jane Lin, the lead researcher on the 2005 report. “They were followed by the Northwest Territories and the British Colombians as well.”
On a per capita basis, Canadians in 2004 spent on average $804 each. For Albertans that number balloons to $967, Ontarians spent only $809, whereas Quebeckers were well below the national average at $730 per person.
“A lot of different things affect spending though,” explained Lin. “Disposable income for one, we did look at that in 2005. We also looked at employment as well, because that can affect it as well. Through parallels it's usually the richer provinces that spend more because the money is already there.”
In Ontario though, December reigns with shopping supremacy as we push a 49 per cent increase in spending in that one month alone compared to the rest of the year, which is four per cent higher than the national average.
But the big winner come Christmas season are the department stores. Between the big 20 across the country they raked in $3.2 billion, or to put it into perspective, 15 per cent of their annual revenue.
The research, which was done a few years ago, has lead to a second study by the company expected to be released on December 6 and will narrow the findings down to a city-by-city basis.
“Last time we took a look at capital sales, it wasn't too surprising that Alberta came out on top,” said Jane Lin, the lead researcher on the 2005 report. “They were followed by the Northwest Territories and the British Colombians as well.”
On a per capita basis, Canadians in 2004 spent on average $804 each. For Albertans that number balloons to $967, Ontarians spent only $809, whereas Quebeckers were well below the national average at $730 per person.
“A lot of different things affect spending though,” explained Lin. “Disposable income for one, we did look at that in 2005. We also looked at employment as well, because that can affect it as well. Through parallels it's usually the richer provinces that spend more because the money is already there.”
In Ontario though, December reigns with shopping supremacy as we push a 49 per cent increase in spending in that one month alone compared to the rest of the year, which is four per cent higher than the national average.
But the big winner come Christmas season are the department stores. Between the big 20 across the country they raked in $3.2 billion, or to put it into perspective, 15 per cent of their annual revenue.
