Back to school budgeting
Posted Sep 2, 2010 03:39:37 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
We are into the second busiest shopping season of the year. Only at Christmas will Canadians spend more money than they are right now, with the average back to school budget ringing in at $621. And in keeping with recent trends, online shopping is on the rise with about $112 of that back to school budget being spent virtually as opposed to travelling to a store in person.
The figures come from an August survey by VISA Canada and the lender’s business leader for e-commerce, Stephanie Wallat, says you might be surprised by who’s holding the purse strings in the family.
“Men are going to spend twice as much as women online and about one-and-a-half times as much in-store,” Wallat tells 570 News. “The most likely reason for that is men are typically buying electronics, which have a higher ticket price. Women are making more frequent shopping trips, but for items that have lower price points.”
The hottest back to school items this year are books and clothing, followed by health and beauty products, travel (airfare, hotel and car rentals) and computers, software or computer-related electronics.
“We see the highest spend in Atlantic Canada and the lowest spend in Quebec,” notes Wallat, in breaking down the national averages.
Back to school shopping tends to be a boon for retailers, second only to Christmas in terms of store traffic and sales. Wallat says other busy shopping seasons tend to revolve around holidays such as Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day.
