Moneris Solutions, a Canadian processor of debit, credit and gift card payments released its 2008 holiday season data that revealed resilience and - for some merchant categories - dramatic growth in consumer spending across the country. Department and apparel stores made significant gains in December, while discount stores suffered the steepest credit and debit card dollar volume decline of all merchant categories studied by Moneris.

“For months, there have been signs of a softening retail market, as Canadians become more conscious and restrained in their spending habits," said Brian Green, SVP, Moneris Solutions.  “Our national, multi-method-of-payment data proves that in fact, Canadians continued to spend during the holiday season and the number of transactions actually rose over previous year.  These numbers offer merchants and consumers alike a reliable pulse on the Canadian economy."

Nationally, department stores saw the amount of money charged to credit and debit cards climb by nine per cent, compared to the same time last year. Apparel stores came in second place, with a six per cent growth in credit and debit card sales behind department stores.  Astonishingly, discount stores failed to live up to the growth predicted by some retail analysts and actually suffered a decline of 11 per cent in credit and debit card dollar volume. Their wholesale counterparts similarly weathered a substantial decline this holiday of nine per cent.  The average ticket size of each transaction [across all merchant categories] decreased by three per cent, which is attributed to the discounts offered by retailers, lower gas prices and the overall economic climate.

Nearly every major merchant category experienced spikes in consumer spending on credit and debit cards from the second to the third week of December compared to the same weeks in 2007. This reflected the aggressive and early discount strategy retailers deployed to entice shoppers off the streets and through their doors. Increased spending activity was most dramatic in department and apparel stores (up six per cent and nine per cent respectively), as well as electronics (up 11 per cent) and jewellery retailers (up 21 per cent).  However, only electronics retailers sustained growth into December's final Boxing Day week, with national sales rising 17 per cent from the previous week.

Restaurants fared remarkably well with much narrower weekly declines last month compared to December 2007. Moreover, eateries prolonged their mid-December spike with a healthy increase of eight per cent in the last week of the month compared to the same week last year (although they were down an overall six per cent for the month compared to December 2007). Drug stores and jewelry retailers were the least volatile performers in December 2008, down just 1.5 and one per cent respectively from last December. Nationally, all merchants pulled in 2% more in the month of December compared to the same time last year, and seven per cent more in the final week alone, ending what began as a pessimistic holiday season on a relatively bright note.

Across the country, December 22nd was the busiest shopping day for credit cards, while debit cards were most used the next day as Canadians filled up their gas tanks to visit their families.

“Canadians braved both the economic climate and December's inclement weather to go on and spend more this December than they did last year." continued Green.

Moneris's data covers all merchant categories and tallies the dollar value as well as the number of transactions made on its debit and credit card terminals at retailers across Canada in December 2008. The company's infrastructure helps merchants process high volumes of transactions and payments quickly and securely.