In spite of falling gas prices, overall consumer spending in British Columbia grew year-over-year in the final quarter of 2014.
Moneris Solutions found that spending in this province increased 4.6% in Q4 compared with the same period last year. This is higher than the average increase across the country, where spending grew 3.8%.
Canada-wide, this increase comes after three consecutive quarters of stagnant growth. The most recent quarter’s rise is largely related to holiday spending.
“The period beginning with Black Friday and continuing through to Boxing Day continued to be an important sales driver for Canadian retailers in 2014,” said Moneris president and CEO Angela Brown.
“The impressive gains posted among many categories during this period rounded off an encouraging quarter for many merchants.”
Spending in the five days leading up to Christmas was up 7% compared with last year. Boxing Week sales between December 26-30 increased 7.9% compared with 2013.
As in 2013, December 23 was the busiest day of the year.
Not surprisingly given the falling price of oil, nationwide spending on gas was down 6% year-over-year. December alone saw a drop of 15%.
There was a marked increase in spending on transportation as a whole, however. This sector had an increase of 11.4% compared with Q4 2013, with November alone having a jump of 13.5%. Taxis (up 9.8%) and airlines (up 4.2%).
The biggest spending increase was in Prince Edward Island (up 6.8%) followed by a 4.9% increase in Newfoundland and Labrador.
