Moneris reports top day in holiday sales in Canada on Thursday

Thursday was one of the biggest days for holiday shopping this year according to statistics from Moneris, Canada’s largest payment processing company.

Moneris handles credit and debit card transactions between stores and the banks, which it tracks each year.

“Boxing day is still popular, don’t get me wrong, but it’s definitely not as popular as even today.” says Peter Goldsztajn of Moneris.

Goldsztajn attributes the boom on Thursday to the day of the week that Christmas happens to fall on this year.

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“This year Christmas Eve lands on a Sunday, Christmas Day is on a Monday and generally speaking, consumer behaviour is related to the day of the week and that’s related to the fact that people are out and about, perhaps still working,” he said.

“The fact is, you know, people come, or perhaps stop to do that last minute shopping on the way home from work or their lunch periods. The fact is that they are out and about and some of those last minute gift ideas, oh I forgot about this or individual or this person, I think that’s probably a big reasoning, reason around it.”

Despite the long-lines, some last minute shoppers say there’s nothing quite like the in-store experience even if sales aren’t necessarily any better.

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