Are Canadian customers cutting back?

Zoomer | November 24th, 2008

This is a weekly column by Dale Goldhawk, Canada’s best-known consumer advocate. A journalist, author and broadcaster, Dale hosts Goldhawk Fights Back For You, on AM 740 or at AM740 ZoomerRadio, Monday through Friday from 11 am to 1 pm, in the eastern time zone. Visit his website at www.goldhawk.com.

Canada’s retailers are hoping Canadian consumers are not going to copy their cousins across the border and slash spending going into the year’s prime holiday buying season.

The U.S. government reported a 0.3 percent decline in consumer spending in September and that decline is expected to have steepened through October and into November. Consumers are concerned about the U.S. economy’s fall into recession and seem to be ignoring the fact their incomes rose by 0.2 percent in the same month. As consumers shy aware from stores, retailers are cutting prices partly to lure customers back but partly because inflation rates are falling. Similar cuts in prices are expected in Canada’s retail stores as we move toward the Christmas buying season.

The money that Americans are not spending in stores is going into their bank accounts as savings rise in the U.S.

Canadians already save more than Americans and most economists do not predict a recession in Canada although they do predict slow growth for the next few months. A cutback in spending by Canadian consumers similar to that in the U.S. would hurt our economy more than it deserves and, at the moment, is likely unjustified by Canada’s overall economic picture.

Do you plan to curb your holiday spending this season? Post your comments below.

Gemini award nominee, journalist and broadcaster, Dale Goldhawk has earned Canada’s trust by his four decades of work exposing fraud and greed in the marketplace. To read more of his articles, go to www.Goldhawk.com (now part of the ZoomerMedia family of websites).

Don’t miss Goldhawk Fights Back , on the New AM740 Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.