Retailers and landlords see diverging spending patterns this year, with upper-income shoppers driving virtually all holiday spending growth.

Lower-income shoppers are reducing gift purchases, upper-income shoppers are boosting experience spending, and middle-income shoppers find themselves caught in between. Canadians plan to spend an average total of $1,646 on holiday shopping, up 8 percent from last year.

Retailers and landlords should capitalize on every shopper engagement. Canadians are more selective and intentional, visiting fewer stores, using fewer channels, and shopping less. Although shopping centres remain the preferred destination over online-only websites, shoppers plan to spend less time at these locations.

Dining is a key competitive advantage for shopping centres, especially for younger shoppers. Approximately two-thirds of shoppers find value in having restaurants and cafés near holiday shopping destinations. Restaurant dining ranks among the most popular shopping experiences, along with food court visits with family and friends.

Omnichannel presence remains critical. Physical stores will capture about 58 percent of holiday spending, while online retail will account for 42 percent. Canadians increasingly rely on social media for shopping decisions, and “buy now, pay later” appeals to 41 percent of Gen Z consumers. Hudson’s Bay has dropped from the top retailer rankings, while Temu makes its first appearance on the list.

Canadian shoppers plan to spend an average of $1,646 on gifts, non-gift items (food and decorations), and experience (entertainment and dining) − about $122 more than last year. This represents an 8 percent increase over the 2024 budget, with all gains allocated to non-gift items and experience.

However, not all Canadians are caught up in the festive spirit of Christmas. Our data shows that 44 percent of respondents plan to increase their budgets, 33 percent plan to spend the same as last year, and 23 percent plan to decrease their spending.

The number of channels that shoppers plan to use this year decreased from 2.7 last year to 2.3 this year, reflecting a reduction in usage across shopping channels.

Shopping centres continue to be the preferred shopping channel, with 64 percent of respondents planning to shop there, followed by online marketplaces such as Amazon.

Additionally, we expect the average dwell time in shopping centres to decrease slightly, from 66 minutes last year to 63 minutes this year. This means that shopping centres need to make every single visit and minute count.

Around 55 percent of shoppers plan to spend most of their budgets in physical stores, 34 percent to spend most of their budgets digitally, and 11 percent to split it evenly between both.

This translates to 58 percent of total dollar spending allocated to physical stores and 42 percent to online channels.

Our survey polled 1,000 online respondents throughout Canada across gender, age, ethnicity, language, education, income, employment status, and province. The sample is nationally representative of the Canadian population over the age of 18 in terms of gender and age.

The respondent pool is less affluent than the general population.

The estimated median household income of our survey respondents is approximately $77,500, which is below the national median gross income of $84,000 (Statistics Canada, 2021 Census). As a result, the findings are most representative of low- and middle-income households and might underrepresent the habits and attitudes of the wealthiest segment of the population.

To analyze a critical mass of respondents, we split respondents into roughly thirds: lower-income shoppers (household income below $50,000), middle-income ($50,000-$99,999), and upper-income ($100,000 and above).

Our survey was conducted in English on September 30, 2025.