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Toronto, December 11, 2006 - Saturday, December 23rd will be the single busiest shopping day of 2006, and national purchasing volumes will peak at 2 p.m. EST, according to Moneris Solutions, Canada's largest processor of electronic payments. Last year, Moneris handled more than 8.4 million credit and debit payment transactions on the busiest shopping day (Friday, December 23rd), and was processing more than 14,400 transactions per minute at the 2 p.m. rush.
"December 23rd will be 'Last-Chance Saturday' for millions of holiday shoppers as it's the last day of regular and extended store hours across the country," said Brian Green, Senior Vice President, Moneris Solutions. "For merchants, it will be like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Those who can handle the pressure will be the ones that will reap the greatest benefits in sales and customer satisfaction."
Many Canadians Will 'Drop and Walk'
In fact, new research compiled by Moneris has found that a majority of Canadians (62 per cent) will abandon a planned purchase if a store is too crowded or if the lineup is too long (67 per cent). Sixteen per cent have walked away from a sale because the store didn't accept their preferred form of payment.
Other highlights:
"The final days of the holiday season are all about service, speed and smiles," said Green. "Retailers need to keep staff well-dispersed on the floor, checkout lines moving smoothly, and the mood upbeat despite how crazy it may get. Merchants using outdated point-of-sale terminals and slow equipment will be at a great disadvantage."
Many Happy Returns
And lest shoppers and merchants think they can rest after the rush, Moneris data shows that the busiest days for purchase returns in 2005 were December 28th, 29th and 30th.
Where Shoppers Roam
More than one third (35 per cent) of Canadians say they prefer shopping at independent stores, while 27 per cent like mid-sized retail chains and only 23 per cent say they receive the best customer service at large corporate chains.
Quebecers have a stronger preference for mid-sized retail stores (47 per cent) when compared to independent stores (13 per cent).
Independent stores were the clear favourites across most of the income groups, but especially so for Canadians earning more than $80K (40 per cent).
Online customer service may be an oxymoron as only seven per cent indicated they receive good service here.
Gift Card Purchase and Redemption Surge
December 23rd will also be the peak day for gift card purchases, according to Moneris' Ernex division, the leading provider of loyalty and stored-value gift card programs. In 2005, four of the five busiest days for gift card purchases were December 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. And those cards don't stay in people's wallets for long. The busiest days for gift card redemptions were January 7th, 14th, 2nd, 6th and 3rd.
Almost half of Canadians (48 per cent) plan on giving at least one gift card this holiday season, and the likelihood rises with household income and size. "Gift cards are now a staple of holiday gift lists," said Malcolm Fowler, Senior Vice President of Ernex. "In fact, of those giving gift cards, twenty per cent say they're planning to give between five and ten gift cards this holiday season. This is powerful proof that business owners need to capitalize on the explosive demand for gift cards."
Of those planning to give gift cards, 71 per cent indicated they would be giving one to four gift cards this season and 20 per cent said they were planning to give five to 10 cards. Those in the Prairies may be covering off their entire list with gift card purchases with a higher than average likelihood of purchasing 10 or more cards (12 per cent).
About Moneris Solutions Corporation
As one of North America's largest providers of payment processing solutions, Moneris offers credit, debit, wireless and online payment services for merchants in virtually every industry segment and processes more than 2.3 billion transactions annually. Through its Ernex division, Moneris offers electronic loyalty and stored-value gift card programs. With more than 350,000 merchant locations, Moneris provides the hardware, software and systems needed to improve business efficiency and manage payments. For more information please visit www.moneris.com.
The Moneris Holiday Headache Poll was conducted by Decima Research between November 16-20, 2006 via a national omnibus telephone survey of a representative sample of 1,030 adult Canadians. The margin of error is +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.
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Matt Cram or Amy Davidson Environics Communications 416.969.2726 or 416.969.2830 |
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