Nancy Zimmerman: a canadian money coach (not a financial planner!)

Back To School time!

A recent poll by visa uncovered a number of interesting tidbits about Canadians and our online back-to-school spending.

1.  Recession?   What recession?

Almost half (48 per cent) of online shoppers plan to make an online purchase between now and Labour Day; among these, the majority claim that they will be spending either more or about the same as last year:

• 30 per cent said they would spend more
• 49 per cent said they would spend the same amount
• 15 per cent said they would spend less
• 7 per cent didn’t know

2. A surprise to me was how few of us plan to purchase online – only 1 in 6 people.  Is that a reflection of the goods bought?  ie., pencils, binders, new gym shoes just aren’t online-type purchases?  (Q:  What do parents buy online these days for school?   A: Clothes/shoes 41% Books 26%, Computers & related electronics 22% Backpacks 10%)

3. I’m also skeptical about  how little people expect to spend for back-to-school (I wonder if there will be a huge budget/actual variance?)

• The average online shopper expects to spend approximately $318 online to prepare for the return to the classroom in September 2009
• Four in 10 online shoppers also plan to shop in retail stores for back-to-school, spending an average of $298

In fact, I wonder if group B below is my target market, whereas group D has a real grip on their finances?  (joke. maybe)

• $1-$99 13%
  $100-$249 23%
  $250-$499 11%
  $500-$999 23%
  $1000 + 14 %
  Don’t know 28 %

Any readers going back to school, or sending your kids to school?  How do these numbers stack up?

Thanks to Visa for providing these stats!

Also, readers, keep tuned –  I have a couple questions to ask Visa but it sounds like they may have a genuinely useful option for Canadians who want to buy from US sites (think:  Zappos.  Banana Republic) which don’t sell to us.