New holiday spending data released today shows consumer debit and credit card spending over the first four weeks of the 2006 holiday season (Nov. 13 to Dec. 10, 2006) was up 7% year-over-year.

“The mid-November to mid-December period provides an early indication of the holiday season spending patterns. Considering spending won’t peak until December 23rd, an increase in the early-bird season is a positive sign for retailers,” said Brian Green, senior vp, Moneris Solutions, Canada’s largest processor of electronic payments. “As Canadians work to get everyone crossed off their lists, retailers should expect a flurry of last minute activity this Saturday afternoon.”

Moneris examined the total dollar volumes spent on debit and credit cards in hundreds of merchant categories and found the following categories experienced an above average increase in card spending:

  • Furniture and home furnishings: up 14%;
  • Candy/ nut/ confectionaries: up 13%;
  • Florists: up 13%;
  • Jewelry stores: up 12%;
  • Men’s and boy’s clothing stores: up 12%;
  • Postage stamps: up 11%;
  • Drug Stores and Pharmacies: up 9%;
  • Bakeries: up 7%;
  • Household goods (overall): up 7%.

“It’s a ‘perfect storm’ for retailers this year as December 23rd and the last Saturday before Christmas happen to fall on the same day,” said Green. “Moneris’ payment network will process nearly nine million card transactions on the 23rd, peaking at 2:00 pm EST where we will be processing more than 14,000 transactions per minute.”