Paul Martin's Business Update - March 22nd, 2014

Paul Martin's Business Update - March 22nd, 2014

After a decline in December, retail sales figures in January restored their upward trend.

StatsCan’s monthly examination of retail sales volumes – one of the principal indicators of consumer attitudes and confidence – produced some figures that were a bit difficult to evaluate in the past few months. November was strong, December weaker and then January showing renewed strength.

Given the importance of December in the retail world, this was something of a head scratcher. Even after including revisions for December, in real dollar terms January was a bigger month in this province.

The federal agency attributes the bulk of the increase to the automotive market but new ways of doing business may have an impact too. Orders from on-line retailers are difficult to track and may not make it into the provincial numbers, even though the transaction originated here. Then there are gift cards. These are tallied when they’re spent, not when they’re purchased, so Christmas spending may not actually show up until January, making it harder to get a completely accurate picture of what is happening at this time of year.

www.martincharlton.ca #wetellyourstories #canada #saskatchewan #retail #growth #statscan