ENTERPRISING YOUNGSTER CASHING IN ON CANNABIS STORE LINEUP As Canadians lined up to buy legal cannabis from retail stores on October 17th, a young Edmonton entrepreneur and fund raiser saw a business opportunity. The enthusiastic Girl Guide and her father came up with the idea to sell Girl Guide cookies to customers in line for legal cannabis after hearing that Scouts had used similar sales tactics when cannabis was legalized in California. So, the pair filled up a wagon with Girl Guide cookies and headed to Nova Cannabis in Edmonton. Within 45 minutes the young entrepreneur had sold all 30 boxes of cookies raising $120 for Girl Guides of Canada.
CANADIANS LOOKING TO OPEN THEIR WALLET THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
It seems that economic uncertainty, increasing consumer debt levels and rising interest rates will not keep Canadian con- sumers from opening their wallets when gift giving over the holidays.
According to a national survey of more than 1,000 Canadian consumers across generational groups in Canada for PwC, Canadian consumers plan to spend as much or more this holiday season, than last year. The data from the report shows that those in the gift giving mood will spend an average of $1,563 this holiday season, up 3.7 percent from $1,507 in 2017. But don’t be expecting a big gift under the tree as even with spending up consumers stated that the majority of there increase in spending over the holidays will go to travel, $720, with gift giving accounting for $625 with the rest going to entertainment, $198.
On average Canadian men intend to spend $1,752 this year while women expect to part with $1,485.
The report also shows that even with the increasing popularity of online retailers, 63 per cent of holiday shoppers will still be heading to stores for the holiday purchasing provided retailers make it worth their while with sales not found online.
Plus, with the new free trade deal with U.S. that sees Canadian duty-free limit raised from $20 to $150 about one third of Canadians surveyed said that they plan to do some cross-border shopping to score both deals and hard to find items.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2018
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