Value of Canadian cross-border purchases up 72 per cent: StatsCan
Posted October 8, 2014 7:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – We’re getting a better idea after the extent of Canadian cross-border shopping, and it has gone up in the last few years.
Statistics Canada has pulled together a variety of sources to conclude that between 2006 and 2012 there was a 72 per cent increase in the value of Canadians’ purchases in the United States.
That is nearly double the 38 per cent increase in visits to the US.
StatsCan says our cross-border buying totalled somewhere between $5.9 billion and $10.8 billion in 2012.
Although that’s no more than about one to two percent of all Canadian retail sales, StatsCan acknowledges regional differences such as people living close to the border regularly buying gasoline and groceries in the US.
The analysis includes same-day and overnight trips to the US, but also mail-order shopping and car imports.
In 2012, overnight trips (45.3 per cent) and goods delivered from abroad by post and courier (38.9 per cent) accounted for most of the cross-border shopping total, while same-day trips (10.5 per cent) and motor vehicle imports (5.3 per cent) made up the rest.
Factors include strength of the dollar, price differentials, changes in retail landscape, duty-free limits, tax changes and economic conditions.
