How are Quebec businesses faring leading up to the holiday season?

It's a far this year, Quebec businesses seem higher foot traffic, but apparently people aren't spending a lot of money. So consumers making more purchases, but each purchase has been a little smaller. Pasquale Pizzi is a head of business development at Monares. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning, Andrew. So what is this reflective of? Are we talking about the people just have less money and they're being more careful about what they buy? Yeah, so let's get just that. It's really important that for our listeners that they know that Manner's process is one in three transactions for businesses of all sizes and industries across Canada. And so the information that the data is very strong. It's statistically important.

And with over 5 billion transactions processed every year, Andrew, that's over 800 transactions per second. So heading into the holiday season, we can really see based on previous year's spend, what we anticipate is going to happen. Sales are starting a lot sooner. And we take a look at the volume as you see that the transaction count is really driving the increase. Transaction counts were up through most of the year, hitting a high of 13 plus 13%.

year over year in February. Meanwhile, transaction size has been down most of the year as low as minus 6% year over year in March. So based on the most recent data, we think we're sliding into the holidays. Transaction counts in September are in line with last year. Maybe they've been unchanged. Meanwhile, transaction size is still below last year at negative 3%. As a result, the holidays, which typically drive higher spend, will be particularly important this year for businesses.

So hopefully they'll end the year on the high note. I'm looking at Minairs. I'm sorry. No, go ahead. Go ahead. I was going to say looking at Minairs data from last year gives businesses an idea of what they expect this season.

Okay, well, it's interesting because we're told that prices have been going up, so this means that people are really not spending as much. If everything costs more yet, the total volume of sale in terms of the dollar amount is down, this must be even more magnified, no? Yeah, well, Canadians and Quebecers are shopping more often.

but the transaction sizes are lower. So what that means is, you know, we're hitting the grocery stores more often, we're going to retailers more often, but we're not spending as much on transactions. However, if we look at the numbers as an example, Quebec specifically, we saw a moderate increase in total spend last year, up 4%. That increases driven, you know, by lift and transaction count. And Quebec is really, you know, we are doing a lot more transactions. We're up 12% year over year.

But the dollar amount is down. Now, if this trend continues, this would not bode well for retailers into Christmas, no? Well, again, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Andrew, the data is really clear. Quebecers have a preference. That is Black Friday. It's the clear winner. And if we look at the 2023, the total spend was up 23%.

uh... week over week across canada in quabec specifically double-digit growths at the plus thirty one percent week over week due to a large increase in transaction count and a moderate increase in transaction size i guess what i'm trying to ask you but squally do you think that uh... that the black friday in heading into christmas that this is going to save the retailers who who are getting less money coming in

Yeah, so we definitely like this is this is the important season. This is the important time for retailers. We've seen a busy shift from Black Friday.

uh... to just before christmas but this is really going to be important for retailers uh... especially this year as the you know the transact the you know that the transaction count and uh... the sizes continue to be an important significant okay pascal i wanted a pascal you could see is with the business development of monares now so you say you do one in three transactions in this country that's right through monares

So when I go in... That's correct. Okay, so I'm always fascinated when I'm buying stuff at Christmas or even on a regular day and everybody's buying at the same time. Like what kind of warehouses full of computers do you guys have to process all this stuff? Like what does this look like?

It's incredible. We really take transactions seriously like that. That's the core of our business. And so Maneris has state-of-the-art equipment and is able to process these transactions. Again, five billion transactions annually. As I mentioned, that's over 800 transactions per second at peak. It takes a lot of

data and heavy computing to be able to process that and we're really proud of that. What does it look like though, Pestqually? Is it like seven football fields full of computers? How does it look like?

They're, well, I actually haven't seen them myself. And they're, no, they're, they're state of the art. You must have heard legends about it though. Oh, I have. I have. I've heard legends, but, you know, they're obviously top secret legends. Oh, I see. Yeah, it makes sense. They would be top secret. Okay. Hey, say no more Pescwell. You understand. I understand. You have a great day. Thanks very much for your time. Thank you so much, Andrew, and wishing all your listeners an amazing holiday season and happy shopping.