Taylor Swift fans did a lot more to boost the downtown Vancouver economy in late November than did shoppers during the Black-Friday-through-Cyber-Monday weekend one week earlier, according to payment processing giant Moneris.
The bump was so extreme that it has astounded some retail analysts.
Moneris said its data showed that Taylor Swift fans on the Dec. 6-through-Dec. 8 weekend helped spending in downtown Vancouver jump 154 per cent, compared with the Nov. 2-through-Dec. 1 weekend that started with Black Friday.
"Fans' dedication to recreating Taylor's 'eras' with their outfits may have led to a 923-per-cent increase in clothing store sales and a 529-per-cent rise in cosmetic store sales," Moneris said in an email to BIV. "Variety stores also saw a 178-per-cent uptick, catering to fans' last-minute needs."
The clothing-store spending windfall is particularly notable given that Black Friday shoppers often target fashion retailers.
"The numbers look incredibly dramatic," said retail consultant and Retail Insider Media owner Craig Patterson. "I would have to hopefully trust that Moneris collected that data properly, because they've got the best sales data, right? But that's, that's just, I mean, that's an Olympic-sized type of boost"
BIV phoned Moneris to confirm that its sales data really compared weekend with three Taylor Swift concerts to the Black Friday weekend, and not the weekend before that, and was told that it was indeed in contrast to the Black Friday weekend.
It was not the case that Black Friday spending in Vancouver was tepid.
B.C. shoppers spent 34-per-cent more on Black Friday than they had on the Friday one week earlier, according to Moneris. That compared with a sales bump of 29-per-cent nationally.
Many Vancouver business owners told BIV that they launched promotions and brought in products to appeal to Taylor Swift fans.
What makes that spending bump on the weekend of the Taylor Swift concerts so extraordinary, however, is that Moneris in November put out a press release saying that during the 10-day mid-November stretch in downtown Toronto, when Swift performed six concerts, spending in the city only rose by about 45 per cent compared to what would have been an otherwise uneventful 10-day stretch.
Some other data Moneris collected for the weekend of the Vancouver Taylor Swift shows was that foreign spending was up 97 per cent, with U.S. visitors contributing 83 per cent of this total. Hotels experienced a 145-per-cent increase in foreign spending, Moneris said.
The food service industry also did well, with a 135-per-cent increase in restaurant spending as well as a 151-per-cent rise in fast-food sales, as both locals and tourists flocked downtown, according to Moneris.
Sean McCormick, Moneris' vice-president of business development of data services said the final three concerts on the Eras Tour "left a remarkable impact on the city’s businesses."
"The tour brought incredible energy to Vancouver, driving growth and creating meaningful opportunities for local businesses across industries.”
