American Thanksgiving (and Black Friday) is upon us, which means the holiday season has officially begun.

Canadians have reported wanting to spend less this year than last on gifts, with data crowdsourcing platform Field Agent saying that the average consumer hopes to part with $875 this year, a 7.5% drop from 2014.

In order to most efficiently reach shoppers, Facebook included Canadians in a global study aimed at deciphering how consumers will be spending their holiday dollars.

As people continue to change the ways they look for and buy products, multi-channel buying continues to grow, with 52% of Canadians saying they plan to shop across more than one platform this year. Over a third of Canadians said they plan on shopping more online this year than last.

Last holiday season more than 25% of Canadian online purchases were made on mobile, and 1.8 times more posts, photos and videos shared on mobile than desktop.

According to internal Facebook data Canadians share 20% more photos and videos online during the holidays than during the rest of the year. Last December 64% of those posts were on mobile.

Globally 47% of people feel financial pressure this time of year, with 40% reporting that they’re stressed-out by gift shopping. Facebook says marketers should assist consumers in alleviating those worries and enhance the positive aspects of the season. Canadians list family (86%), food (65%) and giving gifts (50%) as the highlights of the season for them.

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