Canadian debit network Interac has developed a novel way to track the country's economic recovery from Covid-19, turning national shopping trends into a soundwave.
Interac mapped anonymised and aggregated debit spending on food, home, entertainment, travel and shopping against different musical instruments.
The resulting Sound of Spending soundwave shows the changing spending habits of Canadians over time, and demonstrates the return of consumer confidence evidenced through rising shopping levels in recent months.
Canadians' spending hit a low note in April 2020 due to declared states of emergency with the spending frequency associated with restaurants, entertainment and travel falling by 35%. However, the following month, home improvement spending frequency soared by 186%.
Canadians can use an online tool to enter their own spending habits to generate their own unique "song".
"At Interac we know that giving Canadians greater insight and control over their money helps them get more out of life, so we created an innovative tool to encourage Canadians to map their spending data and create an individual 'money melody'," says William Keliehor, chief commercial officer, Interac.