Black Friday in Canada ‘politely’ busy
Dialed down from previous years despite online buys, early sales
Black Friday certainly was a busy shopping day, but it wasn’t exactly white hot as in years past.
With many retailers’ promotions kicking off before U.S. Thanksgiving or online, the frenzy of previous Black Fridays was noticeably dialed down this year.
The Eaton Centre opened three hours earlier than usual on Friday for the American retail holiday tradition and people turned out, albeit politely, reports the Star’s Jillian Kestler-D’Amours.
Nalin Mehra, 21, bought a 49” TV and PlayStation 4 Friday. He rented a Zipcar to be able to lug his haul home.
“I knew that was going to happen,” he said, about being stranded with a bigscreen.
Mehra said he saved $500 on the TV, which was on sale for $850.
But more retailers and brands have created weeklong events, which smooths over demand outside of just one day, explains Bruce Winder, a partner at Retail Advisors Network.
“Overall, the morning felt a little underwhelming,” he said of his Black Friday tour of Sherway Gardens and the big box stores.
“We noticed shopper lines outside of Best Buy, Old Navy, Sephora and a few others but not what we would say were significant, and nothing that appears to exceed last year,” he noted.
Winder found the more sought-after brands “play light on Black Friday. Apple has no sale whatsoever. And brands like TopShop, Steve Madden and other more luxury brands had sales (but) 20 per cent off, if any. Nothing too deep.”
“Black Friday deals this year are not as steep as in the previous years because they don’t have to be,” said Tandy Thomas, assistant professor of marketing at Queen’s Smith School of Business.
“The lower Canadian dollar means less threat to Canadian retailers from cross-border competition and, therefore, less need for aggressive sales tactics,” she noted.
While crowds at the Eaton Centre weren’t over-the-top Friday morning, seasoned Black Friday shopper Gina Daya found it much busier this year than last. She added that in past years she’s travelled to Buffalo and Pennsylvania in search of deals.
“But the exchange rate is so bad, you’re better off staying here,” Daya said. She was among the more than 19.3 million Canadians expected to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, its companion online sales day on Monday, according to a new IPG Mediabrands poll.
Some stores advertised special deals for early-morning shoppers that lasted only until 10 a.m. or noon.
“Black Friday is fully transitioning into a Canadian sales event, no longer simply being used as a tactic to keep Canadians from cross border shopping,” PG insights manager Loraine Cordery said in a statement.
Meanwhile, U.S. shoppers got the early jump, lining up Thursday morning for deals with many major retailers open for business on the Thanksgiving holiday. Best Buy woes Awebsite malfunction prevented eager customers from taking advantage of the retail giant’s annual online
“The lower Canadian dollar means less threat to Canadian retailers from cross-border competition.” TANDY THOMAS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, QUEEN’S SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
markdowns. Best Buy Canada posted on its website about 15 minutes after midnight that it had encountered an "issue", and reports said it took several hours to solve the problem. Deals take flight Air Canada, WestJet and Porter Airlines all offered Black Friday discounts of up to 50 per cent off for some destinations. The sale was on for most of the week and will last through the weekend for Air Canada and WestJet. Even higher Colorado has a new Black Friday tradition: Marijuana shops drawing shoppers with discounted weed and holiday gift sets. At Denver Kush Club, about two dozen customers were lined up in subfreezing temperatures. The first few customers got free joints, free rolling papers and a T-shirt with purchase. Bad timing In the U.S., department store retailer Neiman Marcus’s website was down as of Friday afternoon. Visitors to the page got a message saying “We’ll be back soon. We’re currently making improvements to your shopping experience.” Not just turkey U.S. e-commerce sales surged on Thanksgiving Day. By 5 p.m. Thursday in New York, $1.1 billion was spent online, according to Adobe Systems Inc. The full day was expected to total $1.7 billion, a 22-per-cent jump from the same period a year ago, the company said. Toy demand, especially for Star Wars products, helped drive the increase. Anger on the Magnificent Mile Led by Rev. Jesse Jackson, demonstrators took to Chicago’s main shopping drag after the release of a video earlier in the week showing the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a police office. Several hundred gathered in the drizzling rain, many with plastic-wrapped signs.