Not all Canadian merchants will adopt US Black Friday: Retail Expert
Posted October 18, 2014 10:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s still a month away but some savvy shoppers may already be seeing some flyers and promos for Black Friday.
The massive American shopping frenzy is slowly infiltrating across the border every year but its unknown if it will ever be permanently adopted in Canada.
Mark Startup with MySTORE, the independent retail division of Retail Council of Canada, says a lot of companies are jumping on board and having their own discounts both in store and online to try to compete with their American counterparts.
“The Black Friday event, which is an event which comes right from US Thanksgiving celebration, and also the setting up of the final weeks of the year before the Christmas holiday shopping season is well known as an iconic US off-price or discount oriented event. Many creative and innovative Canadian retailers and also US retailers doing business in Canada have experimented with the Black Friday event at the end of November in Canada. Other Canadian retailers are using the Black Friday event on other Fridays of the year some of which are experimenting with the Canadians Thanksgiving weekend this year,” explains Startup.
Every year there are stories out of the US painting an ugly picture of the shopping frenzy, typically highlighting long lines, and crowds of shoppers trampling over others just to get the best deal. Startup can’t say for sure if the day known to kickstart the holiday shopping season will become a staple here or just a trend, as he says not everyone likes what it stands for.
“There are many retailers on the other side of this that would not want to be associated with the Black Friday brand because it’s not consistent with their values and customers. There are many merchants that would rather have a more unique or a more something closer to their own brand and their uniqueness as opposed to adopting a North American brand like Black Friday,” he says.
He admits recent studies show that a growing number of Canadians are doing their holiday shopping earlier every year which may go hand in hand with a Canadian Black Friday. This year the day for deep discounts in store and online in the US falls on November 28th.
