Black Friday becoming a shopping event in Canada to keep consumers at home

MONTREAL – Black Friday marks the start of the U.S. holiday retail season with many Canadians cashing in at American outlets along the border, a shopping event that’s now spreading to Canada to help keep sales at home.

“Retailers saw this as a call to action to keep consumers in Canada,” said Sally Ritchie, spokeswoman for the Retail Council of Canada.

Ritchie expects Canadian stores to aggressively combat the cross-border shopping craze expected in full force at border points across Canada today.

“They’re responding with the big discounts and sales and scratch-and-saves and extended store hours to satisfy that need here in Canada,” Ritchie said from Toronto.

Most retail analysts expect more cross-border shopping this holiday season from Canadians looking to stretch their wallets and find U.S. bargains.

A Bank of Montreal survey suggests nearly one in five Canadians – 18 per cent – plan to shop in the United States this holiday season, well above last year.

Each year, American retailers open their doors early the day after U.S. Thanksgiving and lure shoppers with deals of up to 70 per cent off on everything from electronics to clothes, home furnishings to toys.

Black Friday – the busiest shopping day of the year when retailers turn a profit for the year, or operate in the “black,” has long been a fixture of the American retail landscape, kicking off the XMas retail season.

Canada’s version of Black Friday means consumers won’t have to wait until closer to Christmas or for Boxing Day for discounts, Ritchie said.

“It’s going to provide a big boost to consumers who want to get a jump on their holiday shopping and still save money.”

With the U.S. economy in the doldrums, cost-conscious American shoppers will be even more eager to find bargains this year.

But Canadians are also growing increasingly worried about the economy and their financial future and are likely to be in a bargain-hunting mood as well.

A report Thursday showed Canadian workers are failing to keep up with the rising cost of living as real wages fell in September, squeezing consumer pocketbooks.

Statistics Canada said average weekly earnings fell by 0.3 per cent in September to $872.75 – when the 3.2 per cent inflation rate for the month is taken into consideration, the drop in real wages was more dramatic.

The relatively high value of the Canadian dollar – it closed Thursday at about 95.5 cents US – makes cross border shopping more attractive to Canadian consumers.

And generally higher Canadian retail prices on everything from books to TV sets also makes cross-border shopping in the United States more attractive to Canadians.

Among the stores planning on Black Friday sales or Cyber Monday online sales are Amazon.ca, Apple.ca, Banana Republic, Best Buy, the Body Shop, Canadian Tire, Chapters and Indigo, Dell.ca, Future Shop, the Gap, Home Outfitters, La Senza, Lululemon Athletica, Old Navy, PetSmart, Sears, Sephora, The Source, Sport Chek, Sport Mart, Toys “R” Us, Walmart and Zellers. To name a few.

Ritchie said she expects Canadian online retailers to offer the same kinds of deals as their U.S. online counterparts on Cyber Monday, a day of online sales to cap off the shopping weekend.

Even with the recent drop in the loonie from past parity last month won’t deter Canadians from shopping in the United States, says the Bank of Montreal.

“Even at 95 cents, the currency is well above its purchasing power parity value – which is in the low 80-cent range – and will still prompt a lot of cross-border trips by Canadians in the next month,” said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist of BMO Capital Markets.

Ritchie said the deals due to cross-border shopping can be eaten away by other costs such as food and gas.

“It’s important to realize there are added costs to cross-border shopping.”