Shoppers carry their boxing day bargains to their cars, past a Brinks truck, outside the Heartland Best Buy store in Mississauga, December 26, 2014.J.P. MOCZULSKI/The Globe and Mail
A slumping dollar and pockets of warm weather left Canadian retailers projecting strong Boxing Day sales this year, even as shoppers increasingly turn to online and Black Friday deals.
This year's holiday sales figures were already trending upward before doors opened Friday, with retailers reporting higher spending in the weeks leading up to Christmas and strong Black Friday sales in November. However, Boxing Day remains key for Canadian retailers.
While Boxing Day sales figures typically take a few days to compile, they are expected to be buoyed by three factors in 2014, said Michael LeBlanc, a senior vice-president for digital retail with the Retail Council of Canada. One was weather, especially in Ontario and Quebec, parts of which dealt with an ice storm last year but had above-zero temperatures Friday; by contrast, much of Western Canada was in a cold spell. A second factor was low gas prices, which Mr. LeBlanc says leaves consumers with more disposable income. The third was the low value of the dollar, which discourages cross-border shopping.
"For some categories, Boxing Day and week remain huge – electronics, fashion, furniture," Mr. LeBlanc said in an interview. However, it tends to be extremely competitive among retailers, whose slashing of prices often produces high sales but slimmer profit margins. "It's still a fiercely competitive market. You can't lay back at all as a retailer," Mr. LeBlanc said.
While holiday retail sales typically are highest on Dec. 23, some stores still rely on Boxing Day as their busiest of the year.
"What's more Canadian than Boxing Day? It's such a strong tradition," said Jim Caldwell, president of The Brick, an electronics and furnishings chain. Boxing Day remains the retailer's highest sales day, even amid increasing online sales, Mr. Caldwell said in an interview after waking early Friday to visit some of his locations. "Boxing Day does matter. We've seen our strongest lineups [outside stores] in years." Based on early Friday results, Mr. Caldwell said he expected his chain's Boxing Day totals to meet or exceed last year's.
Shopping patterns in Canada are evolving. The increase in popularity of Black Friday sales and online shopping have left retailers adjusting, as have an expansion of Boxing Day deals, with some sales now beginning before Christmas and extending days afterward.
Retail sales are up across Canada this month, according to data provided by Moneris, a credit and debit card transaction processor. The agency again expects Dec. 23 to be the highest-sales day of the holiday shopping season. Spending on Dec. 20, the last Saturday before Christmas, was up between 4 and 5 per cent year-over-year, while spending in the first two weeks of the month was up 5.6 per cent since 2013, according to Moneris figures. Clothing and electronics sales, meanwhile, saw little change in early December, but strong growth on Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, Moneris figures show.
"It's early days. We'll see how it evolves over the years," Mr. LeBlanc said of the changing retail landscape. "…Let's just say [Boxing Day] is still a very important retail holiday. It's still an important time for Canadians to shop."
In Ottawa, lineups still stretched out of some stores at the Rideau Centre mall by mid-afternoon Friday.
Jenny Strange, a therapist, left after two-and-a-half hours of shopping, clutching bags of books, clothing, cosmetics and gifts for next Christmas. Many products were discounted by 50 per cent, she said. While Black Friday shopping "was a gong show," she said she'd come back next year for Boxing Day, where she found the crowds were lighter. "This was much better," she said. "…You almost want to do your Christmas shopping on Boxing Day and say, 'Here's your present.'"