11 and 12, Amazon re-priced nearly half of its bestselling products in toys and games, office and school supplies. Know your prices: A recent study of prices on Amazon by the firm 360pi found “an unprecedented level of price dynamism on bestselling items.” Between Nov. On the other hand, some retailers have a “no return or exchange” policy on goods on sale, especially if the merchandise has been deeply discounted.ĥ. If you keep your receipt, some retailers will honour a new, lower price a few days later. Some retailers extend their exchange and return policies to allow for returns in January. Keep your receipts: Before you buy, check the store’s exchange and return policy, which may differ during the holidays. Holt Renfrew has taken a more low-key approach, this year mailing out an offer for $100 off a purchase of $300 or more.Ĥ. Luxury retailers are making a push: More high-end retailers are becoming more promotional around Black Friday, like Michael Kors offering $50 off purchases over $250, said Larrea. “That is still why a lot of people go, because they find brands and products they can’t find in Canada,” said Fine.ģ. is 10 times larger than the Canadian marketplace, and that is reflected in the much wider range of goods available there. What does Buffalo have that we don’t have anyway? Clothing - you might not save as much on lower-priced clothing - but higher-end clothing, electronics, cameras, tools, hardware that a lot of people are looking for, all of those things can still make sense in the U.S,” said Fine.
has bigger and better sales generally, I would say, on just about everything. Yes, but you need to doing your homework, according to Stephen Fine, president of crossbordershopping.ca. “This week and next week are going to be highly promotional.”Īre there still deals to be had in the U.S. “We’re seeing that as early as today the Black Friday deals are starting to hit,” she said on Monday. Retailers in Canada, recognizing that customers here don’t have the same luxury, are spreading their sales over a few days or more, said Larrea. In the U.S., the last Thursday in November is a national holiday - Thanksgiving - and many offices are also closed on the Friday, giving shoppers an opportunity to shop. The loonie’s decline is a huge opportunity for Canadian retailers, according to Kristen Larrea, a spokesperson for the coupon website RetailMeNot.ca.Ĭanadian retailers seem to realize that too, with more of them competing in the Black Friday sales space this year than last, she added. Yellow Pages is encouraging shoppers to shop locally this Saturday.Īs part of a new pilot project, shoppers in the Burlington area will also be able to get notifications from stores near them that have sales on items they are interested in. That’s up from 8,000 businesses across Canada last year. This year, 10,000 businesses across Canada are participating in the event, including 1,700 in the GTA. “There are ripple effects in terms of placing the money in the community with a shop that hires locally.” “Those main streets and the vitality of those main streets are a lot of the reason we live in those neighbourhoods or shop there,” said Story. If you’re staying at home for your shopping this year, here are two key trends to remember: “If the motive is more social, then something like a weak loonie isn’t going to impact that,” said Antonia Mantonakis, a consumer psychologist at Brock University’s Goodman School of Business. Perhaps that’s because they are more likely to be making an occasion of it. retailers online or shop in the U.S., according to the UPS survey.
People between 18 and 34 are the group most likely to buy from U.S. More than half of respondents cited the exchange rate as the reason, while 26 per cent pointed out that local retailers are offering Black Friday deals that make it more tempting to shop in Canada. Add to that the fact that have to stay south of the border for 24 hours in order to claim $200 in goods duty-free - and 48 hours to be eligible for the $800 exemption, which for most people requires a hotel stay. With the Canadian dollar trading around 75 cents (U.S.), cross-border shopping isn’t what it used to be.įactoring in travel expenses and taxes and duty, it’s hard to believe there is a lot of money to be saved travelling to Buffalo on Black Friday this year.