It’s only mid-December, but for many shoppers it’s already the day after christmas flowers canada .
Retail stores are increasingly holding pre-holiday blow-out sales, with discounts of up to 40 or 50 per cent or more off regular and even sale prices.
“I just got some fantastic deals,” Williams Lake resident Mitch Pelletier said on Robson Street Thursday. “Everything was 40 per cent off at American Eagle. It’s like a gold mine in there. We bought tons of stuff.”
Pelletier, who was shopping with sister Lynn Slater from Comox, mother Carolyn Pelletier from Calgary, and their six Pomeranians, was one of many people on the popular retail street taking advantage of deals typically associated with Boxing Day.
Analysts say one reason for the sharply reduced pricing is larger retailers selling off bigger-than-expected inventories, forcing other retailers to follow suit.
Others maintain there are several factors, primarily the fact that shoppers are increasingly cost-savvy and retailers have to provide low prices to compete.
They also say the sales are across the board, encompassing clothing, electronics and most things in between.
Some examples?
Gap Canada is offering up to 60 per cent off on clothing, while Banana Republic is offering 40 per cent off your entire purchase until Sunday (Dec. 18).
Over at Eddie Bauer, some items have a 50-per-cent discount, with clearance items up to 70 per cent off.
However, the pre-christmas flowers canada blogs sales aren’t expected to impact Boxing Day, although shoppers shouldn’t expect – for most items, at least – even bigger markdowns on that frenzied shopping day.
“It’s panic,” retail analyst David Ian Gray, of DIG360 Consulting Ltd., said in an interview. “Retailers have too much inventory and they’re scared there won’t be a lift in sales between now and Christmas. They’re trying to move stuff.
“They bought product many months in advance and there’s less demand than they expected.”
Gray said other retailers – especially in shopping malls — have to follow suit in order to sell product.
“Traditionally, demand wanes after Boxing Day [and] if they go to the New Year with 2011 product, especially clothing, they know they’ll sit on it for months and will have to liquidate it.”
As well, he added: “Consumers are hyper-aware on pricing.”
However, Mark Startup, president and CEO of Shelfspace, which represents retail entrepreneurs in B.C. and Alberta, believes there’s other factors at play.
“Certainly, in any economy, some retailers have too much inventory.
“But it’s not a universal scenario. Retailers offering discounts before Christmas are doing so for strategic reasons, which may include reducing inventory levels, but more so to be competitive in a market where consumers have become very thoughtful and pragmatic in their purchasing.
“They have a lot of choice. They can shop online, they can cross-border shop, and they can shop in their communities.
“They’re offering deals before Christmas to address this and they will continue to do so through Boxing Day.”
Startup also noted that there has been slow growth in retail sales, and that it will continue through the holidays.
He said not everyone is offering the big pre-Christmas discounts and that some are still saving their biggest deals for Boxing Day.
“Consumers will still flock to stores on Boxing Day. There will be some tremendous deals.”
Gray agreed, saying that deep pre-Christmas sales have been gathering steam for the past two or three years, and that the trend “trains shoppers to wait for that moment.
“Generally, [prices] will not be much lower on Boxing Day. There will be deep discounts on the door-crashers and a lot of things with 10 per cent off. But I think you’ll see that it will be much the same. But people like to do the Boxing Day thing. It’s still the biggest single day for retailers.”
Mirand Law, owner of Mimosa Accessories, an imitation jewelry store on Robson Street, said all her regular items are 50 per cent off and select items are 70 per cent off.
“There’s fewer people on Robson this year,” she noted. “Robson traffic is not that good.”
Law said discounts on Robson are greater than last year with more Canadians shopping in the U.S. “[Shoppers] are very smart and they check the price first.”
bmorton@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
No comments:
Post a Comment