After weeks of shopping for friends and loved ones ahead of Christmas, shoppers returned Monday at stores across Canada for the first Gift Day since 2019 with no restrictions on purchases. COVID-19.
Lots of bargain hunters have personally come to try and take advantage of the deals to earn themselves some goodies.
“Once we get to Gift Day and Gift Week, we’ll come right back to the question ‘Hey, what do I want?’ And gift cards and vouchers play a role in that,” David Ian Gray, retail analyst, told CTV News. “Plus, historically, it’s always been a sport, it’s a tradition.”
In Sudbury, Ont., New Sudbury Center is packed with shoppers at midday. In Saskatoon, a family told CTV News Saskatoon that they had been out shopping since 8 a.m.
“Black Friday is obviously a very busy day for us, but Boxing Day is one of our biggest sales events of the year,” said Steve Toews, store manager for Best Buy in Deerfoot Meadows, Alberta. , told CTV News Calgary. really great with customers this year – we saw a huge amount of people come in.”
He added that flat-screen TVs, gaming devices and headsets were among the more popular items sold.
But although this year saw the return of stores, experts say the pandemic has forever changed the traditionally biggest shopping day of the year.
Retailers were forced to turn to online sales, and customers followed suit. Now, many people believe that there is simply no need to go to the mall on Gift Day to get the best deals.
“I’m sure there is fatigue for both shoppers and retailers with in-store queuing as well as overcrowding and crowding,” says Gray.
In the past, Boxing Day was a one-day event that encouraged shoppers to get up early and shop for hours. But now, retailers often extend their sales by a week and share them online, hoping to garner more attention amid purchases at brick-and-mortar stores. system is decreasing.
After Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales fell short of expectations last month, experts have wondered whether Gift Day will offer deeper discounts or will see more stores try to sell out. Try to save more money.
Lisa Hutcheson, managing partner at retail consulting firm JC Williams Group, told the Canadian Press last week: “Black Friday is the most important day of the year for retailers and it’s been a bit of a disappointment. lose.
Electronics are traditionally the biggest draw on Gift Day, and Best Buy in downtown Vancouver was busy midday.
Munesh Gounder, Best Buy store leader, told CTV News: “I think customers would love to come back to stores like this, and vice versa, I think we would also love to have the same number of people and numbers in the stores. shop.” .
Analysts expect Gift-Day direct sales to easily surpass the previous two years due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.
“But in terms of product shipped to the store, if I guess, today is going to be lighter than it was on Gift Day before,” says Gray.
With sales moving online, we may never see the pre-pandemic crowds again. But for dedicated in-person shoppers, this experience is irreplaceable.
