A couple few years ago, Black Friday was really quite an incredible event. It seems that I’m still catching up on my credit card bills from that time! On the surface it seemed that Canadian retailers were really embracing Black Friday like never before. However, in the two years following, Black Friday and Cyber Monday were mediocre at best. There was only really one conclusion.
Canadian retailers are reacting to the cross border shopping threat. The one year when Canadian retailers blew the doors off with sales and deals, the Canadian dollar was close to being par with the US dollar.
So when you look at the Canadian dollar as we head into Black Friday 2015 and Cyber Monday 2015 in Canada, the Canadian dollar is about as bad as you can get in terms of parity. Thus, expect the deals and sales to be mediocre. The incentive to compete with US retailers isn’t there. If you were thinking that Canada was embracing Black Friday and those great bargains, I believe you are mistaken. The deals are based on the cross border shopping threat.
I hope this theory proves wrong, don’t get me wrong. After a couple years of disappointments, I think it’s best to have a conservative view of what to expect. Deals will be had, but if you’re thinking it’s as good as it could be, all you need to do is look at the exchange rates. It matters more than you think!
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