We did not witness the frenzy of yesteryear in boxing day Monday in Montreal. Not many lines of people waiting for hours outside the doors of the shops. Even in front of the electronics retailers, which were particularly busy on December 26, there was no crush.
Has this post-Christmas tradition essentially gone virtual?
” The boxing dayit’s the continuation of the Christmas party,” said Benoit Duguay, a professor at UQAM’s School of Management Sciences, who believes that the December 26 sales are here to stay and that there will always be customers who visit the shops.
“Consuming is above all pleasure”, explains the professor who believes that people will always have more feelings to shop on site, to be able to touch the clothes they want, rather than to make a purchase online. .
The trend of recent months confirms this, according to Benoit Duguay.
“We know that online sales increased a lot before the pandemic. During the pandemic, obviously it exploded, he says. But in recent months, there has been a decline in online sales. It’s rebalancing, to the point that Amazon has had to lay off people. »
PHOTO PASCAL RATTHE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
There weren’t many lines of people waiting for hours outside store doors, even outside electronics retailers, which are usually particularly busy on December 26.
Especially, recalls the professor, that consumers who think about the environmental footprint of their purchases will avoid bringing home items that they risk returning later.
Busy day in the Plaza
Yesterday noon, we crossed more people than a regular Monday on the sidewalks of the Plaza Saint-Hubert, but there was no crowd.
“It’s like a Saturday,” confirmed Fabien, from the Neon store, which was quite busy. Same story in neighboring businesses that were open on December 26, which was not the case for all.
In fact, the only line of customers that had formed in the Plaza was outside the medieval Dracolite store shortly before it opened at 1 p.m.
According to the manager of the place, Patrice de Villiers, the idea of offering additional discounts to members, only for products purchased in store, had paid off. The atmosphere was indeed joyful and there were many customers looking for bargains. “We also decided to do a boxing weekend starting today,” he said.
According to Professor Benoit Duguay, the traditional side of the sales after Christmas will remain, despite the fact that we no longer see people waiting in line the night of the 25th to 26th in front of the businesses offering the best bargains. “It nevertheless remains a folklore, he says, a tradition. »
great expectations
Some traders had high expectations for December 26.
A survey released this fall by the Retail Council of Canada (RCDC) suggests that consumers will be seduced by shopping on December 26 to take advantage of holiday deals.
It was the first time since December 2019 that consumers could frequent commercial establishments to take advantage of post-Christmas sales without facing health restrictions related to COVID-19.
When the survey conducted by the firm Léger was published at the end of last October, the president for Quebec of the Retail Council of Canada, Michel Rochette, said that he expected Quebecers to return to in-person celebrations and in-store purchases this year. He also felt that the financial concerns of Quebecers would not spoil their habits.
According to last August’s poll of 2,505 Canadians, six in 10 respondents were affected by economic hardship, but most participants intended to spend roughly the same amount, $790 each, that they planned to spend in 2021. This average rose to $588 in Quebec this year.