This text is taken from the Courrier de l’économie of November 28, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
Have you taken advantage of the discounts of the last few days, which started with Black Friday and continued with Cyber Monday? If so, you’re like thousands of people who haven’t been held back by the rising cost of living. Even some members of the economy team of the To have to have succumbed to the purchase of clothing and electronic products.
If many traders, watchers and mall owners are to be believed, crowds in stores on Friday were similar to those in years past. “We feel the excitement, there is a return to the festive side,” testified the French-speaking spokesperson for Best Buy in Canada, Thierry Lopez, in a store in downtown Montreal. The La vie en rose and Bikini village stores saw a 7% and 35% increase in traffic, respectively, compared to the previous Black Friday weekend.
Online shopping was also popular. The majority of the 30 or so customers of Wiptec, a distribution center that prepares online orders for Sports Experts, Ricardo, Davids Tea and Lolë, among others, made Friday sales 10 to 15 times higher than normal days.
Retailers were expecting this enthusiasm. The purchasing intentions of Quebecers and Canadians for the holidays and for these sales days, surveyed by trade associations, were similar to those of previous years.
According to the October 2022 Barometer of the Quebec Retail Trade Council, 41% of Quebecers plan to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday 2022, compared to 44% in 2021 and 37% in 2019. Clothing, electronic equipment, housewares and footwear top the list of most popular products. Also according to this survey of more than 1,000 respondents, households expect to spend an average of $1,090 for the holidays, including $323 on gifts. These amounts are slightly higher than those of the last two years.
At the Retail Council of Canada (RCCC), the findings are similar, although the exact numbers differ. According to its survey released in October, the majority of consumers said they would be looking for discounts more than ever this year and would plan to shop longer in advance.
“It’s the first normal Christmas in three years, so people want to treat themselves,” said Michel Rochette, president of the CCCD for Quebec.
Consumers seem to have decided to bet on discounts as soon as possible to limit the effects of inflation on their budget, notes marketing professor JoAnne Labrecque of HEC Montreal. “It’s after the holidays that it’s going to be more difficult,” she believes.
And the planet in all this?
These sales days can also be an opportunity to become aware of the effect of our overconsumption habits on the environment. Source reduction analyst at Équiterre, Amélie Côté reminds us that the marketing of these days of mass consumption induces needs that are not necessarily real.
The recently launched Critical Mass organization wants to use the immense power of marketing and advertising to promote certain behaviors, in particular a more sober lifestyle. “It takes courage, but some businesses should say: we don’t do Black Friday,” says the founder, Valérie Vedrines.
The latter rather supports campaigns like that of the Partage Club platform, a Quebec application for sharing objects. She suggests borrowing a number of items, such as a slow cooker, snow blower or baby exerciser, rather than buying them.
What if we focused on sharing and saving second-hand goods rather than buying new products?