David Ian Gray comments on Holiday retail sales
Here is a link to a CTV news item on Canadian Boxing Day Sales:
Industry statistics are not compiled for Boxing Day, or other specific days. However, we do know that sales for November and December can account for up to 30% of certain categories (e.g., Accessories). Note that gift cards are recorded as sales when sold, not when redeemed, but indirectly boost sales when additional purchases are made at redemption.
Canadian sales last December (2008) were disappointing and reflected the public nervousness surrounding the economy at that time. Add to that major storms across the country. Only General Merchandise (aka Wal-mart) stores' sales were up at that time (along with Grocery and Pharmacy).
We would expect this year to see a slim bounceback from those '08 figures. Anecdotally, this past Boxing Day generally did not feature massive deals, over and above the pattern showing since early November. Some luxury retail, such as the Bloor Street Prada Store, were exceptions. This is a good sign that retailers like Best Buy managed inventories well, but not so good for deal-hunting consumers.
A couple of interesting trends to watch:
1. A number of US retailers attempted to spur post Black Friday sales with a Boxing-Day-like promotion.
2. Online shopping in Canada seems to be settling in as mainstream (even though our incidence of this is lower than the US); Future Shop and others began their "Boxing Day" web sales on December 24th.
