According to a DIG360 study, almost three-quarters of Canadian shoppers avoided Black Friday sales this year—substantially lower than what was forecast. "Canadian retailers are well organized on inventory levels and not so quick this year to be panicked into early and deep discounting," DIG360's David Ian Gray says. (Sure, but they are missing out on the stampeding at places like Pacific Centre, above.) Another key trend that came out of the study—most Canadian shoppers stayed home, avoiding the cross-border trip. Only 2% of those surveyed cross-border shopped for Black Friday deals (4% shopped US websites).
Bisnow was on the scene of the ICSC New York Conference yesterday, where we snapped Urstadt Biddle Properties' James Aries, Forest City Enterprises CEO David LaRue, and ICSC CEO Michael Kercheval. It's not only Canadians not rushing out for those deals: Americans didn't buy enough PS4s, Xbox Ones, socks, Hug Me Elmos, and Monster High Dolls on Black Friday either, we learned. Sales were weak this year, but retailers shouldn't fret: Overall November-December sales will be up 3.4% over last year, Michael reports.
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