Canadians took advantage of November Black Friday deals and got their holiday shopping done early this year, which could lead to disappointing Boxing Day retail sales on Dec. 26.

Retail industry watcher Doug Stephens points out that Canadians have a “finite amount” of money to spend. This year’s busy Black Friday – a newer tradition scheduled after U.S. Thanksgiving in late November -- is likely to result in a “tepid” Boxing Day.

Retailers have moved the whole holiday shopping season up, Stephens told CTV’s Canada AM.

He said Canadian stores are feeling the pressure to compete with U.S. Black Friday deals, while facing stiffer competition in Canada from new arrivals such as Target and Nordstrom retail chains. That competition is taking a big chunk out of retail profit projections, and traditionally busy sales days like Boxing Day aren’t bringing in the dollars they used to.

“That was part of the reason that a lot of this deep discounting was available in November,” Stephens said.

The Canadian retail landscape is in flux, as traditional big box stores struggle to compete with the growing popularity of online shopping and the lure of Black Friday deals in the U.S.

Stephens says online retail sales have grown by 10 to 15 per cent this year, while traditional retailers have seen sluggish growth of about three per cent.

“Consumers are definitely gravitating towards the convenience of the Internet,” he said.

Advertisers are also taking a hit with this retail shift. Stephens says advertising has lost some of its effectiveness because consumers are now doing their research and making smarter choices about what they buy and where they buy it.

“Consumers are becoming infinitely more informed, more conscious about what they’re spending,” he said. “They really searching for great deals, and they’re using technology to find those deals.”

But Canadian habits are still evolving, and shopping with a mobile phone may be the next retail frontier, Stephens says.