Retailers hike up sales ahead of Black Friday

Maritimers are looking for early holiday deals ahead of Black Friday.

Black Friday is exactly one week away which is prime time for retailers.

Year over year retail analysts like Bruce Winder say the sales start earlier.

“This has been a bit of a trend for the last several years now as retailers have started black Friday sales early in some cases as early as November,” says Winder.

Many shoppers were out at Halifax Shopping Centre Friday and at Dartmouth Crossing, looking for a deal. Some like Jacqueline Butt and Jaralin Lynch travelled from Newfoundland to come shop here.

“Theres more plentiful of stock and items where Newfoundland is a little more limited, we are a small province which we could use we certainly like to shop,” says Lynch.

Christmas is around the corner so for these two it is about shopping for the celebration and a deal.

Online shopping has deals too but for these ladies, they enjoy the shopping experience in the stores together.

“Christmas is upon us and everybody is shopping so why not,” says Butt.

“When there’s a sale there going to draw us out,” adds Lynch.

They aren’t the only Atlantic Canadians looking for a deal, especially with costs being high for all. Consumers’ spending habits are changing.

“Consumers are sort of watching their money this year a little more than normal, unemployment and things, so if you can show them a sale a little bit early then they will buy that item,” says Winder.

It’s also a tactic retailer have adopted, trying to get more people in their store doors.

“Retailers want to get consumers in the mood for shopping, and they realize that the more often consumers shop for the holiday the more they spend in aggregate,” adds Winder.

Business professor Ed McHugh says Black Friday accounts for 25 per cent of Christmas retail sales. But there could also be a few other reaches for advanced deals.

“Some retailers have over bought inventory; they knew the tariffs were coming and they bought stock at a lower price and now sales are not moving at the pace they thought they were going to move so now they are going to play around with price. Out of the 4 marketing strategies, price is one, so they are going to play with the price to move product off their shelves,” says McHugh.

McHugh adds that the last time inflation was on people’s minds it was in the 1980s and now that’s all that’s on people’s minds. For many shoppers, the price matters.

“Inflation is definitely on people’s minds right now and that affects consumer confidence which affects how much spending power they put into the marketplace,” adds McHugh.

Both experts said they don’t expect prices to drop much more than they already have for pre-Black Friday sales.

“Usually, a retailer if it’s a big, featured item on an ad, they might have it on sale once or twice. If it’s a good discount now, call it 40, 50 or 60 per cent off. It’s probably worth picking it up now because they might run out of inventory and it’s probably going to be on at the same price later,” says Winder.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page