Intrepid shoppers save the date as a chance to seize rare bargains and door-crasher specials. But as one business professor explains, Black Friday can be a bleak day for Canadian retailers.
Cross-border deals and online savings linked to Black Friday are luring shoppers away from Canadian businesses, said McMaster University's Mandeep Malik.
"There's such a significant pull to the U.S.," said Malik. "Factor in the dollar parity and impending holiday shopping and it could be a Black Friday for our retail books."
Timed a day after American Thanksgiving, Black Friday acts as the starting whistle to the frenzied Christmas shopping season. It's viewed as a day that allows retailers to turn a healthy profit or as the name suggests, "enter the black."
Canadian retailers have hopped onto the Black Friday momentum in recent years, with some extending store hours and offering blockbuster savings on big-ticket items.
But Malik, an assistant professor at McMaster's DeGroote School of Business, notes that Black Friday is more lucrative for businesses south of the 49th parallel.
"There are two factors that drive consumer decision-making: choice and price," he said. "Many avail of Black Friday in the U.S. because they're more likely to find both those things there."
A deluge of dramatic footage typically accompanies the arrival of Black Friday. News networks often rotate videos of irate consumers surging against store doors and hundreds of cross-border shoppers sitting in traffic.
Despite the build-up, one research analyst argues there's no concrete evidence that Black Friday is hurting Canadian retailers.
"It's definitely taken some shares but I don't think there's been massive losses," said Brian Yarbrough of Edward Jones. "You would hear Canadian retailers pointing that out and bringing it to the forefront."
Instead, it seems that many Canadian retailers are trying to embrace Black Friday, even if it hinges on an American holiday.
Brian O'Hoski is the senior property manager at the Eaton's Centre, one of Canada's largest shopping malls. He said many of the mall's tenants participate in Black Friday by staying open longer and offering large savings.
"We're seeing an increased number of our tenants extending their hours on this day," he said. "I think it's becoming trendier to make Black Friday a busy shopping weekend in Canada."
According to Yarbrough, it's difficult — if not impossible — to quantify how Black Friday is impacting the Canadian economy. He argues that suggestions that it's hurting business on home soil are overblown.
"I don't think Black Friday is this mass exodus where everyone crosses the border," he said.
Breaking down Black Friday barriers
In recent years, bargain hunters have traded crowded store aisles for online queues on Black Friday. Some shoppers aren't clipping coupons anymore, but typing in promotional codes.
"What's a bigger and more troubling trend is the online focus that U.S. retailers have on Canada," said Malik. "They've made shipping more affordable, they've made returns easier. It's enticing."
His concern is that although the Internet has become a veritable marketplace for Black Friday deals, it still isn't physically drawing shoppers into Canadian businesses.
But it doesn't look as if the country's fixation with online bargains will soon fade.
Canadians spent $15.1 billion online in 2009 alone, according to data from Statistics Canada. That figure is up from $12.8 billion in 2007, an increase that the agency attributes to more online shoppers and a higher volume of orders.
The ever-thinning borders of the online world are allowing U.S. stores to target Canadian consumers, said Derek Szeto, founder of RedFlagDeals.com.
"It's the nature of being in the competitive field of retail," he said. "A lot of U.S. stores that have expanded into Canada are going to play on this Black Friday theme because they're bringing over marketing tactics from their time in the States."
He notes that Canadians consumers and retailers seem to be growing more and more aware of Black Friday.
Looking up phrase "Black Friday" on Google Trends reveals that there's been a steady increase in the number of Canadians that have searched for the phrase on Google since 2005.
Even Kimberley Clancy, founder of the Canadian-focused savings site FrugalShopper.ca, said her website receives more traffic in the weeks leading up to Black Friday.
"It's kind of really moved over the border," she said. "Purse strings are tighter and Canadians are looking for deals. Canadian companies really need to recognize and respond to that."
