“Going back five years ago, there was definitely some hesitation [in terms of] shopping for fashion and apparel online,” said Jennifer LaForge, general manager at Rakuten Canada. “We’ve seen a huge surge in the category as Canadian consumers begin to trust online shopping.”
The holiday shopping season in the country used to be punctuated by Boxing Day, the day after Christmas that had consumers flocking to retailers for the best post-Christmas deals. But this period, which was often stretched up to a week, has diminished in importance thanks to Black Friday. According to the RCC survey, Canadians who plan to shop on Black Friday planned to spend 38% of their holiday budget on Black Friday vs. Boxing Day (30%).
“We're seeing the volume of sales over that Boxing Week period decline year over year,” LaForge said. “That has a lot to do with the deals and the offers happening earlier in November.”
The shopping year is shifting from one that hinged mainly on the final six weeks of the year to one that is heavily influenced by online retailer discount-driven events, like Amazon’s Prime Day. According to LaForge, the shopping year in Canada is event-driven, led by the weekend of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, followed by Boxing week, and not far behind is Prime Day in July.
Amazon’s impact in Canada is being felt throughout the holiday season, too: It’s the top destination for holiday shopping, with 60% of consumers planning on shopping on the site, according to Deloitte’s 2019 holiday survey.