As you have probably heard in the press there is a campaign afoot to encourage us once again on this side of the border to resist the urge to shop in the US on Black Friday. In fact resist the urge all the time. The campaign called Shop The Neighbourhood is being led by Yellow Pages Group and endorsed by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak. Do I hear a Bandwagon? The Yellow Pages Group, BTW, is a Montreal-based holding of leading digital advertising and marketing solutions companies. They provide Canadian business owners and managers with access to marketing advice and tools to stand out from the competition and attract customers. I’m thinking that they have a bit of a stake in Canadian Retail Business?
Now what is the best use of the Ontario Premiers and others time? Is it worrying about a few extra shoppers heading to the US to buy Aspirin or Black Friday Shopping? Here is something that they should think about; according to MaRS over the past five years, approximately 183 Canadian high-tech companies have been acquired by other companies. Of those 183 companies, 75% were acquired by companies outside of Canada, the majority of which were based in the United States. The majority of companies acquired by non-Canadian firms also obtained investment from a venture capitalist located in close proximity to that acquirer. Each had an average valuation of US$100 million so that’s about $1.3B in revenues now going to the US not to mention the loss in people. It’s the old shell game, we can’t control the big picture so let’s try and get the average Joe to make up the difference. http://www.marsdd.com/2013/04/23/canadian-high-tech-startups-new-report-highlights-secrets-to-their-success/
As I have said many times, I’m not against shopping in Canada, I just want a price that’s competitive with the same product in the US. Paying $13.00 in Canada for Bayer Aspirin that cost $5.00 in the US is a blatant ripoff. Now you can look at the “official” price comparisons from BMO and, if you believe that it’s only 10% – 14%, then I encourage you to shop in Canada. If it’s the 40% – 50% and 60% that I have shared with you in this Blog then, for me, the place to shop is obvious.
Welcome Canadians
Black Friday is THE shopping day in the US. Additional discounts of 50% – 75% increase the bargains for Canadians. If You would like to see what’s available before jumping in the car you can go to the major retailers websites or take a look at http://www.theblackfriday.com/
Happy Shopping!
