Like most merchants during the pandemic, The Passionate Home owner Carrie Thachuk is selling a lot more than she used to over the internet.
鈥淲e had to move to online,鈥� Thachuk explained.
Thachuk temporarily closed her 91原创 City store in March during the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak.
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The Passionate Home has since reopened under stringent safety protocols including directional arrows on the floor to keep browsers at a safe distance from each other, as well as masks and other measure.
鈥淲e are doing everything we can to keep our staff and customers safe,鈥� Thachuk told the 91原创 Advance Times.
Thachuk said business has been good, because people are spending more time at home and using that time to redecorate, which is where her store and its stock of repurposed and restyled pieces, along with specialty paint, comes in.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been lucky,鈥� she said.
Thachuk isn鈥檛 planning a special sale for Boxing Day, in fact, she isn鈥檛 planning to open that day, preferring to court customers over a long period.
鈥淚t鈥檚 now Boxing week,鈥� she explained.
Studies show Canadian businesses have been quicker to adopt online shopping as a way of coping with the COVID-19 crisis, according to David Dobson, associate professor in the University of the Fraser Valley School of Business
鈥淧eople will be shopping, but it will be mostly online,鈥� Dobson predicted.
When they do attend brick and mortar stores, consumers are more likely to arrive with a plan and the intention of getting in and out quickly.
鈥淧eople are planning more. They鈥檙e making a list and thinking twice,鈥� Dobson commented.
Most want to limit their time in-store to limit the possibility of exposure, he said.He agrees that Boxing Day isn鈥檛 the big one-day sales event it used to be, but he thinks Boxing Day week could be a good one for businesses that have been able to reach their customers online, especially considering the indications that Canadian shoppers are ready to spend more than usual this holiday season.
鈥淭hey [customers] will be shopping and they will spend money,鈥� Dobson predicted.
鈥楽hop local鈥� campaigns and the continuing closure of the U.S./Canada border will also be factors, Dobson cited.
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Spokespersons for the and the said local merchants have learned how to work around pandemic restrictions, and will be applying those lessons to the post-Christmas sales season.
Chamber CEO Colleen Clark said businesses who traditionally didn鈥檛 have much of an internet presence, now do.
鈥淎 lot of businesses didn鈥檛 venture online, until the need was there,鈥� Clark observed.
鈥淎 lot of people are shopping online now.鈥�
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Teri James, executive director of the Downtown 91原创 Business Association, said that new expertise was demonstrated during the recent Black Friday sales on Nov. 27.
Black Friday started in U.S. as a sales event following Thanksgiving Day, and has come to overshadow Boxing Day.
On the day this year, both online and off, 91原创 City merchants were busy, James said.
鈥淭here were lineups [outside] at most businesses,鈥� James described,.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very encouraging to see.鈥�
James and Clark said the current closure of the Canada-U.S,. border combined with 鈥渟hop local鈥� campaigns has also had a positive impact.
鈥淓veryone has kind of come to see that this is a new normal,鈥� James commented.
Diane Brisebois, president of the Retail Council of Canada, has also cited the border closure, and an increased push to buy local, as factors that will benefit Canadian retailers both online and in-person.
鈥淲e strongly believe there will be more Canadians making that extra effort to shop in a local brick-and-mortar store as well as find them online,鈥� Brisebois said.
Eric Morris, head of retail at Google Canada, said e-commerce in Canada has doubled during the pandemic.
He said given ongoing lockdowns and in-store capacity limits, online sales are expected to be strong and remain so over the holiday shopping season.
- with files from Canadian Press
dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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