Saskatoon’s Midtown Shopping Centre has launched its newest event space, The Studio at Midtown, which is a community-focused hub for people to connect, create and discover.
Tara Faris, General Manager of the mall which is managed by Cushman & Wakefield, said The Studio is a multi-use amenity space that is being offered to the community – both non-profit and retailers and entrepreneurs.
“It’s a space that they can book for as little as three hours or as much as a week to activate in some sort of event capacity,” she said. “So that could range from an artisan market or a retail pop-up to a business meeting or a paint night, some kind of fundraiser. So a very versatile space that can be booked by all members of our community for a variety of purposes.
The Studio at Midtown (Image: Midtown)
“The suite itself is just under 3,000 square feet and it has sort of a kitchenette with a fridge and a microwave. Some space to lay out catering. Depending on the use, we have a couple of different floor plans that can be set up for the community to use which may have retail showing. Some sort of merchandise fixtures or it could have a boardroom table type set up.
“It could be cleared entirely for an artisan market or a dance studio. All the fixtures and finishes are very lightweight and versatile. They can be kind of folded up and rolled away.”
Midtown is 640,000 square feet with 110 businesses operating in the shopping centre.
The Studio at Midtown (Image: Midtown)
“It’s an additional way to activate the centre. It’s a good way for us to branch out and kind of create new community partnerships through partnering with events or co-hosting or what have you,” said Faris. “So it all depends on what the community needs.”
“Our sister mall in Regina, Cornwall Centre, has done one and we sort of are mimicking theirs. This is actually the second Studio in Saskatchewan. The idea came from our working group, our management team, as a way to kind of reconnect with the community in terms of non-profits offering space but also the versatility of the space,” said Faris.
TheStudioatMidtown.com
The Studio at Midtown (Image: Midtown)
The Studio at Midtown (Image: Midtown)
“We get lots of requests for space that we maybe just don’t quite have. We don’t have the right combination. So this space is just so versatile that we can meet everybody’s needs.”
The Studio offers complimentary booking for non-profits and affordable rates for entrepreneurs.
Metro in Montreal, Quebec (Image: Field Agent Canada)
The food inflation rate in Canada has exceeded our country’s general inflation rate for ten straight months now. The food inflation rate in September was 10.3%, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent Consumer Price Index released today. Since Canadian grocers are once again facing a barrage of criticism coming from concerned Canadians, some have started to respond.
Loblaws’ announcement this week to launch the largest price freeze campaign in the world received mixed reactions from Canadians. While some welcomed the campaign, many still remembered the bread price-fixing scheme which unfolded a few years ago, and understandably reacted to Loblaws’ announcement with great skepticism. Consumer trust was severely damaged at the time, which makes the criticism grocers are now facing undoubtedly deserved.
Still, Loblaws’ campaign will continue for more than 10 weeks, including the highly lucrative holiday season. It’s unclear whether consumers will save, or how much they will be saving, but at last the campaign will bring some predictability for grocery shoppers and provide some immunity against sticker-shock. We have all suffered sticker-shock many times over the last several months.
Image: Sobeys Orangeville
Reactions by other grocers may have made things worse. The competition, which includes both Sobeys and Metro, was clearly caught off guard by Loblaws’ announcement. While Sobeys opted to showcase some of its current promotions, Metro decided to go on the attack, and made it a “hold my beer” moment.
Metro stated that “It is an industry practice to have a price freeze from Nov. 1 to Feb. 5 for all private label and national brand grocery products, and this will be the case in all Metro outlets.”
Wait, what? Metro clearly wanted to undermine Loblaws’ campaign by stating that freezing prices this time of year was nothing out of the ordinary and normalize what appears to have been a long-standing, industry-wide, price freeze practice. By doing so, without even giving it a second thought, Metro was inferring to the media that it was colluding with other grocers. Loblaw quickly denied everything. In the end, Metro issued another statement a day later clarifying its position on price freezes.
Many in the industry are familiar with seasonal cost management practices. Grocers will be inclined to accept cost increases during certain periods of the year. The so-called “blackout” periods will get grocers to reject cost increases. These are known practices. But what Metro was suggesting is much more troubling. The company’s statement essentially implied that seasonal collusion has impacted the price of privately labelled food products for years. This is what collusion typically looks like. This is reminiscent of the bread price scandal which lasted 14 years in Canada, with nobody fined or jailed.
Metro in Montreal, Quebec (Image: Field Agent Canada)
Metro’s statement was likely issued in haste, to respond to media requests. Still, it appeared as though Metro did not even understand how incriminating the statement was to itself and the entire industry which may indicate a much larger issue at hand.
Almost four out of five Canadians believe greed is inflating food prices at the grocery store, and Metro’s statement certainly did not help. Supported by a unanimous parliamentary vote, Ottawa will launch its investigation into food prices and inflation in the weeks to come. The Standing Committee on Agriculture will need to get to the bottom of Metro’s statement and what it implies for the industry and consumers.
Beyond that, the committee also needs to appreciate that greed can be harboured anywhere within the food chain, from farmgate to table, and not just in retail. Retail prices for some verticals like dairy, meat, and bakery have shown erratic patterns in recent years. We shouldn’t be surprised that the meat packing industry is currently subject to two class-action lawsuits, in both Quebec and British Columbia. The Competition Bureau needs to provide more proactive oversight on what is happening across the food spectrum.
Targeting grocers exclusively would be like blaming the waiter at a restaurant when your dish is undercooked or just generally subpar. Let’s hope the committee will commit to looking at legitimate root causes, and not just at populist targets to score political points. But given what has happened this week with Metro, grocers are simply not helping their cause.
“I’m so proud to have collaborated on this kick ass collection with Wuxly – a brand that I have personally admired for years and whose core values I share – and I can’t wait to see how people make it their own and rock these pieces,” said Adams in a statement.
“Partnering with Bryan Adams on this collection has been a dream come true for our brand. Bryan’s vision and dedication to the process has been inspiring to say the least,” said James Yurichuk, Founder and CEO of Wuxly.
The Toronto-based retailer describes itself as the “innovators of the first animal-free and sustainable parka brand proudly manufactured in Canada.”
Bryan Adams x Wuxly Movement The BAD Collection (Image: Wuxly Movement)
Bryan Adams x Wuxly Movement The BAD Collection (Image: Wuxly Movement)
Bryan Adams x Wuxly Movement The BAD Collection (Image: Wuxly Movement)
Wuxly and Adams have created the brand’s first-ever capsule collection; merging Wuxly’s sustainably-led design with Adams’ rockstar style.
The Wuxly x Bryan Adams BAD Collection consists of three outerwear pieces; the BAD Hoodie, BAD Elk Parka, and the Kingston.
The BAD collection will be available exclusively at wuxly.com.
Yurichuk said the company has an innovative and sustainable focus.
“We proudly make everything here in Canada and we try to make sure it’s not only warm for our clients but it’s for being warm to the planet itself. We do that by using recycled and biodegradable materials. We also peacefully keep animals out of the equation and our brand mantra is ‘live warm’. Live warm in our jackets, live warm in your everyday life. We’re a warmer conscious brand,” he said.
Wuxly Movement Pop-up on Queen Street West (Image: Wuxly Movement)
Wuxly Movement Pop-up on Queen Street West (Image: Wuxly Movement)
Wuxly Movement Pop-up on Queen Street West (Image: Wuxly Movement)
The retailer launched in November 2015 when he was playing as a linebacker with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. His girlfriend Daniela at the time was immigrating from Brazil and he told her he would give her the first winter experience in Toronto and get her a first winter jacket.
“I wanted to get her something warm, made in Canada but everything was using fur and feathers. I came from a house where we really just loved animals. We had a dog. We composted. My mom would take spiders out in napkins. So I thought surely there was a better way to make a jacket,” said Yurichuk.
“I turned to my best buddy at the time and pitched him the idea. Anthony DeBartolo was a custom tailor in the area. We learned the industry. Made our first prototype for my girlfriend, she became my wife, she loved the jacket, now we have four kids.”
That began the Wuxly Movement – a commitment to restore Canadian manufacturing and create warmth through sustainably made outerwear.
Wuxly Movement Pop-up at 825 Queen Street West (Image: Wuxly Movement)Wuxly Movement Pop-up at 825 Queen Street West (Image: Wuxly Movement)
Wuxly Movement Pop-up on Queen Street West (Image: Wuxly Movement)
Wuxly Movement Pop-up on Queen Street West (Image: Wuxly Movement)
Wuxly has a store of about 1,500 square feet at 825 Queen Street West in Toronto. It also has the House of Wuxly which is just down the street and is the company’s design house. There’s also a plant in the Mississauga area.
Yurichuk said the company has been anchored in outerwear and it would love to continue to expand its footprint into the markets that would believe in taking it on.
“New York City, Montreal, Calgary have all been great to us. So this is something that is close on our radar right now,” he said.
“We’re really opening up the collection to build jackets that can accompany Canadians all months of the year. All climate conditions. Friendly service. We encourage people to come by.”
Retail Insider is streamlining its Canadian retail news from around the web to include a handful of top news stories that can be viewed quickly during the day. Here are the top stories from the past 24 hours.
The Ottawa retail leasing market has strengthened so far in 2022 and is not showing many signs of slowing down as there is more demand to move in than to move out.
A report by real estate firm JLL said asking rents have strengthened once more and the market remains tight due to the chronic lack of completions. This trend is expected to continue until deliveries approach pre-pandemic levels.
“Availability rates in Ottawa have decreased once more, following a trend that started over two years ago, having been interrupted once in Q1 2022 during Omicron. The availability rate is currently at a record low,” said JLL.
“The scarcity of current and future spaces in the market has in turn contributed to the steady rise in rental rates. Availability rates will likely continue to decrease throughout the remainder of the year, but at a slower pace than previously observed.”
Downtown Rideau (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
The report said the current construction pipeline will not bring many notable deliveries to market anytime soon. In Ontario specifically, there has been a strong push for multi-family projects which has in turn overshadowed the retail sector’s own needs for new projects.
“The construction pace has slowed. According to Statistics Canada, the cost of construction for shopping centres in the Ottawa-Gatineau area has increased once more, up three per cent QoQ and 13 per cent YoY. Other cities have faced similar increases and contractors believe that most costs won’t decrease in the short term given the rampant cost and lack of skilled labour. Aggressive interest rate increases have also created an environment where builders cannot secure cheap and reliable debt to finance their developments,” it said.
LeBreton Flats (Rendering: The National Capital Commission (NCC) and Capital Sports Development Inc. (CSDI))
Paul Ferreira, Senior Vice President of Retail with JLL, said Ottawa has one very large employer in the federal government and that has impacted the downtown retail sector.
Paul Ferreira
A growing presence of government employees at work leads to many other spinoffs.
The one new development area in Ottawa is the LeBreton Flats mixed-use project just outside the downtown core.
“Everybody has their eyes on that,” said Ferreira. “The National Capital Commission has been going through their process over the last year of making parcels available for development. We have the announcement of the arena coming to LeBreton Flats. That’s a big opportunity for the city in terms of creating place and what that means for retail, entertainment, food and beverage in the market.”
Aqueduct district at LeBreton Flats (Rendering: The National Capital Commission (NCC))
Bringing an arena downtown for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators on what will be the LRT line with other amenities will create an urban destination, he said.
“Much like in previous quarters, general retail and neighbourhood centres continue to pull most of the weight absorption-wise. Their vacancy rates have been steadily decreasing since the beginning of 2021 and should stabilize in the second half of 2022 given the lack of space there is left to absorb. As shopper hesitancy reduces and interest in enclosed spaces increase, more retailers should move into malls for the remainder of the year,” said JLL.
“Ottawa has continued to increase its volume of retail sales activity. Despite having faced a pandemic-influenced economy, Freedom Convoy demonstrations, and reduced foot traffic, retail sales in the city are 20 per cent higher than 2019’s YTD sales thanks to the pent-up demand accrued during the pandemic. This surpasses the 19 per cent growth seen overall in the country but lags Montreal’s 21 per cent and Toronto’s 24 per cent gains over the same time. While sales have increased since 2019, it is not a reflection of every single operator’s situation.
“The city has seen encouraging growth in numerous retail categories. Compared to 2021, sales for clothing and shoe stores have soared by 161 per cent and 133 per cent so far. Many more categories have encountered double-digit sales growth, such as furniture (38 per cent), building materials (37 per cent), general merchandise (25 per cent), and electronics (18 per cent).”
Parliament Hill in Ottawa (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
Another factor in the retail sector in Ottawa is the growth in the tourist sector.
“Business owners in the central business district continue to expect federal office workers to return to the office. According to a study conducted by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, 60 per cent of their members are against a return to the office, and another 25 per cent would be comfortable with a hybrid approach. Only 10 per cent of members would prefer a full-time return to work. The sentiment is also echoed by other unions in the city,” explained the JLL report.
“Unions in the area are now fighting to include remote working in future collective agreements with the government. Even if an agreement is reached, retailers will still have to engage with other demographic groups, such as students and tourists, to pull people back into downtown Ottawa.”
McDonald’s is opening its latest walk-up window service restaurant in Calgary’s University District mixed-use neighbourhood as the fast-food chain continues to explore unique ways to reach consumers.
Alex Jones, Head of National Real Estate & Development, for McDonald’s, said in an email that construction is underway and the restaurant is expected to open in November.
Alex Jones
“The restaurant will be 4,000 square feet and features a full-sized lobby, a full-sized modern kitchen and specialized service areas to focus on delivery, digital, dine-in and walk-up guests,” he said.
“The restaurant features a walk-up window instead of the traditional Drive-Thru due to the high foot traffic at University District. It is not uncommon to include walk-up windows in urban areas as they are typically reserved for downtown style sites and smaller storefront style restaurants. However, this McDonald’s will have a full-sized lobby, a full-sized modern kitchen and specialized service areas to focus on delivery, digital, dine-in and walk-up guests.
“Given the nature of the restaurant and the community it serves, it features a walk-up window prioritizing delivery, digital and dine-in for guests. This location does not include a Drive-Thru.”
Image: McDonalds Canada (Maj Mack)
The University District, located just west of the University of Calgary campus and close to the Alberta Children’s Hospital and Market Mall, is a 200-acre community with housing being built for several thousand residents as well as retail, food and beverage and commercial real estate uses.
“These walk-up style restaurants are common for McDonald’s restaurants in Canada in vibrant, urban centres that cater to businesses and students. We’ve seen great success with similar restaurants in student-first areas like McDonald’s UBC location in Vancouver and the new restaurant downtown Kingston, Ontario at Princess and Division,” said Jones. “At McDonald’s restaurants, we want to meet guests where they are and provide an easy, seamless, and convenient experience. Since University District is a vibrant community with high foot traffic, the walk-up style restaurant was the right fit for this community.
“The storefront inspired restaurants are especially common in urban areas where we see a higher demand for walk-up service and delivery, namely student and business areas. They feature specialized service areas to focus on delivery, digital, dine in and walk-up guests.
“The past couple of years have taught us that our guests want options when it comes to how they get their McDonald’s favourites. As a leader in delivery and as part of our digital transformation, we will continue to explore restaurant concepts that will allow us to better accommodate our guests in vibrant, urban city centres.”
Rendering: McDonalds Canada
Usman Tahir Jutt
Usman Jutt, McDonald’s Calgary franchisee, said the restaurant is designed with students in mind.
“The walk-up design will provide a one-of-a-kind, easy and convenient place for people to grab all of their favourites from McDonald’s,” he said.
“We have always believed in delivering an exceptional community experience each step of the way in University District, so we are excited to be home to a walk-up McDonald’s,” said Maureen Henderson, VP of Community Experience, with the University of Calgary PropertiesGroup which is spearheading the University District development.
Maureen Henderson
“Whether it’s a student on the go, a nearby employee looking for a quick meal break, or a group of seniors meeting up for a weekly coffee, McDonald’s will provide convenient options for everyone to enjoy wherever they wish. It’s a perfect complement to our innovative community design, and we are confident McDonald’s will feel right at home in U/D.”
Canada’s first McDonald’s restaurant was in 1967 in Richmond, British Columbia. It has about 1,400 Canadian restaurants today.
Ontario-based Darwynn, which is building an end-to-end fulfillment ecosystem, is taking possession of its new facility in BC on November 1, further expanding the company’s offering into Western Canada.
The 112,000-square-foot facility will utilize Darwynn’s fulfillment platform including automated guided vehicles (AGVs), automated storage & retrieval systems (ASRS), and a software solution that provides visibility and insights to retailers.
The company has also appointed an Advisory Board, comprised of eight industry leaders, to help its future growth.
“Global supply chain issues and the pandemic fuelled the need for an innovative fulfillment solution,” said Reza Bafandeh, CEO of Darwynn. “We’ve seen a lot of growth over the past year, and this is an extremely exciting time for the company. With the Advisory Board and upcoming facility opening, Darwynn is strategically positioned to provide nationwide access to its fulfillment platform that will enable companies of all sizes to effectively compete in e-commerce.
“We’re seeing a heightened level of appetite for space and fulfillment in BC, specifically around the GVA (Greater Vancouver Area) . . . It has a fairly sized population and customer expectations are starting to also remain high even post-pandemic. From our perspective, we thought it would be right. A while back we made the decision to come to Vancouver and we’re very excited to take possession of a building in Surrey.
Reza Bafandeh
“We plan on growing into the facility. We’re going to have clients from all around the world. Canada. The goal of the solution is to provide service to retailers of all sizes so they can store their products, have their product fulfilled and have their product distributed to their clients either nationally, provincially or even locally.”
He said Darwynn is at the core of the company’s name and change, or reaction to market demand, is what it strives itself on.
“We believe we have a solution that’s exceptionally agile and quick to turn around. So if we see the demand we will always react to it,” added Bafandeh.
“I think this is going to put us at a very strategic position to provide a very unique offering. Space and facilities of being able to do fulfillment at the scale that we’re going to be able to do are not so common to come by, especially in British Columbia, given the state of the market. So I think not only from our presence but also the combination of what we offer from hardware to software to execution, we’ll be positioned to have a very compelling offer within the market and also help raise the bar.”
Image: Darwynn
The company said its end-to-end fulfillment ecosystem is equipped with cutting-edge technology and automation that enables companies to compete more effectively in eCommerce. The Advisory Board will provide guidance to the company’s executive team through its continued growth and development as a leader in the Canadian fulfillment industry.
New members of the advisory board named were:
Dr. Tina Dacin – Stephen J.R. Smith Chaired Professor of Strategy and Organisational Behaviour, Queen’s University, Smith School of Business
Jim Defer – Chief Financial Officer of Tribe Property Technologies, former CFO at DDS Wireless and SunSelect Produce, and former Head of Investment Banking at P.I. Financial Corp.
Elsie Li – Chief Financial Officer for Central City Brewers & Distillers, and Founding Partner at ALNA Packaging Ltd.
Jon Rosenberg – Founder & Chief Executive Officer of the Strongpoint Group, former Senior Vice President of Operations at Indigo and previous COO of GoBolt Logistics
Amir Sahba – Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Thinkingbox, Technology Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist
Jim Slomka – Executive Vice President at Grocery Business Magazine, former member of the Senior Leadership Team at Clorox Canada
Dr. Ma Song – Senior Vice President at JD.com, and Founder of Qiyi Technology
Jerome Vallet – Worldwide Director at Kering and former global executive at Carrefour Group
Deloitte Canada’s Holiday Retail Outlook reveals consumer spending nationwide will substantially drop this holiday season to levels below 2020.
According to the report, Inflationary pressures along with economic uncertainty are disproportionately impacting Canadians across different income levels and spending cuts will impact restaurants, travel, groceries, and will span across several sectors as consumer sentiment continues to wane.
The report shows Canadians are tightening the purse strings and are pessimistic about the year ahead, with about half expecting the economy to get worse over the coming years. We have seen consumer sentiment oscillate through the past four years with things starting to look more optimistic in 2021. However, consumer holiday spending outlook is down again, said the Deloitte report.
Bath & Body Works at CF Toronto Eaton Centre (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
Marty Weintraub, Partner, National Retail Leader at Deloitte Canada, described the report as coming at “an interesting point in time” to be looking at what consumers are going to be spending for the holiday season.
Marty Weintraub
“What we see this year, and by the way it’s not a huge surprise because of what’s going on around us both economically, geo-politically, we’re just in a little bit of an extreme situation. We thought 2020 was sort of quite extreme being our first holiday season heading in but . . . we have some additional extremities coming up,” said Weintraub.
“Spend going down may not surprise folks but the magnitude of the spend coming down is quite high . . . People are extremely anxious about what could happen. We’ve (the general public) been using the R word (recession) off and on and with all of that uncertainty we’re just seeing that buttoning down, earlier than ever shopping – 26 per cent of Canadians will finish by Black Friday.”
The report found:
Almost half (48 per cent) of Canadians expect the economy to be worse in 2023, and four in 10 (41 per cent) have seen their household finances worsen this year;
Overall holiday spending will fall 17 per cent this year, to $1,520, with the biggest cuts in non-gift electronics (-55 per cent), travel (-30 per cent), and non-gift clothing (-27 per cent);
Canadians will shop early and hunt for deals to stretch their holiday budget: One in three (37 per cent) will shop earlier this year, with 46 per cent believing it will help them get better deals. They’ll shift to other brands if their preferred one is too expensive (72 per cent), buy from retailers that sell at the lowest possible prices (70 per cent), and seek out sale items (69 per cent);
Rising prices and supply issues may impact consumer trust and brand loyalty: (76 per cent) of survey respondents expect prices to rise this holiday season and, worryingly, 68 per cent question if retailers may be raising prices more than needed, a concern that has been creating tensions across industries. Additionally, supply chain challenges have trained consumers to find substitutes, with 61 per cent indicating they’ll try new brands if what they want is out of stock;
Consumers want to buy goods that express their values—but some are skeptical: Four in 10 (44 per cent) consumers are willing to pay up to 10 per cent more for sustainable/ethical products or services. Others won’t pay more because of affordability issues (47 per cent), challenges in identifying genuinely sustainable/ethical products (41 per cent), or the belief that their purchase choices won’t have a meaningful impact (28 per cent);
51 per cent of customers say they will favour shopping in-store this holiday season (up slightly from 49 per cent last year), and those who will are planning to visit more stores: 5.9 on average, up from 5.3 last year but shy of pre-pandemic levels (6.4 in 2019). And more are planning to host formal meals this year than last (41 per cent versus 35 per cent).
Hudson’s Bay Queen Street Holiday 2022 (Image: Dustin Fuhs)CF Toronto Eaton Centre on Black Friday 2021 (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
Weintraub said 71 per cent of Canadians are likely to shop at Amazon this year versus 62 per cent last year. He said 43 per cent will start their holiday shopping in November versus 35 per cent last year. Everyone is starting earlier and will be done earlier this holiday shopping season.
“Recent holiday seasons have seen Canadian consumers cycle between cautious optimism and concern. This year, they’ve been exposed to a seemingly endless cycle of negative news, including economic uncertainty, high inflation, rising interest rates, geopolitical upheaval, general “pandemic hangover,” new or resurgent diseases, and more. It will be hard for Canadians to find reasons for optimism when there is so much Ambiguity,” said the report.
“Across income brackets, consumers have seen their buying power shrink. They’ll be looking for ways to stretch their dollar this holiday season. For some, that may mean choosing new products; for others, it might mean spending more time looking for the best deals. While some will strive to make purchases that reflect their sustainability and/or ethical values, others question whether they can afford to do so or whether they feel equipped to identify products that are genuinely sustainable and/or ethical.”
Best Buy Black Friday 2021 (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
The report said a growing number of Canadian consumers are signing up for Amazon Prime: 47 per cent say they’re now Amazon Prime members, up from 40 per cent in 2021 and 37 per cent in 2020. However: 59 per cent of shoppers expect their Amazon holiday spend to remain the same this year.
“After a couple of years of having to keep their distance from other people, Canadian consumers want to connect—with friends, families, and even fellow shoppers. Half of survey respondents (51 per cent) say they prefer to shop in-store this season, up slightly (49 per cent) from last year, to interact with products, take advantage of better prices and promotions, and avoid shipping costs. They’re planning to visit more stores, too: 5.9 on average, up from 5.3 in 2021, but still shy of pre-pandemic levels (6.4 in 2019). They also plan to spend more than half (56 per cent) of their holiday budget in a physical store, compared to 41 per cent online,” added the report.
“Canadians from coast to coast to coast have been through a lot these past few years and although they’re resilient, they’re understandably fatigued. Even as fears about COVID-19 fade, consumers are living in a highly charged state of anxiety, with recessionary concerns, inflationary pressures, and rising interest rates top of mind. These economic and financial concerns are likely leading Canadians to focus on their personal finances and short-term needs, which is reflected in the planned reduction in holiday spending.
“Retailers will need to do more than sharpen prices to win the hearts of consumers this holiday season. If communicated in a genuine and authentic manner, they can offer moments of respite by demonstrating empathy and an understanding of what their customers are feeling. The holiday period can be stressful in the best of times, and consumers will be making tough spending decisions as they work to take care of their families’ needs.”
Retail Insider is streamlining its Canadian retail news from around the web to include a handful of top news stories that can be viewed quickly during the day. Here are the top stories from the past 24 hours.
Video Interview: Inflation To Impact, But Not Reduce, Holiday Spending [Survey]
Jennifer LaForge, GM, Rakuten Canada, discusses the impact rising costs and inflation will have on holiday spending this year.
LaForge talks about the importance of sales and promotions such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the circular economy, loyalty and cash back programs, and the popularity of gift cards.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
Connect with Mario Toneguzzi, a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and the only Canadian – to learn how you can tell your story, share your message and amplify it to a wide audience. He is Senior News Editor with Retail Insider and owner of Mario Toneguzzi Communications Inc. and can be reached at mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.
Also check out the other series offered by Retail Insider, including The Weekly podcast and The Interview Series, which are both available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Podcasts, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Simplecast and other podcast players.
