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| A resident shops for discount goods at an electronics store in Vancouver, Canada, Dec. 26. 2014. Boxing Day sales has become a tradition in Canada. During the day, many merchants offer high discount to attract customers in order to boost their sales figures.(Xinhua/Liang Sen) |
VANCOUVER, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Bargain hunters hit the streets and malls of Vancouver in west Canada early on Friday in search of good deals on Boxing Day -- an annual tradition in Canada that sees most retailers slash their prices dramatically to attract shoppers on the post-Christmas holiday.
Many retailers have come to rely on Boxing Day to boost year-end sales with many opening extra early to accommodate large crowds of eager shoppers. An online survey arranged by the cash-back shopping website Ebates found that about 40 percent of Canadians planned to shop on Boxing Day.
National electronics retailer Future Shop opened at 6 a.m. (1400 GMT) in downtown Vancouver. Elliot Chun, the Future Shop spokesman, said they had upwards of about 100 people waiting for the doors to open right at 6 a.m. The first group of guys said that they were basically there right after their Christmas family time, so they started waiting around midnight to be first in line.
Chun said televisions are usually a big-ticket item that shoppers are looking for. Computers, appliances and new wearable technologies were also drawing a lot of attention on Friday.
Future Shop -- like many retailers -- now offers in-store special deals throughout the entire last week of the year, while offering other special deals exclusively to online shoppers.
Chun said Future Shop now takes part in the American bargain-shopping tradition of Black Friday, but Boxing Day remains the retailer's biggest sales day of the year.
"When it comes to say a big moment, like Black Friday, that's grown leaps and bounds. But it's got the number two position for us in terms of a sales moment, Boxing Day is certainly still king and our largest volume in terms of customer traffic and sales, and then there's this Boxing week trend too because we do also want to capture the audiences," Chun said.
Clothing stores and beauty product shops are also a major Boxing Day attraction. On Vancouver's most famous shopping street, shopper Iris Fan told Xinhua that she heads out to the shops every Boxing Day, spending around 4,000 dollars on this day, each year.
Fan said it is still worth it because people are looking for cheaper prices for the things that they want. That's why she did get up early on Boxing Day and shop for them.
Norman Ho, another shopper, said Boxing Day still seems to be the day to get the best deals. "The shops do drop the price a little bit lower than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, like compared to some clothing stores that I have gone to. So I still feel that it's worth it."
He also said it becomes part of his family's Christmas tradition. "My brother and I started shopping on Boxing Day since high school. So we've been doing that and I know that nowadays there is Black Friday sales and the Cyber Monday, I do shopping on those days as well, but we still try to keep the family tradition shopping on Boxing Day."
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