Increase in cross border shopping

Some staggering numbers were released by Statistics Canada Wednesday when it comes to cross border shopping. In a recent six-year period, Canadian cross border shoppers nearly doubled their spending in the U.S. The only time Canadians kept their wallets closed was during the 2009 recession.

Mary Papp from Welland is shopping at Dress Barn at the Fashion Outlet Mall in Niagara Falls, New York: “What brings me here to this store, there isn’t a Dress Barn in Canada. And I like the variety of the clothes and the sizes as well.”

Eighty five percent of dress barn’s customers are Canadian.

Karen Davis, Assistant Manager, Dress Barn: “At the beginning of every sale we take a phone number. So we see the 905, the 416,
the 519, the 647. And we also take emails so we see Rogers.com and Cogeco.”

And what brings shoppers here?

“The variety yeah. And being a big woman’s size makes a lot of difference.”

“Oh, I think it’s the price.”

Variety and price and exchange rates. And with the increased duty-free limits, shoppers are less likely to hide their receipts.

Marvin Ryder, DeGroote School of Business: “I have known the odd person who crossed the border and did not say truthfully how much they were bringing back. Now with the higher limits, they can reports more truthfully.”

That Statistics Canada report says in a six year period, spending by Canadians in the U.S. spiked 72 per cent.

In 2006, Canadian shoppers spent nearly 5 billion dollars in the U.S. Six years later, that amount had nearly doubled.”

This study also included shopping through the mail.

Marvin Ryder: “That’s another significant increase. Canada Post has seen the volume of traffic from cross border shopping go from $1.5 to three billion in the same period.”

Less than 2% of Canadian retail sales are made over the border. And this year you may not see the usual bridge traffic leading up to Christmas with internet shopping becoming more popular.