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Black Friday sales are now traditionally the domain of large national chains with beefed up advertising budgets. But this year there’s a growing push to make sure the annual goldmine of consumer spending goes as much as possible to the stores that need it most: small local retailers.
While overall sales recovered from their spring lows when the pandemic began, retailers continue to be hit hard by COVID-19. And the threat of poor sales remains, particularly as a new round of lockdowns across much of the country has forced the closure of stores selling anything deemed non-essential.
Small mom and pop stores have always faced a tough battle competing with the big boys who have the advantage of huge supply chains to squeeze suppliers, but initiatives across the country this year suggest the little boys won’t go down. without a fight.
A new approach
Ibrahim “Obby” Khan is the co-founder of Goodlocal.ca, a Winnipeg-based web platform that describes how “Amazon and Etsy meet the local”.
As the owner of half a dozen Winnipeg restaurants, Khan knows how tough things have been for local vendors lately. That’s why he spearheaded a plan to bring together a handful of companies that were fine before COVID-19, but found themselves losing sales afterward because they weren’t able to rotate to online selling or handle delivery, if they could get it. enough sales to make it worthwhile
WATCH | Ibrahim “Obby” Khan describes how his startup, Goodlocal.ca, has grown rapidly:
Ibrahim ‘Obby’ Khan, founder of Winnipeg’s Goodlocal.ca, talks about how his initiative to manage deliveries for small local businesses exploded this month 0:47
Goodlocal has become something of a go-between for those businesses, connecting retailers with consumers who want to shop from them even amid the current COVID restrictions. It is searchable by product and grows day by day.
“If you want it and it’s local, you can order it. We’ll take care of the packaging, pick it up from the seller and deliver it to your home,” Khan said.
Although the initiative started slowly with a few dozen vendors, it now has more than 200 items and a backlog of nearly as many, looking to sign up. It has been such a success that it hopes to expand across the province and possibly the country next year.
Khan said the site went from just 18 orders on launch day a few weeks ago to hundreds every day. On Wednesday, the site processed a record 705 orders.
Goodlocal put $ 91,000 worth into retailers’ pockets in the pockets of retailers within weeks. Those are real dollars that could be the difference between staying open or closing forever for some of them, he said. “You might see tears in the eyes of some of our suppliers … they said,” I’ve sold more in two weeks than I’ve sold in the last nine months since COVID began. “
Most importantly, he said, 95% of customers end up buying something from more than one supplier, not just what they searched for in the first place. And suppliers claim they book sales from new customers, not just existing ones.
“It is truly transforming into this everything and everything local ecosystem,” he said.
Melissa Zuker’s story is similar. In 2014, he co-founded Toronto Market Co., which works with local restaurants, retailers, and artisans to create pop-up shops and markets to sell their wares to the public.
Business was booming and then, like everything else, COVID-19 halted things in March of this year. As the concept of one-stop-shopping in a physical location became nearly impossible to do, Zuker crafted the same digital pivot to try to recreate that market experience, online.
Growing business
Torontomarketco.com was launched in June. A few dozen companies signed up at first, but the response from customers has been so encouraging that the site now runs with nearly 100.
The site offers delivery, for a small fee, or contactless pickup. The Christmas shopping season, which roughly starts on Black Friday and runs into Christmas, is a huge time in the retail calendar, with many businesses making up to half of their annual sales during this time.
Zuker was pleased with the response from suppliers and customers.
“Anything we can do for anyone … has been forced to shut down. I think it’s really important to try and support them [because] your favorite bakery on the corner may not be there this spring, “he said.
“I think the idea of supporting the club has always been there, but certainly in the last few weeks the drive to support the club has been enormous.”
Markus Giesler, a consumer researcher and associate professor of marketing at York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto, said COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way retailers sell and consumers buy.
Under normal circumstances, most consumers are very price sensitive and want the best deal, he said.
“And if the best deal means getting out of their community, going to the mall somewhere else, then that comes at the expense of local shopping,” he said in an interview.
But this rule of thumb isn’t that hard this year, he said.
Think local
“We’re much more willing to help local businesses and we’re trying to do that in an effort to make a difference, you know, almost like a patriotic duty if you will.”
Small retailers still face a big uphill battle in their constant fight against big box sellers who can push prices lower and online giants like Amazon, who will always have an advantage in speed and convenience. But initiatives like those in Toronto and Winnipeg can be an important weapon in that battle, he said.
“If more and more companies unite, share logistics, share distribution, make the process easier to manage, make it more scalable, then you have a win-win situation where consumers and companies work for the same purpose.”
Though seemingly outmatched against giants like Walmart, Amazon, and others, Khan, a former CFL football player with Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Calgary, has firsthand experience of how a focused team of underdogs can come together to beat a heavy favorite.
“We have a fleet of drivers, many of whom volunteer to come in tomorrow and help us deliver,” he said, pointing to a stack of over 700 orders.
“It’s fluctuating … we just want this thing to go on and support local businesses and keep people safe at home.”
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