THUNDER BAY – Local retailers are shifting to online sales and delivery as they look to make the most of an uncertain post-Christmas shopping season.
A week of Boxing Day-themed sales usually marked by large crowds and lengthy line-ups will instead be defined by a lockdown that leaves all but essential sales limited to curbside pickup and delivery.
At Marnics Mobile, an electronics and computer sales and repair shop in the Intercity area, operations manager Joseph Wenzell said Saturday the pandemic had already shifted customer behaviour online, easing the abruptness of the lockdown transition.
“Definitely we have people getting more and more comfortable with online shopping – people that never would have before are going online,” he said.
Still, he said, local retailers were fighting an uphill battle against the tendency for those shopping online to flock first to corporate giants.
“It’s a challenge, for sure – a lot of people are turning to Amazon,” he said. “But we definitely encourage people to shop [local] online, because the money stays in the community.”
Marnics continued to offer Boxing Week sales during the lockdown, with curbside pickup or free delivery.
The store was staffing that online store with a full-time support person, Wenzell noted, available to help customers browse its online catalogue and answer questions.
That kind of personalized support is what will set local retailers apart as they look to capture online shopping dollars, Dave Radford believes.
“So often we have people that have bought something from a big box store online and they’re calling us asking us questions,” he said. “There’s so many variables when you’re doing it that way, where with us, it’s like you being here at the store – you’re still family.”
The general manager of The Power Centre, an electronics store just down the street on Memorial Avenue, Radford was supervising a busy Boxing Day sale Saturday.
While the store appeared calm from the exterior, inside, salespeople were working steadily to fill orders for delivery or pick-up over the phone.
“My expectations were low – I didn’t want to get [disappointed],” Radford said of the Boxing Week sale’s success. “But we’ve blown away any expectation, and as far as I can see it’s going terrific.”
He had seen residents put more of a premium on supporting local since the pandemic began, Radford said, a trend he appreciated.
The Power Centre had retooled its website in the fall as the importance of online sales increased.
Wenzell and Radford each saw the pandemic shift customer preferences slighty, they reported.
“I feel people are buying more necessities – some of the impulse items aren’t as popular this year. Definitely more needs than wants,” said Wenzell.
Radford believed the increased time spent at home had driven high interest in items like large-screen televisions and home stereo systems.
“We find people are buying bigger ticket items,” he said. “You know, you [normally] sell a lot of little speakers and headphones, stuff like that. This year, it’s big stuff.”
